Bridge closure in the road network of Lombardy: a spatio-temporal analysis of the socio-economic impacts

This paper introduces a methodology to evaluate the socio-economic impacts of closure for maintenance of one or more infrastructures of a large and complex road network. Motivated by a collaboration with Regione Lombardia, we focus on a subset of bridges in the region, although we aim at developing a method scalable to all road infrastructures of the regional network, consisting of more than 10,000 tunnels, bridges and overpasses. The final aim of the endeavor is to help decision-makers in prioritizing their interventions for maintaining and repairing infrastructure segments. We develop two different levels of impact assessment, both providing a unique global score for each bridge closure and investigating its spatio-temporal effects on mobility. We take advantage of a functional data analysis approach enhanced by a complex network theory perspective, thus modelling the roads of Lombardy as a network in which weights attributed to the edges are functional data. Results reveal the most critical bridges of Lombardy; moreover, for each bridge closure, the most impactful hours of the day and the most impacted municipalities of the region are identified. The proposed approach develops a flexible and scalable method for monitoring infrastructures of large and complex road networks.

The impact of COVID-19 on hunters in Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos: a qualitative analysis

The COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated efforts to engage critically with forest-adjacent, rural, communities who rely on wildlife. In this study, we interviewed 109 hunters of wildlife across Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos regarding the effect the COVID-19 pandemic has had on them individually, as well as more generally within their communities. We found that negative economic impacts such as loss of employment and constrained finances due to rising prices was an especially prevalent theme due to city-wide lockdowns, factory closures, and border closures. In Vietnam, hunting was stated to have increased as young men were forced to return to their villages to work; however, trade in wildlife was believed to have decreased due to the inability of middlemen traders to easily leave urban spaces or cross-country lines. This theme of barriers to trade was found in Cambodia and Laos as well. Our results show the importance of establishing sustainable, non-wildlife-dependent livelihoods within rural communities, to mitigate hunting and mitigate the potential for emerging infectious disease transmission. Overall, our results show the value in engaging with hunters to understand locally and spatially-specific trends, and provide direction for future avenues of research.

Quantifying Environmental and Economic Impacts of Highly Porous Activated Carbon from Lignocellulosic Biomass for High-Performance Supercapacitors

Activated carbons (AC) from lignocellulosic biomass feedstocks are used in a broad range of applications, especially for electrochemical devices such as supercapacitor electrodes. Limited studies of environmental and economic impacts for AC supercapacitor production have been conducted. Thus, this paper evaluated the environmental and economic impacts of AC produced from lignocellulosic biomass for energy-storage purposes. The life cycle assessment (LCA) was employed to quantify the potential environmental impacts associated with AC production via the proposed processes including feedstock establishment, harvest, transport, storage, and in-plant production. A techno-economic model was constructed to analyze the economic feasibility of AC production, which included the processes in the proposed technology, as well as the required facility installation and management. A base case, together with two alternative scenarios of KOH-reuse and steam processes for carbon activation, were evaluated for both environmental and economic impacts, while the uncertainty of the net present value (NPV) of the AC production was examined with seven economic indicators. Our results indicated that overall “in-plant production” process presented the highest environmental impacts. Normalized results of the life-cycle impact assessment showed that the AC production had environmental impacts mainly on the carcinogenics, ecotoxicity, and non-carcinogenics categories. We then further focused on life cycle analysis from raw biomass delivery to plant gate, the results showed that “feedstock establishment” had the most significant environmental impact, ranging from 50.3% to 85.2%. For an activated carbon plant producing 3000 kg AC per day in the base case, the capital cost would be USD 6.66 million, and annual operation cost was found to be USD 15.46 million. The required selling price (RSP) of AC was USD 16.79 per kg, with the discounted payback period (DPB) of 9.98 years. Alternative cases of KOH-reuse and steam processes had GHG emissions of 15.4 kg CO2 eq and 10.2 kg CO2 eq for every 1 kg of activated carbon, respectively. Monte Carlo simulation showed 49.96% of the probability for an investment to be profitable in activated carbon production from lignocellulosic biomass for supercapacitor electrodes.

Defining Urban Freight Microhubs: A Case Study Analysis

Urban freight distribution has confronted several challenges, including negative environmental, social, and economic impacts. Many city logistics initiatives that use the concept of Urban Consolidation Centers (UCCs) have failed. The failure of many UCCs does not mean that the idea of additional terminals or microhubs should be rejected. There is limited knowledge about the advantages and disadvantages of using microhubs, requiring further exploration of this concept. To expand this knowledge, this research combines 17 empirical cases from Europe and North America to develop a framework for classifying different microhubs typologies. This research presents an integrated view of the cases and develops a common language for understanding microhub typologies and definitions. The research proposes microhubs as an important opportunity to improve urban freight sustainability and efficiency and one possible step to manage the challenge of multi-sector collaboration.