System Resilience Research Articles

Vaccine equity implementation: exploring factors influencing COVID-19 vaccine delivery in the Philippines from an equity lens

BackgroundDuring the early phase of the COVID-19 vaccine rollout, low and middle-income countries (LMICs) were facing challenges in achieving equitable vaccine delivery. Few studies have contextualized global vaccine distributive injustice into national-specific contexts to understand its impact on vaccine delivery from an equity perspective. We aimed to investigate factors influencing equitable COVID-19 vaccine delivery in the Philippines and to provide recommendations to enhance equitable vaccine delivery in LMICs to prepare for future health emergencies.MethodsThe Health Equity Implementation Framework was employed to guide this qualitative study. We recruited participants using purposeful and snowballing sampling strategies. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with participants in person, online, or over the phone. A reflective thematic analysis approach was employed to analyze data.ResultsWe recruited 38 participants including seven high-level stakeholders from the public and private sectors, 14 health workers, and 17 community members in the province of Negros Occidental, Philippines. Equitable delivery of COVID-19 vaccines was influenced by an interplay of multiple factors operating in different domains. Contextually, the rapidly evolving nature of the COVID-19 virus, ongoing scientific advancements, and international negotiations directed national-level vaccine policies. Political commitment and support were recognized as crucial drivers for successful vaccine delivery, with a strong emphasis on health information framing and communication and adherence to human rights principles. The vulnerability of the health system significantly impacted the timely and effective distribution of vaccines. Furthermore, the geographical characteristics of the Philippines presented unique logistical challenges to vaccine delivery. At the recipient domain, individual perceptions of vaccines, shaped by their socioeconomic status, exposure to (mis)information, social influence, and entrenched religious beliefs, played a major role in their vaccine decisions and thus vaccine coverage regionally. Additionally, vaccine characteristics and operational challenges related to its distribution also impacted fair allocation.ConclusionsThe findings highlight the urgent need for LMICs to strengthen their health system resilience and sustainability and use multilevel strategies to build public trust to improve vaccine uptake and coverage. Moreover, each LMIC must be attentive to its unique contextual factors to develop tailored implementation strategies to promote equitable vaccine distribution.

A Multicriteria Decision Analytic Approach to Systems Resilience

AbstractThis article develops a novel decision-oriented framework that strategically deconstructs systems resilience in a way that focuses on systems’ design, capabilities, and management. The framework helps evaluate and compare how system design choices impact system resilience. First, we propose a resilience score based on a piecewise linear approximation to a resilience curve. Using multicriteria decision analysis principles, we score system design alternatives in terms of system-specific capabilities. We estimate the relevance of these capabilities to resilience curve parameters associated with resilience phases. Finally, we interpret the derivatives of resilience with respect to the curve parameter values as the leverage of these parameters. Using multiple levels of weighted sums of the scores, we calculate the first order impact of system design choices first on a proxy for the generic resilience parameters and then on resilience, which allows situational characteristics to be incorporated in their natural terminology while mapping their impact on resilience with a traceable logic. We illustrate the approach by using existing materials to develop an example comparing engineered designs for minimizing post-wildfire flood impacts.

Household satisfaction with health services and response strategies to malaria in mountain communities of Uganda.

Measuring satisfaction with health service delivery in fragile communities provides an opportunity to improve the resilience of health systems to threats including climate change. Additionally, understanding factors associated with the choice of response strategies to certain public health threats provides an opportunity to design context-specific interventions. We used polytomous latent class analyses to group participants' responses and an additive Bayesian modelling network to explore satisfaction with health service delivery as well as factors associated with response strategies of households to malaria. We did this with a focus on the rural parts of Uganda in Mount Elgon. We found that approaches to malaria control and management at household level include the use of traditional (54.5%), private (20.5%) and publicly available services (25%). Regarding satisfaction with health services, 66.6% of respondents were satisfied with health service components of information flow, drug/vaccine access and accessibility. Type of housing, livelihood sources, previous malaria experience and health services were strongly associated with responses to malaria occurrence at household level. The rest of the factors were weakly associated with malaria responses. The indigenous interventions utilised by households to manage and control malaria were largely dependent on their satisfaction with health service delivery components. Interventions thus ought to leverage local existing knowledge to optimise outcomes and ensure sustainable health.

