Analysis of Impact of ICT Solutions in International Freight Management

The paper analyses a crucial problem in the international freight management and assesses the application of an innovative solution based on Information and Communication Technology (ICT) tools. In order to improve the customs clearance procedures, the paper analyses the main anomalies and bottlenecks related to international freight management of a case study by modelling the customs clearance activities in the Unified Modelling Language framework. Moreover, some novel ICT based solutions are proposed in order to optimize suited performance indices. The flow of goods and information involved in the case study is simulated in different scenarios in order to highlight the improvements reached by using ICT solutions. The simulation results point out the huge impact of ICT on customs clearance operations

A metamodelling approach for performance evaluation of intermodal transportation networks

The paper proposes a metamodelling procedure devoted to provide a reference model to be used by decision makers in the performance evaluation of Intermodal Transportation Network (ITN). In order to obtain a generic model describing a nonspecific ITN from the structural and behavioural point of view, the metamodelling approach consists in applying a top down and modular procedure. The model is specified by the well known Unified Modelling Language (UML), a graphic and textual modelling formalism intended to describe systems from structural and dynamics viewpoints. Hence, the paper models a generic ITN starting from the network description and shows by a case study the metamodel of one of the most important nodes that compose it: the port subsystem. Moreover, the case study model is translated in a simulation software and the performance measures obtained by the simulation results are shown

Relation of epicardial fat and alanine aminotransferase in subjects with increased visceral fat

Background: Increased visceral adipose tissue (VAT) is a risk factor for an unfavorable cardio-metabolic profile and fatty liver. Individuals with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) on highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) can be associated with metabolic syndrome (MS) and higher visceral fat. However, the potential link between cardiac adiposity, emerging index of visceral adiposity, and fatty liver is still unexplored. Objective: To evaluate whether echocardiographic epicardial adipose tissue, index of cardiac adiposity, could be related to serum alanine aminotransferase (ALT) and aspartate aminotransferase (AST) activity, surrogate markers of fatty liver, in HIV-infected patients with (HIV+MS+) and without HAART-associated MS (HIV+MS-). Methods and Procedures: This was a cross-sectional observational study on 57 HIV+MS+ patients, 52 HIV+MS- and 57 HIV-negative subjects with MS (HIV-MS+), as control group. Epicardial fat thickness and intra-abdominal VAT were obtained by echocardiography and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), respectively. Serum ALT and AST activity, plasma adiponectin levels, and MS biochemical parameters were measured. Results: Echocardiographic epicardial fat thickness was correlated with MRI-VAT (r = 0.83, P < 0.01), AST/ALT ratio (r = 0.77, P < 0.01), ALT (r = 0.58, P < 0.01), AST (r = 0.56, P < 0.01), and adiponectin (r = -0.45, P < 0.01) in HIV+MS+. MRI-VAT and AST/ALT ratio were the best correlates of epicardial fat thickness (r(2) = 0.45, P < 0.01). Discussion: This study shows for the first time a clear relationship of epicardial fat, index of cardiac and visceral adiposity, and serum ALT and AST activity, markers of fatty liver, in subjects with increased visceral adiposity and cardio-metabolic risk. This correlation seems to be independent of overall adiposity and rather function of excess visceral adiposity

Performance assessment for intermodal transportation systems: A case study

Abstract: This paper proposes a methodology to evaluate an Intermodal Transportation System (ITS). These systems are very complex and a lot of different actors are involved. The evaluation process should take into account concurrent needs and goals. Moreover, the data and the importance of different indicators are strictly related to the judgments of individual experts. Then it is necessary to have a methodology able to collect all the independent judgments and merge them in order to evaluate the whole system performances. The paper proposes a general methodology based on the Analytic Hierarchy Process to evaluate the behavior of the ITS system. Moreover, the hierarchy including the typical factors that compose a logistic system has been identified. In order to show the effectiveness of the proposed methodology, we present a real case study consisting of the port of Trieste (Italy), the intermodal terminal and the highway connecting them. Several Key Performance Indicators are evaluated to provide assessment procedure

