Suchergebnisse

Purpose
Urban consolidation centre (UCC) is a popular initiative targeting the challenge of negative environmental and social impacts from freight transports in cities. Despite this, UCC often fails in practice, which indicates a knowledge gap. Furthermore, research within the field can be described as fragmented, transdisciplinary and fast growing. The purpose of this paper is to provide an overview of the field by describing dominant categories and themes within the area, identify gaps in order to propose a future research agenda, and provide insights into the needs of practitioners.


Design/methodology/approach
A systematic literature review (SLR) targeting journal articles based on UCCs has been constructed with a supplementary snowball approach. A content analysis was performed to categorise themes in the research on UCCs and to identify research gaps, both within and outside the categories identified.


Findings
Despite substantial research on UCC, very little research ends up in academic journals. In all, 56 articles address UCC. The most common topics were the role of stakeholders, design of distribution structures and transport resources, environmental and social consideration, and economic considerations. Much focus is directed towards finding "optimal" solutions and designs for potential initiatives with very little, if any, consideration to financial viability or the management of the UCC initiative.


Research limitations/implications
This research points out existing gaps in the literature and proposes a future research agenda with UCCs as the focus. For example, although environmental and social arguments are often applied to justify the implementation of UCCs, few studies measure or evaluate their impact. Another important research gap is the economical consideration, both how to generate revenue and how to consider economies of scale.


Practical implications
The practical contribution of most studies is directed towards municipalities. Few findings are presented in a way to support companies. Additionally, by bridging the gaps related to how stakeholders can collaborate and describe what is happening in a UCC, practitioners can use such information as guidelines.


Originality/value
The results provide a research agenda for the fragmented research targeting UCCs, supporting the viability of future initiatives.

Purpose
Urban consolidation centres (UCCs) are often conceived to improve services in retail stores and potentially reduce costs. However, few studies have examined how retail stores perceive the services a UCC could provide. The purpose of this paper is to explore retail stores' potential demands for different services that a UCC could provide in order to foster the development and implementation of UCC solutions aimed towards more economically feasible business models.


Design/methodology/approach
Structured interviews were conducted with employees at 72 retail stores. Qualitative, as well as quantitative analyses, were conducted to identify the potential demands of the retail stores.


Findings
The authors have provided arguments why retail stores might be interested in UCC services, and thereby potentially pay for them. Improved customer service to stores' customers might not be a valid argument. The authors point to the cost aspect: stores expend resources that a UCC could provide in a more cost-efficient manner.


Research limitations/implications
The findings contradict previous studies to some extent, as it indicates that a UCC may actually not enhance customer service in retail stores. Instead, the findings point to the importance of considering the potential advantages according to economies of scale that are facilitated by UCC services.


Practical implications
Taking the perspective of the stores is important in order to identify arguments for why they should pay for the services provided by a UCC.


Social implications
Financially viable UCC solutions are needed in order for the initiatives to be maintained and thereby provide a long-term decrease in the environmental and social footprints caused by urban freight.


Originality/value
This study answers the call for research addressing retailers' perspective in urban logistics, as it takes a demand-driven perspective of the development of UCC services. Furthermore, by highlighting services requested by retail stores, it can guide the financing of UCC initiatives, an aspect that has been lacking.

We suggest a method that can be used for analysing an emergency response system. Both the literature and empirical findings indicate that response operations sometimes diverge from existing plans when adapting to an event and its consequences. The method, which aims at achieving a better understanding of emergency response management, adopts a systems perspective using various relationships that exist or develop between personnel belonging to those organizations that are part of the emergency response operation. Results of a study of such an emergency response system are presented and discussed in order to demonstrate how the method can be employed.