Resilience assessment of power transmission system during wildfire disasters considering spread process

AbstractLarge‐scale wildfires can significantly reduce the air gap insulation resistance of high‐voltage transmission lines and cause chain tripping incidents. To assess the resilience of the power transmission system during wildfire, this paper proposes a resilience assessment framework for transmission system that considers the entire process of wildfire disaster. Firstly, a wildfire spread model, considering multiple influencing factors, is developed based on the cellular automaton. Based on the air gap breakdown mechanism during wildfires, the trip‐out probability of transmission lines is calculated, and various failure scenarios are obtained by using the Monte Carlo sampling. Secondly, considering the geographical location of failures, maintenance personnel schedules and restoration time, a power transmission system restoration model is established. Thus, a resilience assessment method for power transmission system during wildfire disasters is proposed. Finally, IEEE RTS‐79 transmission system is taken as an example to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed resilience assessment method. The results show that the proposed method can effectively calculate the wildfire spread tendency and transmission line's trip‐out probability. Furthermore, three typical resilience improvement measures are quantitatively analysed, which provides a quantifiable reference for the power sector to formulate prevention and recovery strategies for extreme wildfire disasters.

A Resilient Intrusion Detection System for IoT Environment Based on a Modified Stacking Ensemble Classifier

A Resilient Intrusion Detection System for IoT Environment Based on a Modified Stacking Ensemble Classifier

Cautionary lessons from the COVID-19 pandemic: Healthcare systems grappled with the dual responsibility of delivering COVID-19 and non-COVID-19 care.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, hospitals were challenged to provide both COVID-19 and non-COVID treatment. A survey questionnaire was designed and distributed via email to hospitals empanelled under the Ayushman Bharat-Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana(AB-PMJAY), the world's largest National Health Insurance Scheme. Telephonic follow-ups were used to ensure participation in places with inadequate internet. We applied support vector regression to quantify the hospital variables that affected the use vs. non-use of hospital services (Model-1), and factors impacting COVID-19 revenue and staffing levels (Model-2).We quantified the statistical significance of important input variables using Fisher's exact test. The survey, conducted early in the pandemic, included 461 hospitals across 20 states and union territories. Only 55.5% of hospitals were delivering emergency care, 26.7% were doing elective surgery and 36.7% providing obstetric services. Hospitals with adequate supplies of PPE, including N95 masks, and separate facilities designated for COVID-19 patients were more likely to continue providing emergency surgeries and services effectively. Data analysis revealed that large hospitals (> 250 beds) with adequate PPE and dedicated COVID-19 facilities continued both emergency and elective surgeries. Public hospitals were key in pandemic management, large private hospital systems were more likely to conduct non-COVID-19 surgeries, with not-for-profit hospitals performing slightly better. Public and large private not-for-profit hospitals faced fewer staff shortages and revenue declines. In contrast, smaller hospitals (< 50 beds) experienced significant staff attrition due to anxiety, stress and revenue losses. They requested government support for PPE supplies, staff training, testing kits, and special allowances for healthcare workers. The inclusion of COVID-19 coverage under AB-PMJAY improved access to healthcare for critical cases. Maintaining non-COVID-19 care during the pandemic indicates healthcare system resiliency. A state-wide data-driven system for ventilators, beds, and funding support for smaller hospitals, would improve patient care access and collaboration.

Reinforcing cybersecurity with Bloom filters: a novel approach to password cracking efficiency

Safeguarding digital information against unauthorized access is critical in the industry context. Techniques for cracking passwords are essential tools for both attackers and defenders. This study explores the utilization of Bloom filters, a probabilistic data structure known for its space and time efficiency, to refine the password-cracking process. We demonstrate that by employing Bloom filters, it is possible to significantly enhance the performance of password-cracking techniques in terms of speed and memory consumption. By conducting a comparative analysis with prevalent techniques such as hash tables and binary search, we demonstrate the superior performance of Bloom filters. The experimentation, utilizing a publicly available dataset of leaked password hashes, indicates a significant improvement in cracking efficiency. The findings contribute to the broader cybersecurity goal of developing resilient systems against password-related breaches, underscoring the importance of integrating cutting-edge research and practical applications to fortify digital defenses.

