Combating the Current Pandemic and Preparing for the Next: Lessons Learned From the COVID-19 Pandemic From the Perspective of Deployed Special Operations Forces

ABSTRACT The coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic continues to be a threat to global health, including the health of deployed armed forces. Servicemembers had to adjust to the “new normal” while maintaining the interests of the nation’s security as well as that of our host nation partners. This commentary examines how Special Operations Forces operating within four different regions worldwide leveraged the challenges presented by the onset of this pandemic in maintaining stability, sustaining a ready force, and operating forward deployed. Deployed forces face constant difficulties with logistical support, varied medical resources access and a medical system predominantly focused on trauma care. At the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic there was little guidance specific to these circumstances which required an improvised adaptation of the recommendations set by national and Department of Defense medical authorities. Plans were constantly revised to match the ever changing medical and operational environment. Strategies such as the “Bubble Philosophy” and tiered force protection measures helped our units to maintain a rigorous training cycle. New methods of communication and training with our host nation partners such as the use of Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) platforms to survey host nation training became standard. Through these measures all of our forces were able to maintain operational capacity, protect the force, and maintain rapport with the host nations. We hope these experiences will provide a rough framework for future forces faced with a similar struggle. We also want to stress that challenges vary depending on the area of operations and the pathogen responsible for the pandemic. Any feedback and collaboration that may come from this work is appreciated and encouraged.

Automated Irrigation and Fertigation System Applying Sensing Technology

Internet of Things (IoT) is the most discussed topic nowadays and it finds many applications in various industries. The development of efficient agricultural systems has become essential to address the challenges of feeding the enormous and ever-increasing population around the globe. One way of dealing with this is to expand agricultural production standard and quantity. An integrated IoT system with irrigation and finishing on the market was missing. To increase production efficiency, farmers shall collect massive data from various devices. The system's effectiveness depends on the performance of the sensor under various climate changes. The network and a closed-loop feedback system need to be connected to the system for maximum operational capacity. The module of the Soil Moisture Sensor and the MCU ESP8266 V2 MCU Node, the float switch and the 5V Optocoupler relay module are used in this project. The remote control of the system is a mobile application. If the moisture level in the soil reaches the desired value, it will stop water supply. The project could be expended on a larger scale in the future and the system may also be developed with solar energy rather than batteries.

COVID-19, job loss, and underemployment: who is affected?

This paper seeks to examine the short-term adverse effects of the labor market disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic on employment by estimating and comparing the probability of job loss, underemployment, and employment gain in January, April, and July 2020. Using data from the Philippine Labor Force Survey, we find that the workers who were most vulnerable to job loss and underemployment amid the COVID-19 pandemic are male, less educated, and those working in sectors that are either with limited operational capacity or not allowed to open at all. On a positive note, the results also suggest that males and less-educated individuals are more likely to gain employment after being jobless in the previous quarter. A policy recommendation is to establish an institutionalized social insurance program, such as an unemployment insurance facility, to protect a wider range of workers from the negative shocks to the labor market.

Knowledge Management and Operational Capacity in Water Utilities, a Balance between Human Resources and Digital Maturity–The Case of AGS

Digitalization and knowledge management in the water sector, and their impacts on performance, greatly depend on two factors: human capacity and digital maturity. To understand the link between performance, human capacity, and digital maturity, six AGS water retail utilities were compared with all Portuguese utilities using Portuguese benchmark data (2011–2019). AGS utilities achieved better results, including in compound performance indicators, which are assumed to be surrogates for digital maturity. These compound indicators were also found to correlate positively with better performance. In fact, AGS utilities show levels of non-revenue water (NRW) (<25%) below the national median (30–40%), with network replacement values similar to the national median (<0.5%). These results seem to imply that higher digital maturity can offset relatively low network replacement levels and guarantee NRW levels below the national average. Furthermore, regarding personnel aging index and digital maturity—two internally developed indicators—there was an increase in the digital maturity and aging of the staff, which, again, raises questions about long-term sustainability. The growing performance and the slight increase in digital maturity can be attributed to group-wide capacity building and digitalization programs that bring together staff from all AGS utilities in year-long activities.

