The expansion of the port of Genoa: the Rivalta Scrivia dry port

There are two main ways for a port to face the long-term increase in freight demand: a better usage of the current available port land or an enlargement to new port areas. Within this second solution is included the movement outside of the port’s borders of some activities currently carried out in the port, but not directly connected with the loading or unloading of goods. This relieves the territory and the port itself of the negative consequences (represented by the occupancy of scarce resources, such as the port areas) resulting from increased time and costs due to the handling of goods taking space and time from more value added activities and from the negative externalities associated with the presence of the port industry highly impacting the city fabric (such as congestion, atmospheric and acoustic pollution and space taken away from the city). This is the situation of the port of Genoa, where the particular orographic configuration of the territory and a large urbanization of the immediate proximity of the port property have forced the Genoa Port Authority to look for more space in the hinterland in order to manage the import/export of goods in the most efficient and effective way possible. This paper examines the case study of the Rivalta Scrivia dry port, located 75 km from Genoa along the railway line that links the Ligurian capital with the reference market. The need for more space at the service of Genoa port is confirmed by the analysis of the port demand, including both current and forecasted container traffic

Does collaboration pay in agricultural supply chain? An empirical approach

This paper examines the effect of different types of collaboration on the level of Postharvest Food Losses (PHFL) and the proportion of low-quality peaches produced using a unique data-set of Greek peach producers. Quantile regression techniques are adopted to estimate the effects at different points of the conditional distribution of our variables of interest. The findings of this study suggest that high levels of collaboration between producers and cooperatives are associated with both low levels of PHFL and a low proportion of low-quality peaches. We also find that specific types of collaboration, such as ‘goal congruence’, can play a significant role in reducing PHFL and improving the quality of peach production at the extremes of the distribution. Important policy implications regarding collaborative practices and systems that can be implemented to reduce PHFL and boost a producer’s performance together with sustainability credentials are drawn from this study

A calculation code for the air pollution valuation produced by duty vehicle moving in an urban area

Scientific research that started three years ago and was first developed in a Ph.D., has resulted in important results in producing a calculation code in \u201cExcel\u201d that values the main pollutant emissions (CO, NOx, VOC and PM) produced by duty vehicles moving in an urban area. Emissions were obtained by studying data about the main geometrical and flow features of transport network in the area covered. Two mathematical models were integrated in the developed code, a flow and an emission model respectively. The flow simulation model determines, after a calibration according to the particular urban area in examination, the average vehicular speed on a single homogeneus branch of a road network. So, when the average speed is fixed, it is possible to calculate the polluting emissions through the definition of an opportune emission model integrated in the code. The emission model is based on the CORINAIR methodology, implemented in the COPERT III program (COmputer Programme to calculate Emissions from Road Transport) that, where necessary, has been modified according to experimental results, without distorting its basic philosophy. In conclusion, the calculation code allows for making choices in the transport fields considering environmental sustainabilityy aspects in the urban planning analysis, and it represents a good decision support system (DSS)

Optimization of Dynamic Ridesharing Systems

Internet-enabled technologies are becoming more widespread; users are constantly connected to the network in every place and daily activity. Access to transportation-related features\u2014mobile payment systems, Global Positioning System connections, real-time public transit timetables or traffic congestion information, and so on\u2014is easy. This access results in new ways to plan mobility. In the innovative mobility systems implemented and developed with these technologies, the new real-time capabilities of dynamic ridesharing, an extended version of traditional ridesharing, can play a key role if the relevant performance is improved. In other words, although ridesharing is not a new idea, recent technological advances should increase its popularity. In this paper, a proposed ridesharing system considers the interactions between drivers or riders and the system manager and the interactions between drivers and riders. The positions and speeds of the shared vehicles and the traffic flows in which such vehicles travel are omitted. To optimize the performance of the ridesharing system, a discrete event, dynamic pickup and delivery model that represents the considered dynamics and an optimal matching problem that optimally allocates an empty seat in a vehicle to a rider are proposed. The dynamic model represents the behavior of the ridesharing system and computes the relevant performance; the optimization problem finds the best match and path in the considered transportation network to minimize the difference between the desired departure and arrival times. In this paper, after the introduction of the ridesharing model, the discussion of the solution to the optimal matching problem, a simulation model is described. A real world case study is then presented and discussed

Spatial queries on a hierarchical terrain model

In this paper we consider the problem of defining and answering spatial queries on hierarchical terrain models that provide a multiresolution representation. In particular, we focus our attention on interference queries in which the query object is a spatial entity not belonging to the model. We propose algorithms for efficiently answering such queries on a triangle-based hierarchical model. -Author