Deciphering nitrogen dynamics in aeroponics: physio-biochemical and enzymatic responses influencing nitrogen use efficiency in contrasting potato genotypes

Excessive use of nitrogen (N) in crops, such as potatoes, can lead to economic and environmental repercussions. We hypothesized that potato genotypes with resilient root systems and high genetic capabilities for nitrogen-use efficiency (NUE) could effectively mitigate these challenges. Consequently, we investigated intraspecific variations and characteristics within six distinct potato genotypes exhibiting diverse NUEs in response to varying nitrogen levels in an aeroponic system. The morpho-physiological and biochemical properties showed significant genotypic variations, especially related to the N-assimilating enzyme levels and root characteristics. Notably, the root systems of all genotypes demonstrated greater responsiveness to low nitrogen levels, with genotype C17 showcasing the most substantial root system irrespective of nitrogen concentration. Root morphological traits displayed robust positive correlations with NUtE, primarily influenced by genotype rather than nitrogen concentration. Conversely, nitrogen levels, displaying positive correlations with NUpE, influenced growth and activities of N-assimilating enzymes. Based on their distinct root systems, metabolic activities, and NUE profiles, genotypes C17 and C11 were determined to be N-efficient and N-inefficient, respectively. This study provides novel insights into the physiological and biochemical mechanisms underlying nitrogen use efficiency in potato genotypes under aeroponic conditions, offering potential targets for breeding programs, optimizing fertilizer management and cultivation strategies to improve crop performance under nitrogen-deficient conditions. Future investigations, employing multi-omics approaches, will elucidate key genes and pathways in nitrogen metabolism, potentially offering avenues to enhance root architecture and improve NUE.

Spatiotemporal differentiation and influencing factors of the degree of resilience coupling coordination in the Beijing–Tianjin–Hebei region, China

Urban agglomeration system resilience involves multiple subsystems that are interconnected and interactive, and exploring the relationships among subsystems can elucidate and increase urban agglomeration resilience. This study constructed a social-economic-built environment resilience model and proposed a social-economic-built environment resilience index system. Using the entropy weight method, the coupling coordination degree (CCD) model, GeoDetector, spatial autocorrelation analysis and the autoregressive integrated moving average model (ARIMA) model, the resilience development level of the Beijing‒Tianjin‒Hebei (BTH) region from 2000 to 2020 was evaluated, the main influencing factors for the spatiotemporal differentiation pattern were identified, and the development levels in 2030 and 2050 were predicted. The results show that (1) high-resilience and high-CCD regions are concentrated in the region of Beijing and Tianjin in the centre, and low-value regions are concentrated in the districts and counties in the west and south; (2) economic elements, especially the economic aggregate status of a region as a whole, are the main factors contributing to the differences in resilience levels between regions, but their influence gradually decreases; and (3) the gap between the CCDs of Beijing, Tianjin and cities in Hebei increased from 2000 to 2020, but this gap is expected to narrow by 2030 and 2050. On this basis, five categories of future development guidelines for cities in the BTH region are proposed.

Tying energy resiliance and digital upgradation of technology transformation of electric power system: Does financial flexibility matters?

As the energy sector undergoes rapid technological transformation, the resilience of electric power systems has become a focal point in the context of climate change and energy security. This paper examines the interplay between energy resilience and the digital upgradation of electric power systems in China, with a particular emphasis on the role of financial flexibility. Using panel data from 2005 to 2023 across 30 provinces in China, we employ the Generalized Method of Moments (GMM) model to investigate how financial flexibility—measured through capital access and adaptive financial strategies—affects the integration of digital technologies such as smart grids, renewable energy systems, and advanced monitoring infrastructures. Our findings demonstrate that financial flexibility significantly enhances the resilience of electric power systems by facilitating quicker adoption of digital technologies and enabling systems to better withstand external shocks, such as fluctuating energy demands and environmental stressors. The study offers policy insights, underscoring the importance of supportive financial mechanisms to accelerate the digital transformation and sustainability of China's energy infrastructure. This research contributes to the ongoing discourse on energy resilience by highlighting the critical role of financial flexibility in enabling technological advancements within the power sector.

