Sustainability in urban logistics : a literature review

Purpose: The importance of urban logistics is on the rise. On the one hand, the population in cities is growing due to urbanization processes. On the other hand, there is a significant increase in the flow of goods (e.g., a boost in online purchases). Such changes are leading cities to face social, economic, and environmental issues, which urge to be addressed. Based on these premises, this study aims to identify, classify and provide an overview of the environmentally sustainable logistics solutions for urban contexts. Methodology: This study performs a systematic literature review. First, it provides a quantitative description of the results, highlighting eventual trends; second, it displays a narrative description of the papers considered to map the current solution and of the related methodology. Findings: The study highlights the maturity and interest in adopting more sustainable delivery options in urban logistics. The selection of suitable transport means, the engagement of stakeholders, as well as the definition of norms and regulations, emerge as the most discussed and promising solutions. Originality: This study is a first attempt to classify the existing body of knowledge related to urban logistics, analysing contributions based on different axes of classification and highlighting cutting-edge solutions to propose possible research directions

A Bimodal Network Approach to Model Topic Dynamics

This paper presents an intertemporal bimodal network to analyze the evolution of the semantic content of a scientific field within the framework of topic modeling, namely using the Latent Dirichlet Allocation (LDA). The main contribution is the conceptualization of the topic dynamics and its formalization and codification into an algorithm. To benchmark the effectiveness of this approach, we propose three indexes which track the transformation of topics over time, their rate of birth and death, and the novelty of their content. Applying the LDA, we test the algorithm both on a controlled experiment and on a corpus of several thousands of scientific papers over a period of more than 100 years which account for the history of the economic thought

Combined Point of Care Tools Are Able to Improve Treatment Adherence and Health-Related Quality of Life in Patients with Severe Hemophilia: An Observational Prospective Study

Introduction: Ultrasound (US) assessment of joints is an evolving point of care tool for the detection of early joint arthropathy (Napolitano M, Kessler CM. Hemophilia A and B. Consultative Hemostasis and Thrombosis, Kitchens, 4th edition); population pharmacokinetic (pop-PK) studies are adopted as a useful instrument to set the prophylaxis regimen for patients with hemophilia, they may improve adherence (Nagao A.et al. Thromb Res. 2019 Jan; 173:79-84) and reduce the annual bleeding rate (ABR). Adherence to continuous intravenous administrations of factor VIII or Factor IX products is challenging, thus patients may experience breakthrough bleedings while on prophylaxis. Repeated US examinations of joint status have recently been advocated to attempt to remedy sub-optimal medication adherence (Di Minno A et al., Blood Rev. 2019 Jan;33:106-116). Aim of the current prospective analysis was to evaluate the impact of combined US assessment and pop-PK study on adherence to treatment and health related quality of life in patients with severe hemophilia A(HA) and B (HB) under regular prophylaxis. Material and methods: This prospective observational study was performed at a single tertiary center from January 2017 to June 2019. Research was conducted following the Helsinki Declaration. All patients included in the study provided a written informed consent for study participation. Patients with severe HA and HB routinely underwent, as part of regular 12-months follow-up visits, the following: US joints evaluation of elbows, knees and ankles using the HEAD-US protocol, treatment adherence evaluation by VERITAS-Pro questionnaire, health –related quality of life assessment by the standardized EQ-5D,EQ-VAS and pop-PK study (WAPPS-Hemo, McMaster University) as needed (i.e.in case of changes in life style, planned treatment switch); each patient visualised US and his estimated PK profile during medial encounters. Compliance to the prescribed treatment was also determined by analysis of patient diaries with infusion logs. Statistical analysis was performed using the SPSS software version 25.0 (SPSS Chicago, IL). Statistical tests were 2-sided, with a significance threshold of 0.05. Results: Twenty consecutive males with severe haemophilia were included in the current analysis, 13 with severe HA, 2 with HA with previous inhibitors and 5 HB, with a median age of 30 (range 14- 56) years and a median ABR of 5 (range:0-12). Nine patients were under primary prophylaxis, 8 under secondary prophylaxis and 3 under tertiary prophylaxis, they all self-infused at home. Four patients had one target joint and 3 patients had multiple target joints. For each enrolled subject, HEAD-US score, VERITAS-pro, EQ5D and EQ-VAS score were assessed at enrolment (T0) and at 12 (T12) and 24 (T24) months follow-up visits, respectively. Pop-PK was assessed in 11 patients: in 7 (5 HA,2 HB) it was assessed twice, before and after treatment switch to extended half-life (EHL) products, in 4 it was assessed once to modify prophylaxis treatment schedules for a more active life-style (N=2) or weight changes (N=2). Median ABR was 4 at T12 and 3.8 at T24. Reported breakthrough bleeds at T12 were 14, mainly trauma-related (N= 8) or affecting target joints (N=4), they were not reported at T24 in patients with PK-driven modified schedules (N=4) and in 4 patients under EHL treatments. Mean HEAD-US score at T0 resulted 8 (range:0-16), at T24 it was 6 (range:0-16). Mean Veritas-Pro score values were 42.7 at TO, 40.1 at T12 and 38.7 at T24. At T0, EQ-5D mean utility score was 0.82 (range: 0.68-1), at T24, the mean was 0.87 (range:0.72-1). In detail, at 24 months follow-up, there was a statistically significant (p<0.05) improvement in adherence to treatment with particular reference to the dimensions of communication and skipped doses. A tendency toward improved HEAD-US score, higher adherence and better quality of life scores, was observed in particular in patients switched to EHL products at T24, at a mean of 10 months after switching (range: 6-22 months). Conclusion: Several combined measures of haemophilia treatment monitoring, allowing visual assessment of joints status and PK profile estimates by patients have here shown to improve treatment adherence and quality of life in patients with HA and HB, this may be not only related to new available treatments but also to an increased awareness and education of patients

