Modelling Plant Capacity and Productivity: The Multi-Machine Case

This study deals with systems (lines, departments or production units) made up of multiple machines, and it analyzes the meaning and assessment of productivity, utilization, efficiency and so forth at system level. Special emphasis is placed on calculating indices for the whole system starting from parameters referred to a single machine. Two basic system types are discussed, i.e. pure parallel systems and pure serial systems. The latter ones are further split into serial systems with tightly interconnected machines (i.e. without buffers), serial systems with loosely interconnected machines (i.e. provided with some decoupling buffers among stages), and independent departments systems

The impact of acute intoxications in a toxicological unit care in North East Italy

Retrospective study in a Toxicological Unit Care (TUC) performed to know the epidemiology of acute intoxication (AI) in Verona (Italy) during years 2008-2009. All data regarding patients with a diagnosis of certain/suspected AI were collected and evaluated: some demographic information, the characteristics of the agent involved, the pattern of exposure, the triage at the admission to TUC and the outcome. 244 cases were analyzed: 45.9% males and 54.9% females, mean age respectively 45.1 and 43.9 years. The monthly distribution of admitted patients resulted fairly constant, except from a light rising prevalence in autumn, with a majority of yellow (45.9%) and green (43.4%) triage code. The pattern of exposure resulted: ingestion (82.7% of cases; age peaks: 18-34 and 35-51 years old; mostly due to food (as mushrooms), drinks, detergents, soap, pharmaceutical, drugs of abuse, caustics substances), contact (10.2% of cases; age peak 18-51) and inhalation (6.9% of cases). In 17.2% of cases the poisoning exposure was intentional. In 63.5% the patients were sent to their general practitioners (45.5% of the yellow and 81.1% of the green coded patients) and in 22.1% of cases they were admitted to clinical rooms (44.6% of the yellow coded patients). In most cases the triage code assigned to the studied patients resulted yellow and green. Considering that the seriousness of the symptoms can appear after several hours from the exposure to toxic substances, a quick and specific intervention to obtain the best therapeutical effectiveness is suitable, in order to save lives or to avoid irremediable health damages

Evidences of volcanic unrest on high-temperature fumaroles by satellite thermal monitoring: The case of Santa Ana volcano, El Salvador

International audienceOn October 1st, 2005, Santa Ana volcano (El Salvador) underwent a VEI 3 phreatomagmatic eruption after approximately one century of rest. Casualties and damages to some of the local infrastructures and surrounding plantations were followed by the evacuation of the nearby communities. The analysis of MODIS (Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer) infrared data reveals that the main explosion was preceded by a one-year-long thermal unrest, associated to the development of a fumaroles field, located at the western rim of the summit crater lake. By combining space-based thermal flux and ground-based measurements (seismicity, sulfur emissions and lake temperatures), we suggest that the activity observed at Santa Ana between 2004 and 2005 was driven by the gradual intrusion of an undegassed magma body at a very shallow depth. Magma injection induced thermal anomalies associated with sustained degassing from the fumaroles field and promoted the interaction between the magmatic-hydrothermal system and the overlying water table. This process culminated into the VEI 3 phreatomagmatic eruption of October 2005 that strongly modified the shallow structure of the crater area. The subsequent three-years-long activity resulted from self-sealing of the fracture system and by the opening of a new fracture network directly connecting the deeper hydrothermal system with the crater lake. Our results show that satellite-based thermal data allow us to detect the expansion of the high-temperature fumarolic field. This may precede an explosive eruption and/or a lava dome extrusion. In particular, we show that thermal records can be analyzed with other geochemical (i.e. SO2 emissions) and geophysical (seismicity) data to track a shallow magmatic intrusion interacting with the surrounding hydrothermal system. This provides a remarkable support for volcano monitoring and eruption forecasting, particularly in remote areas where permanent ground data acquisition is hazardous, expensive and difficult

Association of Lifestyle Factors With Abdominal Subcutaneous and Visceral Adiposity: The Framingham Heart Study

OBJECTIVE— The purpose of this study was to assess the relationship between lifestyle factors and abdominal subcutaneous adipose tissue (SAT) and visceral adipose tissue (VAT) in a community-based setting

Polyphenol intake and cardiovascular risk factors in a population with\ua0type 2 diabetes: The TOSCA.IT study.