A resilience-driven emergency maintenance operation scheme optimization method based on risk

System failure caused by unexpected disruptions is unavoidable and can lead to catastrophic consequences. To complete the emergency maintenance operation safely and efficiently, a well-formulated emergency maintenance scheme is crucial. A resilience-driven optimization methodology for the emergency maintenance operation scheme with considering maintenance operational risk is proposed. The maintenance operational risk is assessed by combining Job Safety Analysis, Bayesian networks and the matter element theory. A graphical evaluation and review technique (GERT) model is established based on the informed maintenance operational risk to evaluate the emergency maintenance scheme. According to derived results of the GERT model, the expected time and the expected risk are preliminarily optimized. A re-optimization model focusing on the system resilience is established to optimize the suitable maintenance operation time for each equipment and the reasonable equipment maintenance sequence for the system. The emergency maintenance scheme optimization for the subsea production system is utilized to demonstrate the proposed method.

Flexible ngo-donor coordination in aid interventions to strengthen resilience: the case of Lebanon’s primary healthcare system

IntroductionWith shifts in international aid, international donors have increasingly regarded non-governmental organisations (NGOs) as capable of providing alternative public service arrangements. As funding flows to NGOs, particularly in contexts where both actors work towards strengthening health system resilience, NGO-donor relationships evolve. However, despite calls to investigate the contribution of relationships between actors within health systems, including NGOs and their donors, to health system resilience, empirical research is limited. Understanding these relationships is crucial for comprehending their role in fostering resilient health systems. This research fills this gap, by examining how NGO-donor coordination contributes to health system resilience in Lebanon.MethodsThis research focuses on Lebanon’s primary health system, primarily managed by NGOs through contracts and heavily funded by donors. It examines NGOs operating under the national primary healthcare network (PHCN). The participants, including staff from these NGOs and donor agencies funding them, were purposively selected. 31 semi-structured interviews were conducted. The analysis framework relied on a thematic analysis.ResultsThe findings revealed that the flexibility in NGO-donor coordination in Lebanon depends on donors’ trust, regular coordination and donors’ willingness to listen to NGOs’ needs. In this light, they uncovered that flexible NGO-donor coordination enhances NGOs’ resilience capacities in shocks, allowing them to operate flexibly. By strengthening NGOs’ resilience, which contributes to the resilience of the broader health system, this relationship contributes to health system resilience.ConclusionThe findings contradict the mainstream development literature on NGO-donor relationships. The latter focuses on donor funding requirements that often result in rigid NGO-donor coordination, making it difficult for NGOs to be resilient. Rather, they emphasise the donors’ role in implementing flexible development approaches, through flexible NGO-donor coordination, strengthening health system resilience. Overall, this paper contributes to the health system resilience literature by exploring how specific configurations of NGO-donor coordination strengthen health system resilience.

A bibliometric study toward quantitative research assessment of security of machine learning

Purpose Advances in machine learning (ML) have made significant contributions to the development of intelligent and autonomous systems leading to concerns about resilience of such systems against cyberattacks. This paper aims to report findings from a quantitative analysis of literature within ML security to assess current research trends in ML security. Design/methodology/approach The study focuses on statistical analysis of literature published between 2000 and 2023, providing quantitative research contributions targeting authors, countries and interdisciplinary studies of organizations. This paper reports existing surveys and a comparison of publications of attacks on ML and its in-demand security. Furthermore, an in-depth study of keywords, citations and collaboration is presented to facilitate deeper analysis of this literature. Findings Trends identified between 2021 and 2022 highlight an increase in focus on adversarial ML – 40\% more publications compared to 2020–2022 with more than 90\% publications in journals. This paper has also identified trends with respect to citations, keywords analysis, annual publications, co-author citations and geographical collaboration highlighting China and the USA as the countries with highest publications count and Biggio B. as the researcher with collaborative strength of 143 co-authors which highlight significant pollination of ideas and knowledge. Keyword analysis highlighted deep learning and computer vision as the most common domains for adversarial attacks due to the potential to perturb images whilst being challenging to identify issues in deep learning because of complex architecture. Originality/value The study presented in this paper identifies research trends, author contributions and open research challenges that can facilitate further research in this domain.

