Modelling freight supplier behaviour and response

The study of choice behaviour in freight transport faces a number of challenges and difficulties which set it part from the study of choice behaviour in passenger transport. One factor responsible for this phenomenon is the far greater complexity of freight transport systems, mainly resulting from the enormous diversity of commodity and firm characteristics. Moreover, in contrast to passenger transport, freight choice behaviour has not concentrated in a single agent but rather, especially in recent years, distributed jointly over multiple individuals and firms in a logistical chain. Using conceptual and methodological approaches developed in the passenger sector while ignoring the influence of supply chain and logistics concepts, as found in almost all existing freight demand studies, is therefore inappropriate to represent freight agents’ choice behaviours in this evolving supply chain environment.EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo

Natural product 'legal highs'

Covering: up to the end of 2011 The last five years have seen a dramatic increase in the global popularity of 'Legal Highs', often referred to as Novel Psychoactive Substances (NPS). These materials are single chemicals, plant or fungal materials or their extracts, which may be purchased and possessed without legal restriction in certain countries. The single chemical entity drugs are often closely structurally related to existing controlled drugs of abuse from, for example, the amphetamine (phenethylamine), cannabinoid-mimetic or tryptamine classes, whereas the natural products are from plant or fungal materials that have a long history of pharmacognosy. These natural product legal highs are by their very nature highly chemically complex, and in the clear majority of cases, chemical studies were conducted some considerable time ago. Their pharmacology and toxicology generally focuses on the major active principles with few studies detailing the potentially highly complicated and multiple effects of their extracts. This complexity, coupled with the inherent natural product variability of plant and fungal species, adds a further dimension to the potential harms associated with natural product legal high use. This review encompasses the most popular current legal highs and describes their basic chemistry, usage and preparation, pharmacology, toxicology and discusses the issues surrounding the complexity of these materials, and how this can impact on the evaluation of their harms. © 2012 The Royal Society of Chemistry

Natural Product (Fungal and Herbal) Novel Psychoactive Substances

Natural product novel psychoactive substances (‘legal highs’) are psychoactive plants or fungi that can be easily acquired from the Internet or retail outlets known as head shops without legal restriction. These materials are either stimulant-, hallucinogenic- or analgesic-like in their effects (or a combination) and many contain phenylethylamine- and tryptamine-derived natural products that are responsible for their pharmacological action. Unfortunately in many cases the chemistry of these materials was studied some time ago and up-to-date chemical and pharmacological analysis of these complex materials is absent, with little understanding of their effects singularly or in combination with other recreational drugs. This chapter covers the chemistry of fungal and herbal novel psychoactive substances and gives an overview of what is currently known of their pharmacology and toxicology. The legality of these materials will vary from country to country and over a period of time as their popularity varies and their adverse effects become better understood

Quantifying Road-Network Robustness toward Flood-Resilient Transportation Systems

Amidst sudden and unprecedented increases in the severity and frequency of climate-change-induced natural disasters, building critical infrastructure resilience has become a prominent policy issue globally for reducing disaster risks. Sustainable measures and procedures to strengthen preparedness, response, and recovery of infrastructures are urgently needed, but the standard for measuring such resilient elements has yet to be consensually developed. This study was undertaken with an aim to quantitatively measure transportation infrastructure robustness, a proactive dimension of resilience capacities and capabilities to withstand disasters; in this case, floods. A four-stage analytical framework was empirically implemented: (1) specifying the system and disturbance (i.e., road network and flood risks in Chiang Mai, Thailand), (2) illustrating the system response using the damaged area as a function of floodwater levels and protection measures, (3) determining recovery thresholds based on land use and system functionality, and (4) quantifying robustness through the application of edge- and node-betweenness centrality models. Various quantifiable indicators of transportation robustness can be revealed; not only flood-damaged areas commonly considered in flood-risk management and spatial planning, but also the numbers of affected traffic links, nodes, and cars are highly valuable for transportation planning in achieving sustainable flood-resilient transportation systems

A Comprehensive Review of Andrographis paniculata (Burm. f.) Nees and Its Constituents as Potential Lead Compounds for COVID-19 Drug Discovery

