Passengers and freight mobility with electric vehicles: A methodology to plan green transport and logistic services near port areas

Abstract The paper describes a research, named GRE.ENE.LOG. (from GREen ENErgy to green LOGistic: from the port of Roccella Jonica to the Locride area), which aims to integrate the production of green-energy inside port areas and its consumption to feed Electric Vehicles (EVs) for transport and logistic services. The system is composed by: (i) a "sea-to-grid" technological component harvesting and producing electrical energy from sea waves; (ii) a "green" logistic services based on the use of EVs. This paper is relative to part (ii). One of the main challenge is to promote the use of green-energy resources for freight and people mobility planning involved in the port area. The main task concerns the location of a parking area/distribution center and the optimal design of mobility services, operated by means of EVs, connecting a port with a closer extended (sub)urban area. The mobility services by EV bikes and cars are oriented to the port users; the freight services are oriented to the extended port area. In this context, the paper presents a methodology for the definition of freight logistics and passenger transport services in order to pursue sustainability goals, and a data analysis in the pilot study of Roccella Jonica port, South of Italy

Developing shared understandings of recovery and care: a qualitative study of women with eating disorders who resist therapeutic care

Background: This paper explores the differing perspectives of recovery and care of people with disordered eating. We consider the views of those who have not sought help for their disordered eating, or who have been given a diagnosis but have not engaged with health care services. Our aim is to demonstrate the importance of the cultural context of care and how this might shape people’s perspectives of recovery and openness to receiving professional care. Method: This study utilised a mixed methods approach of ethnographic fieldwork and psychological evaluation with 28 women from Adelaide, South Australia. Semi-structured interviews, observations, field notes and the Eating Disorder Examination were the primary forms of data collection. Data was analysed using thematic analysis. Results & Discussion: Participants in our study described how their disordered eating afforded them safety and were consistent with cultural values concerning healthy eating and gendered bodies. Disordered eating was viewed as a form of self-care, in which people protect and ‘take care’ of themselves. These subjectively experienced understandings of care underlie eating disorder behaviours and provide an obstacle in seeking any form of treatment that might lead to recovery. Conclusion: A shared understanding between patients and health professionals about the function of the eating disorder may avoid conflict and provide a pathway to treatment. These results suggest the construction of care by patients should not be taken for granted in therapeutic guidelines. A discussion considering how disordered eating practices are embedded in a matrix of care, health, eating and body practices may enhance the therapeutic relationship.Connie Musolino, Megan Warin, Tracey Wade and Peter Gilchris

Lymphocyte Subsets and Inflammatory Cytokines of Monoclonal Gammopathy of Undetermined Significance and Multiple Myeloma

Almost all multiple myeloma (MM) cases have been demonstrated to be linked to earlier monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significance (MGUS). Nevertheless, there are no identified characteristics in the diagnosis of MGUS that have been helpful in differentiating subjects whose cancer may progress to a malignant situation. Regarding malignancy, the role of lymphocyte subsets and cytokines at the beginning of neoplastic diseases is now incontestable. In this review, we have concentrated our attention on the equilibrium between the diverse lymphocyte subsets and the cytokine system and summarized the current state of knowledge, providing an overview of the condition of the entire system in MGUS and MM. In an age where the therapy of neoplastic monoclonal gammopathies largely relies on drugs capable of acting on the immune system (immunomodulants, immunological checkpoint inhibitors, CAR-T), detailed knowledge of the the differences existing in benign and neoplastic forms of gammopathy is the main foundation for the adequate and optimal use of new drugs

Energy consumption of electric vehicles: models' estimation using big data (FCD)

Abstract The paper presents a framework to estimate energy consumption of Electric Vehicles (EVs) by combining: (a) the use of models derived from traffic flow theory and from mechanics of locomotion and (b) the great amount of Floating Cara Data (FCD) from available Information and Communications Technology (ICT) devices. Existing energy consumption models may be classified into aggregate vs. disaggregate, according to the level of aggregation of variables related to driver, vehicle, and infrastructure. The proposed models have a hybrid nature: the aggregate component allows to estimating the values of vehicular speed and acceleration on a road link; the disaggregate one allows to estimating the discrete variability of EVs' energy consumption inside a spatial-temporal domain. The energy consumption models are estimated using traffic data extracted from FCD. The proposed framework is structured into four steps: FCD processing, estimation of vehicular speeds and accelerations, estimation of resistance/energy consumption. The framework is applied in a pilot study area, composed by the backward (sub-)urban area of the port of "Porto delle Grazie" of Roccella Jonica (South of Italy). The preliminary results show that the methodology allows relative inexpensive and accurate calculation of EVs' energy consumption and that it can be integrated into Intelligent Transportation System (ITS) applications