Grapevine and maize: Two guard cell shaped strategies to cope with repeated drought stress

Adaptation of crops to recurrent drought stress is crucial for maintaining agricultural productivity and achieving food security under changing climate. Guard cells, pivotal regulators of plant water usage and assimilation, are central to this adaptation process. However, the metabolic dynamics of guard cells under drought stress remain poorly understood, particularly in grapevine, a prominent crop grown in arid regions, and maize, a staple crop with substantial water requirements. In this study, differences in guard cells metabolism during drought stress of grapevine and maize were investigated by performing physiological and metabolomic analyses. Metabolomic analysis highlighted differential responses in amino acids and sugars, with grapevine guard cells displaying greater stability in amino acid and sugar signatures, while maize showed marked increases in sugar levels. These findings suggest two distinct adaptive strategies, a vigorous acclimation of guard cells, as observed in maize, and an attenuated acclimation of guard cells, shown in grapevine. Understanding these metabolic adjustments is helpful for enhancing drought resilience in agricultural systems.

A Systematic Literature Review of Synchronous E-Learning Challenges in Higher Education Institutions in Developing Nations during the COVID-19 Pandemic

Abstract Introduction: The COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated the transition to online learning, with synchronous e-learning becoming a critical modality in higher education institutions (HEIs) worldwide. This shift, while ensuring educational continuity, has unveiled numerous challenges, especially in developing nations where resources and infrastructure may not adequately support such a rapid transition. Purpose: This study aims to provide a systematic literature review of the challenges encountered by students in developing nations during the implementation of synchronous e-learning amid the COVID-19 pandemic. It focuses on identifying and analysing technological, pedagogical, infrastructural, socioeconomic, and health-related challenges that have impacted the efficacy of online learning. Methods: Through a systematic literature review of 43 peer-reviewed studies conducted in developing nations, dated between 2020 and 2022 sourced from the SCOPUS database, this article synthesises findings on the multifaceted challenges faced by HEIs students during the COVID-19 pandemic. The study employs a thematic analysis approach to categorise these challenges and discuss their implications for educational equity, student well-being, and the resilience of higher education systems in developing countries. Conclusions: The study underscores the need for comprehensive strategies to address the identified challenges, emphasising the importance of infrastructural improvements, pedagogical support, socioeconomic interventions, and health-focused measures. It calls for a collaborative effort among educational institutions, governments, and international organisations to enhance the resilience and inclusivity of e-learning environments, ensuring equitable access to quality education in developing nations during and beyond the pandemic.

ROLE OF COMMUNITY-BASED CONSERVATION IN EKITI STATE

This seminar paper examines the role of Community-Based Conservation (CBC) in promoting environmental sustainability and community development in Ekiti State, Nigeria. CBC is a framework that prioritizes local community involvement in managing natural resources, combining environmental conservation with socio-economic development. The study reviews relevant literature to demonstrate how CBC utilizes Indigenous knowledge and cultural practices to tackle significant environmental issues such as deforestation, biodiversity loss, and water pollution. This paper analyses case studies of successful Community-Based Conservation (CBC) initiatives from regions like Cross River and Ondo States, demonstrating how CBC enhances biodiversity protection and supports livelihoods through sustainable practices, including agroforestry and ecotourism. Social-ecological systems (SES) theory offers a framework that highlights the interdependence of human societies and ecosystems. The theory supports adaptive governance, emphasizing community involvement in decision-making for resource management, thereby enhancing resilience in social and ecological systems. The paper also analyses the involvement of government agencies, NGOs, and local authorities in offering institutional support for community-based conservation (CBC) via policies that acknowledge land tenure and resource rights. The findings indicate that CBC plays a significant role in meeting global conservation objectives, particularly the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 13 (Climate Action) and 15 (Life on Land), while also providing avenues for poverty alleviation. The study concludes with recommendations to enhance legal frameworks, develop community capacity via education, and promote collaborative governance to tackle issues associated with resource depletion and climate change.

