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Purpose: The environment is increasingly threatened by human activities. The purpose of this study is to assess the impact of the different activities carried out at Madingring Medical Center on the various environmental components. Methodology: To do this, the identification, characterization, and evaluation of the impacts were carried out during several field works using the Léopold and Fecteau matrices. The analysis of the waste management system was done using the Ishikawa 5M diagram. Findings: During the study, the real and potential impacts were identified on the various environments. The incineration of medical waste is classified as hazardous and the poor management of toilets emits polluting and toxic substances into the air, as well as unpleasant odors that modify air quality. The presence of stagnant water from the activities of the medical center due to the lack of good drainage degrades soil quality. Added to this, there is a development of algae and moss on the site. Concerning waste management, it appears that the Center does not have an environmental permit and a waste management plan, the sorting carried out is approximate, hazardous waste is incinerated illegally and others are dumped in landfills, contributing to environmental pollution. For each impact identified, corrective measures have been proposed and may make it possible to mitigate or eliminate the negative effects and improve the positive aspects, by implementing the environmental specifications. Unique contribution to theory, practice and policy: At the end of this study, some recommendations were made. These include training of medical staff in best practices and techniques for medical waste management, monitoring of the implementation of regulations on hospital waste management in Cameroon, information and sensitization of users on the social and environmental impacts of environmental degradation, as well as the best practices and behaviors to adopt within health facilities, the use of bins for the collection and sorting of waste, the creation of a pre-collection unit of waste within the health centers of Cameroon in general and those of Madingring in particular.

Photonic integrated circuits hold great promise in enabling the practical wide-scale deployment of quantum communications; however, despite impressive experiments of component functionality, a fully operational quantum communication system using photonic chips is yet to be demonstrated. Here we demonstrate an entirely standalone secure communication system based on photonic integrated circuits—assembled into compact modules—for quantum random number generation and quantum key distribution at gigahertz clock rates. The bit values, basis selection and decoy pulse intensities used for quantum key distribution are chosen at random, and are based on the output of a chip-based quantum random number generator operating at 4 Gb s–1. Error correction and privacy amplification are performed in real time to produce information-theoretic secure keys for a 100 Gb s–1 line speed data encryption system. We demonstrate long-term continuous operation of the quantum secured communication system using feedback controls to stabilize the qubit phase and propagation delay over metropolitan fibre lengths. These results mark an important milestone for the realistic deployment of quantum communications based on quantum photonic chips. Quantum photonic integrated circuits for a standalone quantum secure communication system are developed and packaged into pluggable interconnects. The system is interfaced with 100 Gb s–1 data encryptors and its performance is evaluated over 10 km to 50 km fibre links.

UNSTRUCTURED The use of artificial intelligence (AI) and big data in medicine has increased in recent years. Indeed, the use of AI in mobile health (mHealth) apps could considerably assist both individuals and health care professionals in the prevention and management of chronic diseases, in a person-centered manner. Nonetheless, there are several challenges that must be overcome to provide high-quality, usable, and effective mHealth apps. Here, we review the rationale and guidelines for the implementation of mHealth apps and the challenges regarding quality, usability, and user engagement and behavior change, with a special focus on the prevention and management of noncommunicable diseases. We suggest that a cocreation-based framework is the best method to address these challenges. Finally, we describe the current and future roles of AI in improving personalized medicine and provide recommendations for developing AI-based mHealth apps. We conclude that the implementation of AI and mHealth apps for routine clinical practice and remote health care will not be feasible until we overcome the main challenges regarding data privacy and security, quality assessment, and the reproducibility and uncertainty of AI results. Moreover, there is a lack of both standardized methods to measure the clinical outcomes of mHealth apps and techniques to encourage user engagement and behavior changes in the long term. We expect that in the near future, these obstacles will be overcome and that the ongoing European project, Watching the risk factors (WARIFA), will provide considerable advances in the implementation of AI-based mHealth apps for disease prevention and health promotion.