A flexible platform for intermodal transportation and integrated logistics

This paper proposes an application of Information and Communications Technology (ICT) tools and Internet of Things to support intermodal transport and integrated logistics. In particular, the design and development of a new ICT platform is presented in order to facilitate the connectivity of the logistics systems, applications or objects from stakeholders to any logistics collaborative environment. The proposed platform aims to i) provide technological solutions to enhance and simplify collaboration among actors along the supply chain; ii) adopt and provide core functionalities to improve, optimise and automate transport and logistics operations within supply collaborations; iii) simplify information exchange within an integrated security framework. Finally, we show a case study in order to enlighten the effectiveness of the proposed ICT platform

Genetic diversity and population structure of Pseudomonas savastanoi, an endemic pathogen of the Mediterranean area, revealed up to strain level by the MLVA assay

© 2020, Società Italiana di Patologia Vegetale (S.I.Pa.V.). Pseudomonas savastanoi is a bacterial species included in the Pseudomonas syringae complex. It is further sub-typed in pathovars which are the causal agents of a group of diseases of woody plants, such as the “knot disease” on olive and oleander and the bacterial canker on ash. Given its long-established presence in the Mediterranean area, the pathogen causing the afore-mentioned diseases can be considered endemic. Here, an MLVA approach was developed to assess the genetic relationships among and within those pathovars, with a specific focus on P. savastanoi pv. savastanoi. By analyzing the genome of the P.savastanoi pv. savastanoi strain NCPPB 3335 (accession n° CP008742), 14 Tandem Repeat (TR) loci were identified and the corresponding primers were designed and used for the amplification of genomic DNAs from 84 strains belonging to Pseudomonas savastanoi pathovars. Data were analyzed using different approaches, such as hierarchical clustering, STRUCTURE, and k-means clustering with DAPC to evaluate the effectiveness of the assay in describing pathovars and population structure of the pathogen. Results reveal a very complex articulation of genetic relationships, as expected from a long-time evolving pathogen, while providing the possibility to discriminate the pathovars between each other. At intra-pathovar level, the MLVA assay clusters isolates mainly according to their hosts and geographic origin. This resulted particularly useful in the identification and tracking of P. savastanoi populations at local level.11n

Brown Fat Expresses Adiponectin in Humans

The presence of brown adipose tissue (BAT) in humans is unclear. Pheochromocytomas (PHEO) are rare tumors of neuroectodermal origin which occur in 0.1-0.2% of patients with hypertension. We sought to evaluate the presence and activity of BAT surrounding adrenal PHEO in a well-studied sample of 11 patients who were diagnosed with PHEO and then underwent adrenalectomy. Areas of white fat (WAT) and BAT surrounding PHEO were obtained by Laser Capture Microdissection for analysis of uncoupling protein (UCP)-1 and adiponectin mRNA expression. Adiponectin and UCP-1 mRNA levels were significantly higher in BAT than in WAT (0.62 versus 0.15 and 362.4 versus 22.1, resp., for both). Adiponectin mRNA levels significantly correlated with urinary metanephrines (, ), vanilly mandelic acid (VMA) (, ), and serum adiponectin levels (, ). Serum adiponectin levels significantly decreased ( μg/mL versus  μg/mL, ) after adrenalectomy in PHEO subjects. This study provides the following findings: (1) BAT surrounding PHEO expresses adiponectin and UCP-1 mRNA, (2) expression of adiponectin mRNA is significantly higher in BAT than in WAT surrounding PHEO, and (3) catecholamines and serum adiponectin levels significantly correlate with BAT UCP-1 and adiponectin mRNA

Serum Albumin Is Inversely Associated With Portal Vein Thrombosis in Cirrhosis

We analyzed whether serum albumin is independently associated with portal vein thrombosis (PVT) in liver cirrhosis (LC) and if a biologic plausibility exists. This study was divided into three parts. In part 1 (retrospective analysis), 753 consecutive patients with LC with ultrasound-detected PVT were retrospectively analyzed. In part 2, 112 patients with LC and 56 matched controls were entered in the cross-sectional study. In part 3, 5 patients with cirrhosis were entered in the in vivo study and 4 healthy subjects (HSs) were entered in the in vitro study to explore if albumin may affect platelet activation by modulating oxidative stress. In the 753 patients with LC, the prevalence of PVT was 16.7%; logistic analysis showed that only age (odds ratio [OR], 1.024; P = 0.012) and serum albumin (OR, -0.422; P = 0.0001) significantly predicted patients with PVT. Analyzing the 112 patients with LC and controls, soluble clusters of differentiation (CD)40-ligand (P = 0.0238), soluble Nox2-derived peptide (sNox2-dp; P &lt; 0.0001), and urinary excretion of isoprostanes (P = 0.0078) were higher in patients with LC. In LC, albumin was correlated with sCD4OL (Spearman's rank correlation coefficient [r(s)], -0.33; P &lt; 0.001), sNox2-dp (r(s), -0.57; P &lt; 0.0001), and urinary excretion of isoprostanes (r(s), -0.48; P &lt; 0.0001) levels. The in vivo study showed a progressive decrease in platelet aggregation, sNox2-dp, and urinary 8-iso prostaglandin F2 alpha-III formation 2 hours and 3 days after albumin infusion. Finally, platelet aggregation, sNox2-dp, and isoprostane formation significantly decreased in platelets from HSs incubated with scalar concentrations of albumin. Conclusion: Low serum albumin in LC is associated with PVT, suggesting that albumin could be a modulator of the hemostatic system through interference with mechanisms regulating platelet activation

