DeepRoute+: Modeling Couriers’ Spatial-temporal Behaviors and Decision Preferences for Package Pick-up Route Prediction

Over 10 billion packages are picked up every day in China. A fundamental task raised in the emerging intelligent logistics systems is the couriers’ package pick-up route prediction, which is beneficial for package dispatching, arrival-time estimation and overdue-risk evaluation, by leveraging the predicted routes to improve those downstream tasks. In the package pick-up scene, the decision-making of a courier is affected by strict spatial-temporal constraints (e.g., package location, promised pick-up time, current time, and courier’s current location). Furthermore, couriers have different decision preferences on various factors (e.g., time factor, distance factor, and balance of both), based on their own perception of the environments and work experience. In this article, we propose a novel model, named DeepRoute+, to predict couriers’ future package pick-up routes according to the couriers’ decision experience and preference learned from the historical behaviors. Specifically, DeepRoute+ consists of three layers: (1) The representation layer produces experience- and preference-aware representations for the unpicked-up packages, in which a decision preference module can dynamically adjust the importance of factors that affects the courier’s decision under the current situation. (2) The transformer encoder layer encodes the representations of packages while considering the spatial-temporal correlations among them. (3) The attention-based decoder layer uses the attention mechanism to generate the whole pick-up route recurrently. Experiments on a real-world logistics dataset demonstrate the state-of-the-art performance of our model.

Risk classification in a pediatric service: evaluation of the structure, process, and outcome

ABSTRACT Objectives: to evaluate a pediatric risk evaluation and classification service in the aspects of structure, process, and outcome. Methods: a cross-sectional, descriptive, and exploratory study in which qualitative data complement the results. Data collection by non-participant observation, interview, and consultation of medical records. Results: we observed two hundred and four visits. The service works in a makeshift room and without privacy. The nurses did not use various materials/equipment available for evaluation, rarely performed a physical examination, used the interview most of the time, and did not consult the protocol. Parents/companions received no information, and medical records showed incomplete records. Nurses classified 69.1% of the children as non-emergency. The most frequent outcome of the visits was discharge. Conclusions: the service showed weaknesses in the physical structure, in the risk classification process, and the outcomes, but it presents a good resolution in the assistance. We recommend a revision in the protocol used and sensitize nurses about the work process and communication with parents/companions.

Best practices in the field of specific risk evaluation of pyrotechnic entertainment articles subject to legal and illegal market surveillance

The field of pyrotechnic articles is very popular and developed, and as a result, the influx of pyrotechnic articles on the market is abundant. However, it should be noted that in addition to compliant products, which meet the applicable essential safety requirements covered by Directive no. 2013/29 / EU, there are also products on the market that can present a significant level of danger when used, handled, transported or stored. Market surveillance authorities frequently find non-compliant products such as pyrotechnic articles offered to the public, some on the legal market, others traded illegally. The establishment of presumptive risks related to pyrotechnic articles can be achieved by applying documented and accredited procedures at national and European level by specialized laboratories, one of these being found within INSEMEX. Technical-scientific expertise activity aims to verify the level of security for products considered suspicious. We have an international collaboration with European authorities, and at the national level, requests for products such as pyrotechnic articles are sent for expertise by the police, the prosecutor’s office or the courts. It was found that most products considered “suspicious” had serious deficiencies that could lead to major risks, and those traded illegally lead to considerable economic losses.