Freight Service Design for the Italian Railways Company

In this paper, we present a mathematical model to design the service network, that is the set of origin-destination connections. The resulting model considers both full and empty freight car movements, and takes into account handling costs. More specifically, the model suggests the services to provide, as well as the number of trains and the number and type of cars traveling on each connection. Quality of service, which is measured as total travel time, is established by minimizing the waiting time of cars at intermediate stations. Our approach yields a multi-commodity network design problem with concave arc cost functions. To solve this problem, we implement a tabu search procedure which adopts ``perturbing\u27\u27 mechanisms to force the algorithm to explore a larger portion of the feasible region. Computational results on realistic instances show a significant improvement over current practice

Combination of thymol treatment (Apiguard®) and caging the queen technique to fight Varroa destructor

International audienceAbstractGuaranteeing high acaricide efficacy to control Varroa destructor is fundamental for colony survival. In this study, we verified the efficacy and impact of a commercial thymol-based veterinary product (Apiguard®) on colony honey bee populations when used alone or combined with the biotechnical method of caging honey bee queens to create an artificial brood interruption period in the colony. Apiguard® killed 76.1% of the mites while queen caging killed 40.6% of the mites. The combination of Apiguard® administration with queen caging killed 96.8% of the mites. Comparing bee numbers before and after treatment, Apiguard® treated colonies with caged queens had 48.7% fewer bees compared to before treatment, while Apiguard® alone reduced the number of adult bees by 13.6%. None of the treatments in the different groups resulted in elevated queen mortality

Continuous right ventricular end diastolic volume and right ventricular ejection fraction during liver transplantation: A multicenter study

Cardiac preload is traditionally considered to be represented by its filling pressures, but more recently, estimations of end diastolic volume of the left or right ventricle have been shown to better reflect preload. One method of determining volumes is the evaluation of the continuous right ventricular end diastolic volume index (cRVEDVI) on the basis of the cardiac output thermodilution technique. Because preload and myocardial contractility are the main factors determining cardiac output during liver transplantation (LTx), accurate determination of preload is important. Thus, monitoring of cRVEDVI and cRVEF should help with fluid management and with the assessment of the need for inotropic and vasoactive agents. In this multicenter study, we looked for possible relationships between the stroke volume index (SVI) and cRVEDVI, cRVEF, and filling pressures at 4 predefined steps in 244 patients undergoing LTx. Univariate and multivariate autoregression models (across phases of the surgical procedure) were fitted to assess the possible association between SVI and cRVEDVI, pulmonary artery occlusion pressure (PAOP), and central venous pressure (CVP) after adjustment for cRVEF (categorized as 40%). SVI was strongly associated with both cRVEDVI and cRVEF. The model showing the best fit to the data was that including cRVEDVI. Even after adjustment for cRVEF, there was a statistically significant (P < 0.05) relationship between SVI and cRVEDVI with a regression coefficient (slope of the regression line) of 0.25; this meant that an increase in cRVEDVI of 1 mL m(-2) resulted in an increase in SVI of 0.25 mL m(-2). The correlations between SVI and CVP and PAOP were less strong. We conclude that cRVEDVI reflected preload better than CVP and PAOP

Sustainable development in circular agriculture: An illustrative bee↺legume↺poultry example

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Honey vs. Mite—a trade-off strategy by applying summer brood interruption for Varroa destructor control in the Mediterranean region

Ectoparasitic mite Varroa destructor with its associated viruses is a common global threat to the health of honey bee colonies. If colonies are not treated, the vast majority die in a 3-year period. Existing acaricides used for treatment are becoming less effective, and new approaches to honey bee protection are required. A reliable method is to create a broodless condition in a colony by preventing the queen from laying eggs, and after 25 days all mites will be exposed to the treatment with organic acids or essential oils. The focus of our study, performed on 178 colonies in six Mediterranean countries, was to compare different periods of queen caging on honey production, colony development, and the effect of treatment. Queen caging had no negative effect on colony strength before the wintering period, while it affected honey production; colonies in which queens were caged two weeks before the main summer nectar flow produced significantly less honey. However, tested colonies ten weeks after the treatment had significantly lower infestation with V. destructor mites. This study shows that caging the queen with subsequent oxalic acid treatment 25 days after caging is an efficient method to control V. destructor infestation, while the starting point of queen caging in relation to the main summer nectar flow affects honey production

Activation of Regulatory T Cells during Inflammatory Response Is Not an Exclusive Property of Stem Cells

BACKGROUND: Sepsis and systemic-inflammatory-response-syndrome (SIRS) remain major causes for fatalities on intensive care units despite up-to-date therapy. It is well accepted that stem cells have immunomodulatory properties during inflammation and sepsis, including the activation of regulatory T cells and the attenuation of distant organ damage. Evidence from recent work suggests that these properties may not be exclusively attributed to stem cells. This study was designed to evaluate the immunomodulatory potency of cellular treatment during acute inflammation in a model of sublethal endotoxemia and to investigate the hypothesis that immunomodulations by cellular treatment during inflammatory response is not stem cell specific. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Endotoxemia was induced via intra-peritoneal injection of lipopolysaccharide (LPS) in wild type mice (C3H/HeN). Mice were treated with either vital or homogenized amniotic fluid stem cells (AFS) and sacrificed for specimen collection 24 h after LPS injection. Endpoints were plasma cytokine levels (BD™ Cytometric Bead Arrays), T cell subpopulations (flow-cytometry) and pulmonary neutrophil influx (immunohistochemistry). To define stem cell specific effects, treatment with either vital or homogenized human-embryonic-kidney-cells (HEK) was investigated in a second subset of experiments. Mice treated with homogenized AFS cells showed significantly increased percentages of regulatory T cells and Interleukin-2 as well as decreased amounts of pulmonary neutrophils compared to saline-treated controls. These results could be reproduced in mice treated with vital HEK cells. No further differences were observed between plasma cytokine levels of endotoxemic mice. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: The results revealed that both AFS and HEK cells modulate cellular immune response and distant organ damage during sublethal endotoxemia. The observed effects support the hypothesis, that immunomodulations are not exclusive attributes of stem cells

Freight service design for an Italian railways company

In this paper, we present a mathematical model to design the service network, that is the set of origin-destination connections. The resulting model considers both full and empty freight car movements, and takes into account handling costs. More specifically, the model suggests the services to provide, as well as the number of trains and the number and type of cars traveling on each connection. Quality of service, which is measured as total travel time, is established by minimizing the waiting time of cars at intermediate stations. Our approach yields a multi-commodity network design problem with concave arc cost functions. To solve this problem, we implement a tabu search procedure which adopts "perturbing" mechanisms to force the algorithm to explore a larger portion of the feasible region. Computational results on realistic instances show a significant improvement over current practice