COVID-19 is a highly infectious respiratory virus that has posed a great threat to the general public. In order to prevent its spread, many governments have enacted stringent measures. Supply chains around the world are facing major disruptions and difficulties adjusting to the new demands and needs of a locked down world. In this paper, we will address the relationship between supply chain operations and the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Given current global shortages in essential goods such as medication, we explore the connection between said shortage and supply chain issues, such as the lack of supply chain transparency and resilience, as well as unsustainable just-in-time manufacturing. To mitigate the effects of these issues and protect supply chain operations, we propose some recommendations, such as nationalizing the medical supply chains, adopting a plus one diversification approach, and increasing safety stock. These recommendations are given to not only mitigate current consequences in relation to the ongoing crisis, but also to suggest measures that will provide firms the resiliency needed to weather similar potential shortages in the future.

Propagation of flood waves in an open channel can be mathematically approximated by the Saint-Venant equations (dynamic wave) or by their simplifications including the kinematic wave, noninertia wave, gravity wave, and quasi-steady dynamic wave models. All of these wave approximations differ not only in the physical propagation mechanism, but also in the degree of complexity involved in computation. In order to efficiently implement the approximate wave models for flood routing, their criteria of applicability should be developed. The applicability of the kinematic wave, noninertia wave, and quasi-steady dynamic wave approximations to the full dynamic wave equations for unsteady flow routing is examined by comparing the propagation characteristics of a sinusoidal perturbation to the steady gradually varying flow for different simplified wave models. Development of the applicability criteria provides a guideline for selecting an appropriate wave model for unsteady flow modeling, thus enabling an assessment...