Environmental Management in the Transport and Logistics Sector: Findings from a Qualitative Study

There is an increasing importance of sustainability in the development of companies' business strategies. Due to its impact on the environment, this is particularly essential for companies of the transport and logistics sector. The paper explores several factors that influence the environmental behaviour of transport and logistics companies in Austria. It discusses the importance of the economic impact on environmental management decision in detail and analyses the sector's specific characteristics in terms of environmental behaviour. A case-based approach involving multiple field studies with face-to-face expert interviews and secondary data analysis was used to evaluate environmental performance and specific practices. Due to various factors like a lack of end-user contact and high levels of competition, the transport and logistics sector does not show much environmentally friendly behaviour. We can confirm that the economic factor is crucial for companies' decisions on the implementation of environmental practices. Using selected cases, we will demonstrate how environmental measures contribute to overall business performance. Furthermore, suggestions are given as to how the government can further support transport and logistics companies in this regard. Because there is little evidence of tangible environmental practices in the sector of transport and logistics and their impact on the business performance, this study is both exploratory and explanatory in its nature. (authors' abstract

Carbon Efficient Logistics: A Case study in Modal Shift

Corporate sustainability is becoming increasingly important in the development of business strategies. Consequently, transport and logistics operations come under particular scrutiny due to their substantial impact on the environment. The aim of this paper is to illustrate two successful examples where logistics performance is optimized in tandem with a reduction in carbon emission. The selected case study provides documented examples, detailing how GHG reductions can be achieved while improving business efficiency. The following two initiatives of an US company of the paper and packaging producing sector will be presented: Initiative I: The company works closely with their customers to promote rail transport. Goods are directly sent from production plants which operate their own railway connection to the customer that is also located along the railway. In 2011, the promotion of rail transport on 4 US routes saved 62–72% CO[subscript 2] emission (1,500-2,300 tons of CO[subscript 2]) compared to trucking. These savings are equivalent to taking 300-450 cars off the road every year. Initiative II: The company uses space-efficient pallets in selected railcars and thereby increases the number of shipped goods. Besides optimizing the spatial utilization of the cars, CO[subscript 2] can be saved by transporting more goods on the same railcar. 190 tons of CO[subscript 2] were saved by using space-efficient pallets in 930 railcars in 2011. This equals the CO[subscript 2] emission caused by 21,637 gallons of gasoline consumed by road vehicles. The case study calculations illustrate, step-by-step, how the reductions were estimated, and provide a detailed “road map” for future participants to implement and properly estimate the GHG reductions. Additionally, we also aim to present ‘Carbon Footprinting’ as a useful method of environmental monitoring and reporting and discuss different methodological approaches

Key performance indicators and leg positioning for the kick-start in competitive swimmers

The aim of the study was to (1) assess the test-retest reliability of a novel performance analysis system for swimming (KiSwim) including an instrumented starting block and optical motion capture system, (2) identify key performance indicators (KPI) for the kick-start, (3) determine the most beneficial position of the strong leg and (4) investigate the effect of acute reversal of leg positioning. During three sessions, kick-starts of 15 competitive swimmers were investigated. Eighteen kinematic and kinetic parameters showed high reliability (ICC>0.75) from which principal component analysis identified seven KPI (i.e., time to 15 m, time on-block, depth at 7.5 m, horizontal take-off velocity, horizontal impulse back plate, horizontal peak force back plate and vertical peak force front plate). For the preferred start position, the back plate showed a higher horizontal peak force (0.71 vs. 0.96 x body mass; p < 0.001) and impulse (0.191 vs. 0.28Ns/BW; p < 0.001) compared to front plate. Acute reversal of the leg position reduced performance (i.e., increased time to 15 m and reduced horizontal take-off velocity). However, plate-specific kinetic analysis revealed a larger horizontal peak force (p < 0.001) and impulse (p < 0.001) for the back compared to the front plate in any start position investigated. Therefore, swimmers are encouraged to position the strong leg in the back

Myosin Va’s adaptor protein melanophilin enforces track selection on the microtubule and actin networks in vitro

Significance Inner organization of eukaryotic cells intimately depends on the active transport of diverse intracellular cargo on the ubiquitous actin and microtubule networks. The underlying mechanisms of such directional transport processes have been of outstanding interest. We studied a motor complex composed of Rab27a, melanophilin, and myosin Va and found, surprisingly, that the adaptor protein melanophilin toggled the binding preference toward actin or microtubules in vitro. Our results offer unexpected mechanistic insights into biasing the directionality of a moving organelle on the cytoskeleton through phospho-targeting the adaptor protein rather than its motor in vivo.</jats:p

Convergence Without Hard Criteria: Does EU Soft Law Affect Domestic Unemployment Protection Schemes?

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The whole genome sequence of the Mediterranean fruit fly, Ceratitis capitata (Wiedemann), reveals insights into the biology and adaptive evolution of a highly invasive pest species

The Mediterranean fruit fly (medfly), Ceratitis capitata, is a major destructive insect pest due to its broad host range, which includes hundreds of fruits and vegetables. It exhibits a unique ability to invade and adapt to ecological niches throughout tropical and subtropical regions of the world, though medfly infestations have been prevented and controlled by the sterile insect technique (SIT) as part of integrated pest management programs (IPMs). The genetic analysis and manipulation of medfly has been subject to intensive study in an effort to improve SIT efficacy and other aspects of IPM control