Decision Support System for City Logistics: Literature Review, and Guidelines for an Ex-ante Model

AbstractThe world is inexorably becoming urban. Since 2008, urban population is higher than the rural population. Therefore, cities are increasingly important systems for contemporary society. Phenomena such as urbanization and globalization have contributed to make urban centers more and more complex. One of the most important aspects is urban freight transportation, which is affected also by the spatial distribution of activities and residences. It follows that role of decision-makers is increasingly difficult due to limited economic and space resources that concern the urban areas. Besides, recent trends promoted by European Commission in the field of sustainable development require a profound reflections concerning the choice of transportation policies, and design of infrastructures. On the path towards to cities sustainability, local authorities have to make important decisions related to urban freight distribution.In this complex framework, the present paper describes the first phase of a two-year research project called “SIPLUS - Systems for Sustainable Urban Planning of Logistics”. The goal of SIPLUS is “development an ex-ante model for evaluation of interventions and investments in urban goods distribution, in favor of the municipalities”. It is a decision support system for authorities and decision-makers. At the end of the project, there will be a pilot actions with the application of proposed models in at least one European city.This paper describes the first results, which mainly concern literature review, state of the art, analysis of European best practices in city logistics, and the general framework of proposed model

Reducing the environmental impact of surgery on a global scale: systematic review and co-prioritization with healthcare workers in 132 countries

Abstract Background Healthcare cannot achieve net-zero carbon without addressing operating theatres. The aim of this study was to prioritize feasible interventions to reduce the environmental impact of operating theatres. Methods This study adopted a four-phase Delphi consensus co-prioritization methodology. In phase 1, a systematic review of published interventions and global consultation of perioperative healthcare professionals were used to longlist interventions. In phase 2, iterative thematic analysis consolidated comparable interventions into a shortlist. In phase 3, the shortlist was co-prioritized based on patient and clinician views on acceptability, feasibility, and safety. In phase 4, ranked lists of interventions were presented by their relevance to high-income countries and low–middle-income countries. Results In phase 1, 43 interventions were identified, which had low uptake in practice according to 3042 professionals globally. In phase 2, a shortlist of 15 intervention domains was generated. In phase 3, interventions were deemed acceptable for more than 90 per cent of patients except for reducing general anaesthesia (84 per cent) and re-sterilization of ‘single-use’ consumables (86 per cent). In phase 4, the top three shortlisted interventions for high-income countries were: introducing recycling; reducing use of anaesthetic gases; and appropriate clinical waste processing. In phase 4, the top three shortlisted interventions for low–middle-income countries were: introducing reusable surgical devices; reducing use of consumables; and reducing the use of general anaesthesia. Conclusion This is a step toward environmentally sustainable operating environments with actionable interventions applicable to both high– and low–middle–income countries

Decision support system for city logistics: literature review, and guidelines for an ex-ante model

AbstractThe world is inexorably becoming urban. Since 2008, urban population is higher than the rural population. Therefore, cities are increasingly important systems for contemporary society. Phenomena such as urbanization and globalization have contributed to make urban centers more and more complex. One of the most important aspects is urban freight transportation, which is affected also by the spatial distribution of activities and residences. It follows that role of decision-makers is increasingly difficult due to limited economic and space resources that concern the urban areas. Besides, recent trends promoted by European Commission in the field of sustainable development require a profound reflections concerning the choice of transportation policies, and design of infrastructures. On the path towards to cities sustainability, local authorities have to make important decisions related to urban freight distribution.In this complex framework, the present paper describes the first phase of a two-year research project called “SIPLUS - Systems for Sustainable Urban Planning of Logistics”. The goal of SIPLUS is “development an ex-ante model for evaluation of interventions and investments in urban goods distribution, in favor of the municipalities”. It is a decision support system for authorities and decision-makers. At the end of the project, there will be a pilot actions with the application of proposed models in at least one European city.This paper describes the first results, which mainly concern literature review, state of the art, analysis of European best practices in city logistics, and the general framework of proposed model

Microsite amelioration by post-fire deadwood in a Pinus nigra planted forest in central Italy