Summary Background The role of polyphenol intake on cardiovascular risk factors is little explored, particularly in people with diabetes. Aim: To evaluate the association between the intake of total polyphenols and polyphenol classes with the major cardiovascular risk factors in a population with type 2 diabetes. Methods Dietary habits were investigated in 2573 males and females participants of the TOSCA.IT study. The European Prospective Investigation on Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC) questionnaire was used to assess dietary habits. In all participants, among others, we assessed anthropometry, plasma lipids, blood pressure, C-reactive protein and HbA1c following a standard protocol. The USDA and Phenol-Explorer databases were used to estimate the polyphenol content of the habitual diet. Results Average intake of polyphenols was 683.3 \ub1 5.8 mg/day. Flavonoids and phenolic acids were the predominant classes (47.5% and 47.4%, respectively). After adjusting for potential confounders, people with the highest intake of energy-adjusted polyphenols (upper tertile) had a more favorable cardiovascular risk factors profile as compared to people with the lowest intake (lower tertile) (BMI was 30.7 vs 29.9 kg/m2, HDL-cholesterol was 45.1 vs 46.9 mg/dl, LDL-cholesterol was 103.2 vs 102.1 mg/dl, triglycerides were 153.4 vs 148.0 mg/dl, systolic and diastolic blood pressure were respectively 135.3 vs 134.3 and 80.5 vs 79.6 mm/Hg, HbA1c was 7.70 vs 7.67%, and C-reactive Protein was 1.29 vs 1.25 mg/dl, p < .001 for all). The findings were very similar when the analysis was conducted separately for flavonoids or phenolic acids, the two main classes of polyphenols consumed in this population. Conclusions Polyphenol intake is associated with a more favorable cardiovascular risk factors profile, independent of major confounders. These findings support the consumption of foods and beverages rich in different classes of polyphenols particularly in people with diabetes. Clinical trial http://www.clinicaltrials.gov; Study ID number: NCT00700856

Proposing a Tool for Supply Chain Configuration: An Application to Customised Production

The full implementation of collaborative production networks is crucial for companies willing to respond to consumer demand strongly focused on product customisation. This chapter proposes an approach to evaluate the performance of different Supply Chain (SC) configurations in a customised production context. The model is based on discrete-event simulation and is applied to the case of supply chain in the fashion sector to support the comparison between mass and customised production. A prototype web-based interface is also developed and proposed to facilitate the use of the model not only for experts in simulation but for any user in the SC management field

25-Hydroxyvitamin D and pre-clinical alterations in inflammatory and hemostatic markers: a cross sectional analysis in the 1958 British Birth Cohort

BACKGROUND: Vitamin D deficiency has been suggested as a cardiovascular risk factor, but little is known about underlying mechanisms or associations with inflammatory or hemostatic markers. Our aim was to investigate the association between 25-hydroxyvitamin D [25(OH)D, a measure for vitamin D status] concentrations with pre-clinical variations in markers of inflammation and hemostasis. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Serum concentrations of 25(OH)D, C-reactive protein (CRP), fibrinogen, D-dimer, tissue plasminogen activator (tPA) antigen, and von Willebrand factor (vWF) were measured in a large population based study of British whites (aged 45 y). Participants for the current investigation were restricted to individuals free of drug treated cardiovascular disease (n = 6538). Adjusted for sex and month, 25(OH)D was inversely associated with all outcomes (p or =75 nmol/l compared to < 25 nmol/l. D-dimer concentrations were lower for participants with 25(OH)D 50-90 nmol/l compared to others (quadratic term p = 0.01). We also examined seasonal variation in hemostatic and inflammatory markers, and evaluated 25(OH)D contribution to the observed patterns using mediation models. TPA concentrations varied by season (p = 0.02), and much of this pattern was related to fluctuations in 25(OH)D concentrations (p < or =0.001). Some evidence of a seasonal variation was observed also for fibrinogen, D-dimer and vWF (p < 0.05 for all), with 25(OH)D mediating some of the pattern for fibrinogen and D-dimer, but not vWF. CONCLUSIONS: Current vitamin D status was associated with tPA concentrations, and to a lesser degree with fibrinogen and D-dimer, suggesting that vitamin D status/intake may be important for maintaining antithrombotic homeostasi

Access Rate to the Emergency Department for Venous Thromboembolism in Relationship with Coarse and Fine Particulate Matter Air Pollution

Particulate matter (PM) air pollution has been associated with cardiovascular and respiratory disease. Recent studies have proposed also a link with venous thromboembolism (VTE) risk. This study was aimed to evaluate the possible influence of air pollution-related changes on the daily flux of patients referring to the Emergency Department (ED) for VTE, dissecting the different effects of coarse and fine PM. From July 1st, 2007, to June 30th, 2009, data about ED accesses for VTE and about daily concentrations of PM air pollution in Verona district (Italy) were collected. Coarse PM (PM10-2.5) was calculated by subtracting the finest PM2.5 from the whole PM10. During the index period a total of 302 accesses for VTE were observed (135 males and 167 females; mean age 68.3±16.7 years). In multiple regression models adjusted for other atmospheric parameters PM10-2.5, but not PM2.5, concentrations were positively correlated with VTE (beta-coefficient = 0.237; P = 0.020). During the days with high levels of PM10-2.5 (≥75th percentile) there was an increased risk of ED accesses for VTE (OR 1.69 with 95%CI 1.13–2.53). By analysing days of exposure using distributed lag non-linear models, the increase of VTE risk was limited to PM10-2.5 peaks in the short-term period. Consistently with these results, in another cohort of subjects without active thrombosis (n = 102) an inverse correlation between PM10-2.5 and prothrombin time was found (R = −0.247; P = 0.012). Our results suggest that short-time exposure to high concentrations of PM10-2.5 may favour an increased rate of ED accesses for VTE through the induction of a prothrombotic state