Residential Location, Mobility, and Travel Time: A Pilot Study in a Small-Size Italian Metropolitan Area

This research concerns the topic of Land Use and Transport Interaction (LUTI) models. In particular, the patterns between residential households' location and mobility choices are analyzed and simulated. The attributes that influence household residential location choices belong to four categories: socioeconomic and mobility attributes of households and/or of their components; land use; real-estate market; transport system. The paper presents the results of a pilot study on households' location and mobility patterns in the metropolitan area of Reggio Calabria (Southern Italy). The pilot study is divided into two stages. In the first stage, a survey allowed to collect information and identify existing patterns about residential and mobility choices of a sample of households. In the second stage, a residential location model is proposed and some preliminary calibrations are presented in a prototypal way. The pilot study could be extended and improved in terms of spatial extension and sample dimension in order to allow a complete specification-calibration-validation process of the model. The model development can support the land use-transport planning process in the Metropolitan City of Reggio Calabria

From green-energy to green-logistics: a pilot study in an Italian port area

Abstract An ongoing two-year research is performing with the general objective to assess the feasibility of a system integrating the production of green-energy and its consumption inside and close to port areas for mobility services. The system is composed by two elements: (a) a "sea-to-grid" technological component harvesting and producing electrical energy from sea waves; and (b) a "green" logistic service based on the use of Fully Electric Vehicles (FEVs). A pilot study will be conducted near an Italian port area supporting passengers and freight mobility between a port and a backward (sub)-urban area. The proposed system is within the environmental goals set by the EU (Europe 2020 Strategy) and the Italian Government (National Energy Masterplan). Indeed, the energy-producing technology reduces dependence from traditional energy sources (coal, gas, oil) and consequently reduces their negative effects (greenhouse gases, air pollution, etc.). Considering that the energy is produced by sea waves, the system transfers the entire amount of produced (green) energy to the electric vehicles. The system will be experimented in a medium size urbanized area and the energy will be produced in a small size port

Embodiment as a paradigm for understanding and treating SE-AN: Locating the self in culture

There has been a growing call for sociologically engaged research to better understand the complex processes underpinning Severe and Enduring Anorexia Nervosa (SE-AN). Based on a qualitative study with women in Adelaide, South Australia who were reluctant to seek help for their disordered eating practices, this paper draws on anthropological concepts of embodiment to examine how SE-AN is experienced as culturally grounded. We argue that experiences of SE-AN are culturally informed, and in turn, inform bodily perception and practice in the world. Over time, everyday rituals and routines became part of participants’ habitus’, experienced as taken-for-granted practices that structured life-worlds. Here, culture and self are not separate, but intimately entangled in and through embodiment. Approaching SE-AN through a paradigm of embodiment has important implications for therapeutic models that attempt to move anorexia nervosa away from the body and separate it from the self in order to achieve recovery. Separating experiences—literally disembodying anorexia nervosa—was described by participants as more than the loss of an identity; it would dismantle their sense of being-in-the-world. Understanding how SE-AN is itself a structure that structures every aspect of daily life, helps us to understand the fear of living differently, and the safety that embodied routines bring. We conclude by asking what therapeutic treatment might look like if we took embodiment as one orientation to SE-AN, and focused on quality of life and harm minimization.Connie Marguerite Musolino, Megan Warin and Peter Gilchris

Quality of life of therapies for hormone receptor positive advanced/metastatic breast cancer: Regulatory aspects and clinical impact in Europe

In recent years, the number of trials incorporating health-related quality of life (HRQoL) data has increased. The impact of HRQoL on regulatory decision making in the European context and on clinical practice is not well established. We conducted an analysis of the role of QoL data extracted from the clinical trials of the drugs approved for hormone receptor positive/HER2-negative advanced/metastatic breast cancer (mBC). The results from the HRQoL were collected and a meta-analysis was performed to evaluate the impact of experimental drugs compared to standard treatments. The results showed a non-detrimental effect in HRQoL from the new treatments. As regards the approval process, from an examination of the European Medicine Agency (EMA) documents, HRQoL was reported nonextensively and contained and discussed in the European assessment reports (EPARs) for eleven trials in the approval process and cited in three cases in the EPARs and summary of medicinal product characteristics (SmPC). An effort should be made by all the stakeholders to increase the visibility of the HRQoL results in order to allow increased consideration in the approval process to make QoL data more easily and visibly available for the clinician and the patients. The evaluation should be reflected in the SmPC in order to increase the amount of information provided to the physician