Proactive identification and characterization of hazards attributable to chemicals are central aspects of risk assessments. Current legislations and trends in predictive toxicology advocate a transition from in vivo methods to nonanimal alternatives. For skin sensitization assessment, several OECD validated alternatives exist for hazard identification, but nonanimal methods capable of accurately characterizing the risks associated with sensitizing potency are still lacking. The GARD (Genomic Allergen Rapid Detection) platform utilizes exposure-induced gene expression profiles of a dendritic-like cell line in combination with machine learning to provide hazard classifications for different immunotoxicity endpoints. Recently, a novel genomic biomarker signature displaying promising potency-associated discrimination between weak and strong skin sensitizers was proposed. Here, we present the adaptation of the defined biomarker signature on a gene expression analysis platform suited for routine acquisition, confirm the validity of the proposed biomarkers, and define the GARDpotency assay for prediction of skin sensitizer potency. The performance of GARDpotency was validated in a blinded ring trial, in accordance with OECD guidance documents. The cumulative accuracy was estimated to 88.0% across 3 laboratories and 9 independent experiments. The within-laboratory reproducibility measures ranged between 62.5% and 88.9%, and the between-laboratory reproducibility was estimated to 61.1%. Currently, no direct or systematic cause for the observed inconsistencies between the laboratories has been identified. Further investigations into the sources of introduced variability will potentially allow for increased reproducibility. In conclusion, the in vitro GARDpotency assay constitutes a step forward for development of nonanimal alternatives for hazard characterization of skin sensitizers.

The ability to interpret daily and seasonal alterations in light and temperature signals is essential for plant survival. This is particularly important during seedling establishment when the phytochrome photoreceptors activate photosynthetic pigment production for photoautotrophic growth. Phytochromes accomplish this partly through the suppression of PHYTOCHROME INTERACTING FACTORS (PIFs), negative regulators of chlorophyll and carotenoid biosynthesis. While the bZIP transcription factor LONG HYPOCOTYL 5 (HY5), a potent PIF antagonist, promotes photosynthetic pigment accumulation in response to light. Here we demonstrate that by directly targeting a common promoter cis-element (G-box), HY5 and PIFs form a dynamic activation-suppression transcriptional module responsive to light and temperature cues. This antagonistic regulatory module provides a simple, direct mechanism through which environmental change can redirect transcriptional control of genes required for photosynthesis and photoprotection. In the regulation of photopigment biosynthesis genes, HY5 and PIFs do not operate alone, but with the circadian clock. However, sudden changes in light or temperature conditions can trigger changes in HY5 and PIFs abundance that adjust the expression of common target genes to optimise photosynthetic performance and growth. ; GTO and KPL are funded by a UK Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) grant BB/F005237/1 (ROBuST project) awarded to KJH and the European Union FP7 (TiMet, contract 245143). GTO is also supported by a Marie Curie Actions FP7-CIG (PCIG11-GA-2012-321649) award. HJ received a Postgraduate Award provided by the BBSRC and the Scottish Universities Life Science Alliance (SULSA). MRC and JBT are funded by grants from the Spanish Dirección General de Investigación (BIO2011-23680 and PIM2010IPO-00660), Generalitat de Catalunya (2009SGR-26 and XRB), Programa Iberoamericano de Ciencia y Tecnologia para el Desarrollo (IBERCAROT), and European Union FP7 (TiMet, contract 245143) awarded to MRC. ; Peer reviewed

The EU Horizon 2020 CICERONE project (2018-2021) is developing a platform for EU programme owners (POs, i.e. public funders of programmes related to circular economy) to coordinate and collaborate on priority research and innovation actions. Part of this process was the development of the Circular Economy Strategic Research and Innovation Agenda (SRIA). This SRIA is as a strategic guidance document that specifically focuses on the topic of CE in the European Union. The SRIA targets national, regional and local programme owners to identify joint priorities in research and innovation, co-implement joint programmes and guide further cooperation. Collaboration will be based on the SRIA's joint programmes, which provide a framework for a more systemic innovation aiming to create holistic, cross-cutting and systemic programmes with greater impacts.