The COVID-19 pandemic has intensively disrupted global health, economics, and well-being. Andrographis paniculata (Burm. f.) Nees has been used as a complementary treatment for COVID-19 in several Asian countries. This review aimed to summarize the information available regarding A. paniculata and its constituents, to provide critical points relating to its pharmacological properties, safety, and efficacy, revealing its potential to serve as a source of lead compounds for COVID-19 drug discovery. A. paniculata and its active compounds possess favorable antiviral, anti-inflammatory, immunomodulatory, and antipyretic activities that could be beneficial for COVID-19 treatment. Interestingly, recent in silico and in vitro studies have revealed that the active ingredients in A. paniculata showed promising activities against 3CLpro and its virus-specific target protein, human hACE2 protein; they also inhibit infectious virion production. Moreover, existing publications regarding randomized controlled trials demonstrated that the use of A. paniculata alone or in combination was superior to the placebo in reducing the severity of upper respiratory tract infection (URTI) manifestations, especially as part of early treatment, without serious side effects. Taken together, its chemical and biological properties, especially its antiviral activities against SARS-CoV-2, clinical trials on URTI, and the safety of A. paniculata, as discussed in this review, support the argument that A. paniculata is a promising natural source for drug discovery regarding COVID-19 post-infectious treatment, rather than prophylaxis

Efficacy and Safety of Bumrunglohit (Blood Tonic Pharmacopoeia) with Ferrous Fumarate to Increase Blood Concentration

Introduction : This research is a study of Blood tonic formula, which is a drug formula registered in the national list of essential drugs. Objective : The objective of this study is to study the efficacy and safety of a blood tonic formula with ferrous fumarate on increasing blood concentration. Medthod : This is a randomized controlled trial (RCT) with 62 healthy female volunteers at Somdej Phra Phutthalertla Hospital in Samut Songkhram Province are divided into 2 groups: the experimental group who received blood tonic drugs, 31 people, and the control group, who received ferrous fumarate, 31 people, by taking the drug for 30 consecutive days and follow-up with clinical symptoms assessment and blood test results. Results : The results are analyzed by independent t-test and Analysis of Covariance: ANCOVA. Blood concentrations of the group receiving blood tonics and the group receiving ferrous fumarate are not significantly different. As for safety, it is found that blood test results and clinical symptoms assessment before and after receiving the drug are normal. Conclusion : Show that the blood tonic formula effect on the blood concentration level is not different from the modern drug used to treat people with anemia. However, more studies are needed in a larger population or patients with anemia directly and take longer to take the drug. Keyword: Blood tonic formula, ferrous fumarate, blood concentratio

France and Polish war refugees and DPs during the First Post-war years

The article intends to outline symptoms of assorted activities involving displaced persons (DPs) and Polish refugees undertaken by the French administration in 1944-1949. DP status was awarded to persons who had been resettled against their wish by the German authorities from occupied Polish territory. Polish wartime refugees included, in turn, Poles who came to France at the time of the Second World War and who, in contrast to the DPs, decided to leave Polish territory where they were threatened by the invaders. From March 1945 Polish DPs were grouped in repatriation camps supervised by the Ministry of Prisoners, Deportees, and Refugees (MPDR). In May 1945 there were 11 MPDR centres in Northern France, the site of the activity of the Polish Red Cross in France. When it became obvious that numerous DPs in Western Europe did not intend to return to their homeland, a certain number of Poles from Germany arrived in France thanks to the newly established Office National de l’Immigration. The majority came from the French occupation zone in Germany. In July 1947 Polish refugees in France (now also including DPs who decidedly opposed the idea of going back to their native land) received social and legal assistance rendered by the International Refugee Organization. According to statistics provided by the International Refugee Organization in 1948 there were 48 550 Poles in France, who openly refused to recognise the Polish government in Warsaw and were entitled to certain rights by being included to the category of Polish political refugees

An analysis of the synthetic tryptamines AMT and 5-MeO-DALT: Emerging 'Novel Psychoactive Drugs'

Novel Psychoactive Drugs (NPD) can be sold without restriction and are often synthetic analogues of controlled drugs. The tryptamines are an important class of NPD as they bind to the various serotonin (5-HT) receptor subtypes and cause psychosis and hallucinations that can lead to injury or death through misadventure. Here we report on the structure elucidation and receptor binding profiles of two widely marketed tryptamine-derived NPDs, namely alpha-methyl-tryptamine and 5-methoxy-N,N-diallyl-tryptamine