Clustering and routing in waste management: A two-stage optimisation approach

This paper proposes a two-stage model to tackle a problem arising in Waste Management. The decision-maker (a regional authority) is interested in locating sorting facilities in a regional area and defining the corresponding capacities. The decision-maker is aware that waste will be collected and brought to the installed facilities by independent private companies. Therefore, the authority wants to foresee the behaviour of these companies in order to avoid shortsighted decisions. In the first stage, the regional authority divides the clients into clusters, further assigning facilities to these clusters. In the second stage, an effective route is defined to serve client pickup demand. The main idea behind the model is that the authority aims to find the best location–allocation solution by clustering clients and assigning facilities to these clusters without generating overlaps. In doing so, the authority tries to (i) assign the demand of clients to the facilities by considering a safety stock within their capacities to avoid shortages during the operational phase, (ii) minimise Greenhouse Gases emissions, (iii) be as compliant as possible with the solution found by the second stage problem, the latter aiming at optimising vehicle tour lengths. After properly modelling the problem, we propose a matheuristic solution algorithm and conduct extensive computational analysis on a real-case scenario of an Italian region. Validation of the approach is achieved with promising results

Exposure to Endocrine Disruptors and Nuclear Receptors Gene Expression in Infertile and Fertile Men from Italian Areas with Different Environmental Features

Internal levels of selected endocrine disruptors (EDs) (i.e., perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS), perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA), di-2-ethylhexyl-phthalate (DEHP), mono-(2-ethylhexyl)-phthalate (MEHP), and bisphenol A (BPA)) were analyzed in blood/serum of infertile and fertile men from metropolitan, urban and rural Italian areas. PFOS and PFOA levels were also evaluated in seminal plasma. In peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) of same subjects, gene expression levels of a panel of nuclear receptors (NRs), namely estrogen receptor α (ERα) estrogen receptor β (ERβ), androgen receptor (AR), aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AhR), peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor γ (PPARγ) and pregnane X receptor (PXR) were also assessed. Infertile men from the metropolitan area had significantly higher levels of BPA and gene expression of all NRs, except PPARγ, compared to subjects from other areas. Subjects from urban areas had significantly higher levels of MEHP, whereas subjects from rural area had higher levels of PFOA in both blood and seminal plasma. Interestingly, ERα, ERβ, AR, PXR and AhR expression is directly correlated with BPA and inversely correlated with PFOA serum levels. Our study indicates the relevance of the living environment when investigating the exposure to specific EDs. Moreover, the NRs panel in PBMCs demonstrated to be a potential biomarker of effect to assess the EDs impact on reproductive health

Harvest anticipation, yield and economic feasibility of wheat by application of non-selective herbicides.

The present work aims to evaluate the possibility of anticipating the wheat harvest by the application of non-selective herbicides in the pre-harvest conditions, thereby providing productive and economic viability

Produtividade e viabilidade econômica da antecipação da colheita de trigo pela aplicação de herbicidas.

A dessecação na pré-colheita é uma prática adotada para promover melhores condições na operação e possibilitar o cultivo subsequente em épocas adequadas. Nesse sentido, a maximização da produção das culturas agrícolas depende de condições edafoclimáticas que coincidam com as melhores condições ecofisiológicas para as plantas. Em algumas regiões do RS, a colheita do trigo tem coincidido com a época preferencial de semeadura da soja, na sucessão ao trigo (Pires et al., 2016). Dessa forma, a colheita antecipada da cultura do trigo com umidades da massa de grãos próximo a 30% não implica em perda do potencial produtivo (Carneiro et al., 2005), mas aumenta o custo de secagem das sementes para proporcionar adequado armazenamento e industrialização. Pesquisas têm demonstrado que a dessecação pré-colheita com herbicidas pode ser considerada uma prática importante para antecipar o ponto de colheita da cultura (Yenish; Young, 2000). Estudos visando o sucesso da prática e a viabilidade econômica da dessecação pré-colheita de trigo são escassos e, muitas vezes realizado sem o devido acompanhamento técnico. O objetivo do trabalho foi avaliar a produtividade e a viabilidade econômica da antecipação da colheita do trigo através da aplicação de herbicidas na pré-colheita