The widespread role of fire in shaping ecosystem composition and distribution, as well as its evolutionary importance, are nowadays fully recognized by scientists. In contemporary ecosystems, forest fires can induce different kinds of effects, depending on species characteristics, with the presence of fire-related traits often allowing full ecoystems recovery also after stand replacing or high severity events. By modifying growing space conditions (e.g. exposed bare soil, reduced competition), forest fires may trigger ecological processes such as forest regeneration. In the absence of specific fire adaptations, biological legacies persisting after the event have been proven crucial to drive regeneration dynamics. Indeed, deadwood can create safe sites and favourable microsite conditions for seedling establishment and survival. Despite the potential increase in coarse dead fuel load resulting from post-disturbance deadwood, its removal (e.g. through salvage logging activities) can cause long lasting negative effects on the ecosystems and the services they provide, often delaying or altering forest recovery. Studies are needed to assess the importance of facilitation mechanisms in different post-fire conditions, in order to provide suitable information on deadwood management and Assisted Natural Regeneration approaches to forest planners and managers. In a xeric Pinus nigra planted forest in central Italy (Marche Region) affected by a large crown fire in 2017, soil temperature and moisture were measured in the topmost 5 cm of soil at various distances (n = 5) from downed logs (n = 14). Values were recorded in nine time steps during the summer of 2022. A significative positive effect of downed logs on microsite conditions (lower summer temperature, higher soil moisture) was observed. Based on these first results, a long-term monitoring project has been set up to evaluate if regeneration has actually a better performance in the identified microsites. An extensive natural regeneration sampling was performed in the burnt area, and artificial regeneration, both from seeds and trasplanted seedlings, was placed at different positions around the deadwood, trying to mimic the patterns of natural regeneration. The preliminary otuputs of this study will be integrated with other case studies and further field sampling campaigns, but they suggest that post-fire deadwood can facilitate natural regeneration and should not be completely removed from burnt areas

Post-Fire Restoration and Deadwood Management: Microsite Dynamics and Their Impact on Natural Regeneration

After large and severe wildfires, the establishment of tree regeneration, particularly for species without specific fire-adaptive traits, can be challenging. Within harsh environments, the presence of favorable microsites, as those provided by deadwood, enhancing microclimatic conditions, is crucial to the re-establishment of forest cover and thus to foster recovery dynamics. Active restoration strategies can have an impact on these dynamics, altering or hindering them. The main hypothesis of this study is that manipulating deadwood in terms of quantity and spatial arrangement can result in differences in natural regeneration density and composition. Post-disturbance regeneration dynamics and the role played by deadwood over time in the creation of safe sites for seedling establishment were investigated in an area affected by a high-severity wildfire that underwent different post-fire restoration treatments along a gradient of increasing deadwood manipulation, spanning from salvage logging to non-intervention. Two inventories were performed 5 and 11 years after the fire. Ground cover proportion was significantly different among treatments, with lower values of lying deadwood in salvaged sites. A higher probability of regeneration establishment close to deadwood was found in both surveys, confirming the facilitating role of deadwood on post-fire forest regeneration. Microsite dynamics resulting from deadwood facilitation were highlighted, with establishment probability and anisotropic relationships between deadwood elements and seedlings changing over time, as recovery processes slowly improved environmental conditions. In dry mountain areas affected by stand-replacing wildfires, by removing deadwood, salvage logging reduces the number of safe sites for regeneration, further impairing the ecosystem recovery. Passive management should be the ecologically preferred management strategy in these conditions, although intermediate interventions (e.g., felling without delimbing, leaving deadwood on the ground) could be effective alternatives, accelerating snag fall dynamics and immediately increasing favorable microsite availability

Fluorescent molecularly imprinted nanogels for the detection of anticancer drugs in human plasma

Several fluorescent molecularly imprinted nanogels for the detection of the anticancer drug sunitinib were synthesized and characterised. A selection of functional monomers based on different aminoacids and coumarin allowed isolation of polymers with very good rebinding properties and sensitivities. The direct detection of sunitinib in human plasma was successfully demonstrated by fluorescence quenching of the coumarin-based nanogels. The plasma sample simply diluted in DMSO allowed the recovery of various amounts of sunitib, as determined by an averaged calibration curve. The LOD was 400 nM, with within-run variability < 9%, day to day variability < 5%, and good accuracy in the recovery of sunitinib from spiked samples

A multi-element psychosocial intervention for early psychosis (GET UP PIANO TRIAL) conducted in a catchment area of 10 million inhabitants: study protocol for a pragmatic cluster randomized controlled trial

Multi-element interventions for first-episode psychosis (FEP) are promising, but have mostly been conducted in non-epidemiologically representative samples, thereby raising the risk of underestimating the complexities involved in treating FEP in 'real-world' services