Optimizing the function of aircraft WiFi based on the Internet of Things

Abstract. This paper explores the potential of full-duplex wireless communication technology to mitigate interference in aircraft WiFi systems, thereby enhancing the internet access quality and passenger experience. The study focuses on the application of Internet of Things (IoT) technology to improve the resilience of aircraft WiFi systems against interference. Through a series of MATLAB simulations, the research demonstrates that full-duplex technology can effectively cancel out interference signals, leading to clearer and more stable communication quality. The results show that the combined signal, after cancellation, closely resembles the original communication signal, indicating a significant reduction in interference. Despite the promising results, the study acknowledges limitations such as idealized assumptions in the simulation, hardware and software constraints, and the lack of consideration for the complex electromagnetic environment encountered during actual flight operations. Future research should focus on developing more advanced interference detection and mitigation algorithms, and further investigation into the integration of full-duplex technology with existing aircraft WiFi systems, considering hardware constraints and environmental factors, is necessary to fully realize its potential in enhancing communication performance.

Current-Day and Future Dunkelflaute Risks for Belgium

Abstract Dunkelflautes, events of low renewable production and potentially high demand, are the most extreme examples of the susceptibility of a renewable energy system with respect to weather variability. Yet, these events currently lack a precise definition in the literature. Based on 41 years of weather data, we explore the resilience of the Belgian energy system with respect to the duration and extremeness of Dunkelflautes or energy drought. Although the hourly average load cannot be covered 89% of the time in our analysis, we find that Dunkelflaute occurrences are generally independent of the energy mix between photovoltaic (PV) panels and wind energy (WE) production (for fractions between 10% and 60% of PV). However, to cope with Dunkelflautes, a system with full PV or full WE provision is very ineffective. While the optimal mix is found to be independent of Dunkelflaute extremeness, it strongly depends on the Dunkelflaute duration: For subdaily or longer than two-daily events, a high WE fraction is optimal, while a high PV fraction is needed for durations of the order of days. More than 56% of Dunkelflautes over Belgium coincide with those in the surrounding countries. Finally, as opposed to weak changes in the climatological average, future climate projections reveal an increase in Dunkelflaute severity, mainly due to a reduction in WE production.

Resilience enhancers and barriers analysis for Industry 4.0 in supply chains using grey influence analysis (GINA)

This study investigates the impact of Industry 4.0 (I4.0) enabling technologies in enhancing the resilience of supply chain systems and the barriers to adopting Industry 4.0 in the supply chains. We use the novel grey influence analysis (GINA) to examine the influence relations among supply chain resilience enhancers and barriers. The study has identified seven enhancers and nine barriers to adopting I4.0 that can improve supply chain resilience. While analyzing the enhancers, the research findings indicate that visibility and coordination in the supply chain are the major enhancers. For barriers, based on the overall influence score, financial constraints, lack of skills and expertise, and inaccessibility of new technology have ranked first, second, and third, respectively. The identified barriers to adopting I4.0 indicate that reducing financial constraints could facilitate the implementation of Industry 4.0 technologies. This study is among the initial investigations to analyze the supply chain resilience enhancers and barriers together for adoption of Industry 4.0. The findings of this study can assist decision-makers and practitioners in overcoming the identified barriers, thereby focusing on the important enhancers of resilience for facilitating the effective adoption of Industry 4.0 in supply chains.

COVID-19 pandemic and food security: Strategic agricultural budget allocation in Indonesia

The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed significant vulnerabilities in Indonesia's food security, highlighting the need for more strategic agricultural budget allocation. This study addresses the issue of inadequate budgeting techniques that fail to effectively support food production and distribution during crises. The primary objective is to develop a tailored framework that optimises budget allocations to strengthen Indonesia's food security in the face of socio-economic and geographical challenges. Using a multi-dimensional research approach, the study involves key stakeholders from the Ministry of Agriculture, the Ministry of Finance, and the Ministry of National Development Planning, employing methods such as in-depth interviews, focus group discussions, and data collection from primary and secondary sources. The research utilises the Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) with the Expert Choice 2000 program to systematically evaluate decision-making options. Findings reveal the necessity of a resilient framework that balances short-term emergency responses with long-term strategies, focusing on increasing production capacity, improving seed quality, expanding land availability, and adopting advanced agricultural technologies. The study contributes to the policy landscape by offering a structured agricultural budgeting framework and policy recommendations aimed at mitigating disruptions, enhancing productivity, and supporting sustainable agricultural practices. It also emphasizes the importance of sensitivity analysis in budget planning to inform strategic decisions. The study recommended targeted investments in production capacity, a reevaluation of rice import regulations, and the adoption of innovative technologies to ensure a resilient and sustainable food system in Indonesia.