Purpose: This review mainly aims to identify the lean practice conducted in hospitals, determining what problems lean practice can be helpful to solve in the hospitals. Data sources: Four electronic databases (Scopus, Web of science, Medline, and PubMed) were conducted for searching related literature in this review. Study selection: These studies in the hospitals that related lean healthcare practice and contained outcome variables were included. Data extraction: Related information such as research design, countries, lean tools, outcome variables, results were extracted. Results of data synthesis: 20 eligible articles were identified in this review. There was 20% lean practice being conducted in emergency department of hospitals in this review. Six cases have implemented lean in Brazilian hospitals. There were 12 cases implemented lean practice through Value Stream Mapping. Conclusion: Lean practices were highly valued in Brazilian hospitals, and it was frequently implemented in hospital emergency department. Value Stream Mapping and process mapping were the most commonly used lean tool. Waiting time, lead time and Length of Hospital Stay (LOS) were the primary indicators reflecting improvements in this review.

Water pollution has become a serious threat to our ecosystem. Water contamination due to human, commercial, and industrial activities has negatively affected the whole world. Owing to the global demanding challenges of water pollution treatments and achieving sustainability, membrane technology has gained increasing research attention. Although numerous membrane materials have focused, the sustainable water purification membranes are most effective for environmental needs. In this regard sustainable, green, and recyclable polymeric and nanocomposite membranes have been developed. Materials fulfilling sustainable environmental demands usually include wide-ranging polyesters, polyamides, polysulfones, and recyclable/biodegradable petroleum polymers plus non-toxic solvents. Consequently, water purification membranes for nanofiltration, microfiltration, reverse osmosis, ultrafiltration, and related filtration processes have been designed. Sustainable polymer membranes for water purification have been manufactured using facile techniques. The resulting membranes have been tested for desalination, dye removal, ion separation, and antibacterial processes for wastewater. Environmental sustainability studies have also pointed towards desired life cycle assessment results for these water purification membranes. Recycling of water treatment membranes have been performed by three major processes mechanical recycling, chemical recycling, or thermal recycling. Moreover, use of sustainable membranes has caused positive environmental impacts for safe waste water treatment. Importantly, worth of sustainable water purification membranes has been analyzed for the environmentally friendly water purification applications. There is vast scope of developing and investigating water purification membranes using countless sustainable polymers, materials, and nanomaterials. Hence, value of sustainable membranes has been analyzed to meet the global demands and challenges to attain future clean water and ecosystem.

Since an outbreak of COVID-19 in the late 2019 in Wuhan in China, the pandemic and contagious nature of coronavirus did not spare Nigeria as the most populous Africa nation from being affected. Statistical records have shown that a large number of citizens were affected and overwhelming literature has explored different dimensions of the impacts of COVID-19 in the country. However, there is a less attention in exploring legal, economic, health and ethical impacts of the pandemic on Nigerian children. The paper primarily aims at filling this gap in the existing body of knowledge. Systematic literature review (SLR) and content analysis of secondary data of online peer-reviewed, scholarly articles among others were used as methodology. The findings revealed that, the general economic impact of COVID-19 that affects trade and small & medium scale business activities of parents also directly or indirectly affected their children. The health consequence of COVID-19 affects provision of nutritious foods that would help their balanced diet and growth. It is further noted that the ethical impact of COVID-19 affects their right to education as a result of lockdown during the first phase of the out-break. It is however reiterated that, there has not been adequate legal framework to address the multifarious im-pacts of COVID-19 on the Nigerian children. In conclusion, this paper has novel contribution specifically showing concern for children during the period of COVID-19 pandemic in the country. It is therefore suggested that efforts should be galvanized by the stakeholders in addressing multifarious challenges of the impact of COVID-19 on the Nigerian children as explored in this study.

The Ecuadorian electricity sector encompasses generation, transmission, distribution and sales. Since the change of the Constitution in Ecuador in 2008, the sector has opted to employ a centralized model. The present research aims to measure the efficiency level of the Ecuadorian electricity sector during the period 2012–2021, using a DEA-NETWORK methodology, which allows examining and integrating each of the phases defined above through intermediate inputs, which are inputs in subsequent phases and outputs of some other phases. These intermediate inputs are essential for analyzing efficiency from a global view of the system. For research purposes, the Ecuadorian electricity sector was divided into 9 planning zones. The results revealed that the efficiency of zones 6 and 8 had the greatest impact on the overall efficiency of the Ecuadorian electricity sector during the period 2012–2015. On the other hand, the distribution phase is the most efficient with an index of 0.9605, followed by sales with an index of 0.6251. It is also concluded that the most inefficient phases are generation and transmission, thus verifying the problems caused by the use of a centralized model.

This article aims to describe and analyze pattern of management learning communities in frontier area Indoensia-Philippines. The relationship between Indonesia-Phlippines in frontier area represents a unique intersection culture and dynamic interplay onf interaction. The people in frontier area were relating by the historical events in the past. This article using historical methods; heuristic, critics/verification, interpretation and historiography were to emphasize the utilization of primary sources. The primary source collected from the oral tradition between Indonesia-Philippines people in frontier area. This article employs a social scientific approach to elucidate the cultural relationships within border communities. Cultural relationships are indicative of an extensive process that exerts influence on communal living practices in the management of their existence as a unique identity. This study provides a comprehensive analysis of the cultural relations in the frontier area between Indonesia and the Philippines. The findings offer insights into the intricate interplay of factors shaping cultural dynamics in border regions, contributing to a deeper understanding of cross-border interactions and the construction of cultural identities.