RESUMO
The railway industry has witnessed increasing adoption of digital technologies, known as Railway 4.0, that is revolutionizing operations, infrastructure, and transportation systems. However, developing countries face challenges in keeping pace with these technological advancements. With limited research on Railway 4.0 adoption in developing countries, this study was motivated to investigate the awareness, readiness, and challenges faced by railway professionals towards implementing Railway 4.0 technologies. The aim was to assess the level of awareness and preparedness and identify the key challenges influencing Railway 4.0 adoption in Nigeria's railway construction industry. A questionnaire survey (was distributed to professionals in the railway construction sector to gather their perspectives on awareness of, preparation for, and challenges associated with the use of Railway 4.0 technologies. The results revealed that awareness of Railway 4.0 technologies was moderate, while readiness was low among the professionals. Using exploratory factor analysis, 10 underlying challenge constructs were identified including lack of technical know-how, resistance to change, infrastructure limitations, and uncertainty about benefits, amongst others. Partial Least Square Structural Equation Modelling (PLS-SEM) confirmed these constructs, with reliability and availability, lack of technical know-how, lack of training and resources, and uncertainties in benefit and gains having significant influence on awareness and readiness. The study concludes that focused efforts in training, infrastructure improvement, supportive policies, and communicating the advantages of Railway 4.0 are critical to drive adoption in Nigeria and other developing economies. The findings provide insights into tailoring Railway 4.0 implementation strategies for developing contexts.
RESUMO
Background: Emerging SARS-CoV-2 variants have been attributed to the occurrence of secondary, tertiary, quaternary, and quinary COVID-19 epidemic waves threatening vaccine efforts owing to their immune invasiveness. Since the importation of SARS-CoV-2 in South Africa, with the first reported COVID-19 case on March 5, 2020, South Africa has observed 5 consecutive COVID-19 epidemic waves. The evolution of SARS-CoV-2 has played a major role in the resurgence of COVID-19 epidemic waves in South Africa and across the globe. Objective: We aimed to conduct descriptive and inferential statistical analysis on South African COVID-19 epidemiological data to investigate the impact of SARS-CoV-2 lineages and COVID-19 vaccinations in South African COVID-19 epidemiology. Methods: The general methodology involved the collation and stratification, covariance, regression analysis, normalization, and comparative inferential statistical analysis through null hypothesis testing (paired 2-tailed t tests) of South African COVID-19 epidemiological data. Results: The mean daily positive COVID-19 tests in South Africa's first, second, third, fourth, and fifth COVID-19 epidemic wave periods were 11.5% (SD 8.58%), 11.5% (SD 8.45%), 13.3% (SD 9.72%), 13.1% (SD 9.91%), and 14.3% (SD 8.49%), respectively. The COVID-19 transmission rate in the first and second COVID-19 epidemic waves in South Africa was similar, while the COVID-19 transmission rate was higher in the third, fourth, and fifth COVID-19 epidemic waves than in the aforementioned waves. Most COVID-19 hospitalized cases in South Africa were in the general ward (60%-79.1%). Patients with COVID-19 on oxygen were the second-largest admission status (11.2%-16.8%), followed by patients with COVID-19 in the intensive care unit (8.07%-16.7%). Most patients hospitalized owing to COVID-19 in South Africa's first, second, third, and fourth COVID-19 epidemic waves were aged between 40 and 49 years (16.8%-20.4%) and 50 and 59 years (19.8%-25.3%). Patients admitted to the hospital owing to COVID-19 in the age groups of 0 to 19 years were relatively low (1.98%-4.59%). In general, COVID-19 hospital admissions in South Africa for the age groups between 0 and 29 years increased after each consecutive COVID-19 epidemic wave, while for age groups between 30 and 79 years, hospital admissions decreased. Most COVID-19 hospitalization deaths in South Africa in the first, second, third, fourth, and fifth COVID-19 epidemic waves were in the ages of 50 to 59 years (15.8%-24.8%), 60 to 69 years (15.9%-29.5%), and 70 to 79 years (16.6%-20.7%). Conclusions: The relaxation of COVID-19 nonpharmaceutical intervention health policies in South Africa and the evolution of SARS-CoV-2 were associated with increased COVID-19 transmission and severity in the South African population. COVID-19 vaccination in South Africa was strongly associated with a decrease in COVID-19 hospitalization and severity in South Africa.