Induced systemic resistance in Arabidopsis thaliana elicited by bean (Phaseolus vulgaris) rhizobacteria and their volatiles against Xanthomonas campestris pv. armoraciae.

INDUCED SYSTEMIC RESISTANCE IN ARABIDOPSIS THALIANA ELICITED BY BEAN (PHASEOLUS VULGARIS) RHIZOBACTERIA AND THEIR VOLATILES AGAINST XANTHOMONAS CAMPESTRIS PV. ARMORACIAE A. Giorgio1, P.A.H.M. Bakker2, N.S. Iacobellis1 1Scuola di Scienze Agrarie, Forestali, Alimentari ed Ambientali, Università degli Studi della Basilicata, Viale dell’Ateneo Lucano 10, 85100, Potenza, Italy. 2Plant-Microbe Interactions, Institute of Environmental Biology, Utrecht University, Padualaan 8, 3584 CH Utrecht, The Netherlands. E-mail: [email protected] Bacteria that are naturally associated to the rhizosphere of Phaseolus vulgaris were isolated and evaluated for the production of diffusible and volatile antimicrobial metabolites and hydrolytic enzymes. Six strains of rhizobacteria that inhibited the growth of bean pathogens, were identified as Pseudomonas and Bacillus spp.. When applied to bean seeds, these stains reduced the disease caused by Xanthomonas campestris pv. phaseoli var. fuscans inoculated by injection in the leaves, suggesting the involvement of induced systemic resistance (ISR). Arabidopsis thaliana is a model plant for which ISR has been well documented, including signal transduction pathways involved, and we assessed whether three selected rhizobacteria were able to elicit ISR in the pathosystem A. thaliana / X.c.pv. armoraciae. Pseudomonas fluorescens WCS417 was used as a positive control for ISR in A. thaliana. Inducing plants by root colonization or exposing A. thaliana to volatiles produced by three selected rhizobacteria reduced X.c.s pv. armoraciae growth in plant tissues and disease symptoms after inoculation of the leaves by dipping. Expression analysis of the defense marker genes PR1, ERF1, PDF1.2, and VSP2 in A. thaliana Col-0 after pathogen infection showed that exposure to the volatiles resulted in priming. The involvement of specific defense-related pathways in ISR was investigated using A. thaliana mutants affected in salicylic acid, ethylene, or jasmonic acid signaling. These results provide new insights on plant defense responses through different signal transduction pathways, depending on the rhizobacterium used and on the involvement of rhizobacterial volatiles in eliciting ISR

A risk assessment framework for hazmat transportation in highways by colored petri nets

The management and control of vehicles transporting hazardous materials (hazmat) on congested highways has attracted growing attention from researchers in recent years. This paper proposes a decision support system (DSS) for monitoring hazmat vehicles, aimed at assessing two problems: evaluating the social risk induced by hazmat vehicles traveling in highways and selecting restoration procedures after an accident involving heavy vehicles. The proposed DSS can estimate in real time and offline the risk of hazmat transportation, by taking into account the type of transported hazmat, the traffic, and the density of populations living close to the highway. Two main modules of the DSS are specified: the risk assessment module and the simulation module (SM) that allows forecasting risk in different contexts and scenarios. In particular, the SM is realized by modeling the highway network in a colored Petri net (CPN) framework. In order to show the effectiveness and the applicability of the DSS, a prototype is described and applied to a highway in the North-east of Italy. \ua9 2013 IEEE