The CO2 Human Emissions (CHE) Project: First Steps Towards a European Operational Capacity to Monitor Anthropogenic CO2 Emissions

The Paris Agreement of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change is a binding international treaty signed by 196 nations to limit their greenhouse gas emissions through ever-reducing Nationally Determined Contributions and a system of 5-yearly Global Stocktakes in an Enhanced Transparency Framework. To support this process, the European Commission initiated the design and development of a new Copernicus service element that will use Earth observations mainly to monitor anthropogenic carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions. The CO2 Human Emissions (CHE) project has been successfully coordinating efforts of its 22 consortium partners, to advance the development of a European CO2 monitoring and verification support (CO2MVS) capacity for anthropogenic CO2 emissions. Several project achievements are presented and discussed here as examples. The CHE project has developed an enhanced capability to produce global, regional and local CO2 simulations, with a focus on the representation of anthropogenic sources. The project has achieved advances towards a CO2 global inversion capability at high resolution to connect atmospheric concentrations to surface emissions. CHE has also demonstrated the use of Earth observations (satellite and ground-based) as well as proxy data for human activity to constrain uncertainties and to enhance the timeliness of CO2 monitoring. High-resolution global simulations (at 9 km) covering the whole of 2015 (labelled CHE nature runs) fed regional and local simulations over Europe (at 5 km and 1 km resolution) and supported the generation of synthetic satellite observations simulating the contribution of a future dedicated Copernicus CO2 Monitoring Mission (CO2M).

Load Sharing Scheme Incorporating Power Security Margins for Parallel Operation of Voltage Source Inverters

The interconnection of distributed energy resources (DERs) in microgrids (MGs) operating in both islanded and grid-connected modes require coordinated control strategies. DERs are interfaced with voltage source inverters (VSIs) enabling interconnection. This paper proposes a load demand sharing scheme for the parallel operation of VSIs in an islanded voltage source inverter-based microgrid (VSI-MG). The ride-through capability of a heavily loaded VSI-MG, where some of the VSIs are fully loaded due to the occurrence of an event is investigated. In developing analytical equations to model the VSI, the concept of virtual synchronous machines (VSM) is applied to enable the VSI mimic the inertia effect of synchronous machines. A power frame transformation (PFT) that takes the line ratios of the MG network into account is also incorporated to yield satisfactory transient responses of both network frequency and bus voltages in the MG network. A Jacobian-based method is then developed to take into account the operational capacity of each VSI in the VSI-MG. The resulting amendable droop control constrains the VSIs within their power capabilities when an event occurs. Simulation results presented within demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed procedure which has great potential to facilitate efforts in maintaining system reliability and resiliency.

Mākslīgais intelekts un nākotnes regulējuma dilemma

Digital innovations such as artificial intelligence systems, although limited in their current operational capacity, can be considered to be part of our daily life. Various ways in which these systems are implemented into day-to-day aspects directly affect not only the further development of the industrial sector but the society as a whole. The purpose of this article is to provide a brief insight into the current situation and the various initiatives of the European Union institutions in relation to the methodology for the application of civil liability in the case of damage caused by artificial intelligence systems, as well as to assess the content of future regulatory framework that has been published by the European Parliament, with whom it is intended to establish a common methodology throughout the European Union for the application of civil liability regime, if the damage is caused by artificial intelligence systems.

Wind Farm Power Optimization and Fault Ride-Through under Inter-Turn Short-Circuit Fault

Inter-Turn Short Circuit (ITSC) fault in stator winding is a common fault in Doubly-Fed Induction Generator (DFIG)-based Wind Turbines (WTs). Improper measures in the ITSC fault affect the safety of the faulty WT and the power output of the Wind Farm (WF). This paper combines derating WTs and the power optimization of the WF to diminish the fault effect. At the turbine level, switching the derating strategy and the ITSC Fault Ride-Through (FRT) strategy is adopted to ensure that WTs safely operate under fault. At the farm level, the Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO)-based active power dispatch strategy is used to address proper power references in all of the WTs. The simulation results demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method. Switching the derating strategy can increase the power limit of the faulty WT, and the ITSC FRT strategy can ensure that the WT operates without excessive faulty current. The PSO-based power optimization can improve the power of the WF to compensate for the power loss caused by the faulty WT. With the proposed method, the competitiveness and the operational capacity of offshore WFs can be upgraded.

Review and decision support of options for the removal, treatment and disposal of stormwater sediments

Stormwater management (SWM) ponds are a widely used option to control runoff, decrease flooding potential, reduce erosion rates in receiving waters and improve water quality. Although dredging and disposal are accepted practices, there is a need to consider alternative removal techniques, since 1) overall costs for a single pond can be substantial, and 2) a large number of ponds are approaching their operational capacity. It is evident that numerous remedial and beneficial reuse options are more economically viable and environmentally stable than current options. The intent of the current research was to develop guidance for municipalities and operators when faced with contaminated stormwater sediments. This paper presents a review of potential removal, treatment, disposal and beneficial use options and offers a simple decision support methodology to aid in the selection of options.