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Non-consensual sterilisation is not only a historic abuse. Cases of unethical treatment of women around the time of a pregnancy continue in the Twenty-First Century in five continents. Sterilisation is being carried out by some healthcare professionals at the time of delivery, or soon afterwards, without valid consent. A range of contemporary examples of such practices is given. Respecting women's autonomy should be the touchstone of the consent process. Avoidance of force, duress, deception and manipulation should go without saying. Ethnic minority communities and women living with HIV, in particular, are being targeted for this kind of abuse. Attempts have been made in various countries and by international professional organisations to introduce clinical guidelines to steer health professionals away from this malpractice. Survivors have sought justice in domestic and international courts. This paper critically assesses the evidence on the practical, ethical and legal issues around the handling of consent for these procedures. Suggestions are made about possible regulatory responses that address abuse, whilst maintaining access for those individuals who freely elect to undergo these procedures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Non‐pharmacologic interventions might be effective to reduce the incidence of delirium in pediatric intensive care units (PICU). Aim: To explore expert opinions and generate informed consensus decisions regarding the content of a non‐pharmacologic delirium bundle to manage delirium in PICU patients. Study design: A two‐round online Delphi study was conducted from February to April 2021. PICU experts (nurses, physicians, researchers, physical therapists, play specialists, and occupational therapists) located in Europe, North America, South America, Asia, and Australia participated. Results: We developed a questionnaire based on the outcomes of a comprehensive literature search in the domains: 1) cognition support; 2) sleep support; and 3) physical activity support. Under these domains, we listed 11 strategies to promote support with 61 interventions. Participants rated the feasibility of each intervention on a 9‐point Likert scale (ranging from 1 strongly disagree to 9 strongly agree). A disagreement index and panel median were calculated to determine the level of agreement among experts. In the second round, participants reassessed the revised statements and ranked the interventions in each domain in order of importance for age groups: 0–2, 3–5, and 6–18 years of age. During the first Delphi round, 53 of 74 (72%) questionnaires were completed, and in the second round 45 of 74 (61%) were completed. Five of the highest ranked interventions across the age groups were: 1) developing a daily routine, 2) adjusting light exposure according to the time of day, 3) scheduling time for sleep, 4) providing eyeglasses and hearing aids if appropriate, 5) encouraging parental presence. Conclusions: Based on expert consensus, we developed an age‐specific non‐pharmacologic delirium bundle of interventions to manage delirium in PICU patients. Relevance to Clinical Practice: An age‐specific Non‐Pharmacological Delirium bundle is now ready to be tested in the PICU and will hopefully reduce pediatric delirium. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: This paper addresses the design of container liner shipping networks taking into consideration container management issues including empty container repositioning. We examine two typical service networks with different ship sizes: multi-port calling by conventional ship size and hub-and-spoke by mega-ship. The entire solution process is performed in two phases: the service network design and container distribution. A wide variety of numerical experiments are conducted for the Asia–Europe and Asia–North America trade lanes. In most scenarios the multi-port calling is superior in terms of total cost, while the hub-and-spoke is more advantageous in the European trade for a costly shipping company. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Current centers of active research on the management of technology and innovation (MOT) are identified through the use of a publication-based study. This article develops a methodology for ranking centers of MOT research and in doing so identifies 120 centers of MOT research in different parts of the world. Centers of research are identified in Africa, Asia, Australia, Europe, and North America. Detailed assessment is offered for the 21 U.S.-based schools with three or more active MOT researchers present. The nature and quality of research activity is assessed with a series of 21 metrics. These metrics consider the number of active faculty, the number of publications researchers have in the base journals during the study period, total publication history, MOT publication history, number of equivalent articles, number of pages published, frequency of citations, and a series of metrics that are a combination of two or more of these factors. The assessment identifies four groups of schools that have MOT research capabilities. Schools with substantial research capability are divided into three tiers based on their rankings in different metrics. Each of the schools ranked in the first tier placed first on at least two of the 21 metrics considered in this study. A reasonable argument can be made that any one of the schools ranking in the first tier is the strongest school in terms of MOT research capabilities. These U.S.-based schools in alphabetical order are Georgia Tech, MIT, Rensselaer, Rutgers, and Stanford. An important point to note is that there are clear differences in research focus between the different first-tier schools; therefore, it is quite likely that different types of students, faculties, and practitioners will find each of the first-tier schools most attractive based on personal fit with these differences in specialization. The schools in the second and third tier have substantial MOT research capability. The fourth tier identifies 18 additional U.S.-based schools that have some capability due to a core of two researchers. This core could be the springboard to a national ranking or a transitory state due to departure of a faculty member. Future research should consider the stability of the results over time and should explore the links among research capabilities, program structure, student output, and placement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]