At-home Cosmeceutical Application and Outpatient Treatments: A 3D Stepwise Facial Rejuvenation Approach

BACKGROUND: Aging affects the 3-dimensional structure of all the facial tissues: Bones, muscles, ligaments, adipose tissue, and skin. AIM: To customize minimally invasive treatments for facial rejuvenation, we present a standardized holistic approach characterized by at-home treatments in associations with outpatient procedures. METHODS: Forty-four patients underwent 3-dimensional stepwise facial rejuvenation and were evaluated prospectively. Each patient received a customized treatment plan based on a clinical examination and consultation. Treatment outcomes were evaluated from patient photographs with and skin analysis was performed with an A-One Smart automated skin analysis system. RESULTS: The mean age of the patients was 41.7 years and the approximate mean duration of treatment was 160 days. Patients applied cosmeceuticals such as retinoic acid. Outpatient procedures included the delivery of botulinum toxin or dermal fillers, thread lifting, chemical peels, etc. Upon treatment completion, significant improvements were noted in multiple domains: Skin elasticity and hydration increased, areas of hyper-pigmentation were less extensive, and there were fewer visible wrinkles and pores. CONCLUSION: Outcomes of the present article suggest how important is to customize facial anti-aging treatments. Nonsurgical treatments carried out progressively, involving the patient to perform at-home treatments in associations with outpatient procedures, let to achieve facial improvements in terms of increased skin elasticity and hydration, reduction of hyperpigmentation, wrinkles, and pores

Unsupervised and supervised text similarity systems for automated identification of national implementing measures of European directives

The automated identification of national implementations (NIMs) of European directives by text similarity techniques has shown promising preliminary results. Previous works have proposed and utilized unsupervised lexical and semantic similarity techniques based on vector space models, latent semantic analysis and topic models. However, these techniques were evaluated on a small multilingual corpus of directives and NIMs. In this paper, we utilize word and paragraph embedding models learned by shallow neural networks from a multilingual legal corpus of European directives and national legislation (from Ireland, Luxembourg and Italy) to develop unsupervised semantic similarity systems to identify transpositions. We evaluate these models and compare their results with the previous unsupervised methods on a multilingual test corpus of 43 Directives and their corresponding NIMs. We also develop supervised machine learning models to identify transpositions and compare their performance with different feature sets

Integration of the trigger and data acquisition systems in ATLAS

During 2006 and the first half of 2007, the installation, integration and commissioning of trigger and data acquisition (TDAQ) equipment in the ATLAS experimental area have progressed. There have been a series of technical runs using the final components of the system already installed in the experimental area. Various tests have been run including ones where level 1 preselected simulated proton-proton events have been processed in a loop mode through the trigger and dataflow chains. The system included the readout buffers containing the events, event building, level 2 and event filter trigger algorithms. The scalability of the system with respect to the number of event building nodes used has been studied and quantities critical for the final system, such as trigger rates and event processing times, have been measured using different trigger algorithms as well as different TDAQ components. This paper presents the TDAQ architecture, the current status of the installation and commissioning and highlights the main test results that validate the system

Palliative splenic irradiation in primary and post PV/ET myelofibrosis: outcomes and toxicity of three radiation schedules

Splenectomy and splenic irradiation (SI) are the sole treatment modalities to control drug resistant splenomegaly in patients with myelofibrosis (MF). SI has been used in poor surgical candidates but optimal total dose and fractionation are unclear. We retrospectively reviewed 14 MF patients with symptomatic splenomegaly. Patients received a median of 10 fractions in two weeks. Fraction size ranged from 0.2–1.4 Gy, and total dose varied from 2–10.8 Gy per RT course. Overall results indicate that 81.8% of radiation courses achieved a significant spleen reduction. Splenic pain relief and gastrointestinal symptoms reduction were obtained in 94% and 91% of courses, respectively. Severe cytopenias occurred in 13% of radiation courses. Furthermore patients were divided in three groups according to the radiation dose they received: 6 patients in the low-dose group (LDG) received a normalized dose of 1.67 Gy; 4 patients in the intermediate-dose group (IDG) received a normalized dose 4.37 Gy; the remaining 4 patients in the high-dose group (HDG) received a normalized dose of 9.2 Gy. Subgroup analysis showed that if no differences in terms of treatment efficacy were seen among dose groups, hematologic toxicity rates distributed differently. Severe cytopenias occurred in 50% of courses in the HDG, and in the 14.3% and in 0% of the IDG and LDG, respectively. Spleen reduction and pain relief lasted for a median of 5.5 months in all groups. Due to the efficacy and tolerability of the low-dose irradiation 4 patients from the LDG and IDG were retreated and received on the whole 12 RT courses. Multiple retreatments did not show decremental trends in terms of rates of response to radiation nor in terms of duration of clinical response. Moreover, retreatment courses did not cause an increased rate of adverse effects and none of the retreated patients experienced severe hematologic toxicities. The average time of clinical benefit in retreated patients was much longer (21 months, range 44–10) than patients who were not retreated (5.75 months, range 3–6)