Hyperconnected parcel logistic hubs

Hyperconnected Parcel Logistic Hubs Shannon Buckley 144 Pages Advised By Dr. Benoit Montreuil This thesis focuses on the design of a new era of hub in the parcel logistics industry. Parcel logistics hubs (hubs) are the connective tissue in parcel logistics networks, sorting and transferring parcels from one vehicle to another as quickly as possible. However, as the demand for eCommerce surges, customer expectations for delivery speed rise and as the COVID pandemic creates disruptions throughout supply chains, new solutions are needed to ease the strain on the system. Current parcel logistics hubs are massive facilities filled to the brim with miles of fixed conveyor systems and expensive sorting machines. These hubs were built to handle large volumes of parcels at extremely fast speeds. However, with their fixed resources, they must have all operations finely scheduled and are not able to respond dynamically to disruptions such as an unexpected wave of parcels, resulting in backlogs and unhappy customers. In this thesis we help the transition away from this old, outdated hub design towards, dynamic, flexible hyperconnected parcel logistics hubs. In Chapter 2 we introduce a method for dynamically updating forecasts of the demand that hubs will face in the near future. We describe the new method and then compare it to existing methods with computational experiments. In Chapter 3 we present a pilot design for a new hyperconnected parcel logistics hub called the robotic logistics hub. We introduce designs for the layout as well as the operations and control of the hub, and finish with a comparative study of our hub’s performance against an existing hub from our industry partner. In Chapter 4 we present our novel simulation platform built to enable the analysis of new technology such as the robotic logistics hub. The simulator uses a hybrid discrete event / agent based modelling approach as well as a unique modular construction to allow for a highly flexible tool capable of providing deep insight into many facets of the proposed robotic logistics hub.Ph.D

A High-Value-Best-Value approach to public shipyard human capital management to improve ship availability

One of the problems faced by public shipyards is delays in completing maintenance, upgrades, and overhauls on ships. The general trend is for ships to be delivered behind schedule, which impacts the U.S. Naval Fleet’s operational readiness and increases the overall cost burden of availabilities to the U.S. Navy. This study investigates the current public shipyard architecture, the contracting vehicle utilized to award shipyard availability contracts, and the relationship between the public shipyard permanent workforce and the contingent workforce. The investigation consists of analysis of public shipyard availability data and examination of the current architecture of public shipyards. The result of the analysis is the development of a proposed High-Value-Best-Value (HVBV) system-of-systems approach to managing human capital and contracting efforts in public shipyards. The HVBV system-of-systems approach is intended to increase worker-human capital, including effectiveness and efficiencies, by creating an integrated product team between the permanent and contingent shipyard workforce. Additionally, the HVBV system of systems utilizes the best value contracting approach by selecting the highest performer for the lowest cost, ensuring high performance and minimizing shipyard risk and delays by forcing accountability between the shipyard and the contractor.http://archive.org/details/ahighvaluebestva1094547235Lieutenant, United States NavyApproved for public release; distribution is unlimited

Habitat detection, habitat choice copying or mating benefits : What drives conspecific attraction in a nomadic songbird?

Conspecific attraction during habitat selection is common among animals, but the ultimate (i.e. fitness-related) reasons for this behaviour often remain enigmatic. We aimed to evaluate the following three hypotheses for conspecific attraction during the breeding season in male Wood Warblers (Phylloscopus sibilatrix): the habitat detection hypothesis, the habitat choice copying hypothesis and the female preference hypothesis. These hypotheses make different predictions with respect to the relative importance of social and nonsocial information during habitat assessment, and whether benefits accrue as a consequence of aggregation. We tested the above hypotheses using a combination of a 2-year playback experiment, spatial statistics and mate choice models. The habitat detection hypothesis was the most likely explanation for conspecific attraction and aggregation in male Wood Warblers, based on the following results: (1) males were attracted to conspecific song playbacks, but fine-scale habitat heterogeneity was the better predictor of spatial patterns in the density of settling males; (2) male pairing success did not increase, but instead slightly decreased, as connectivity with other males (i.e. the number and proximity of neighbouring males) increased. Our study highlights how consideration of the process by which animals detect and assess habitat, together with the potential fitness consequences of resulting aggregations, are important for understanding conspecific attraction and spatially clustered distributions.Peer reviewe

Urban Parcel Logistics Hub and Network Design: The Impact of Modularity and Hyperconnectivity

This paper examines how exploiting the hyperconnectivity and modularity concepts underpinning the Physical Internet enables the parcel logistics industry to meet the worldwide challenges to efficiently and sustainably offer faster and more precise deliveries across urban agglomerations, notably across the world’s megacities. It emphasizes disruptive transformations of package logistics hubs and networks, such as multi-tier world pixelization, multi-plane parcel logistics web, smart dynamic parcel routing and hub-based consolidation, and modular parcel containerization

Validation of an Automated Body Condition Scoring System Using 3D Imaging

Body condition scores (BCS) measure a cow’s fat reserves and is important for management and research. Manual BCS assessment is subjective, time-consuming, and requires trained personnel. The BodyMat F (BMF, Ingenera SA, Cureglia, Switzerland) is an automated body condition scoring system using a 3D sensor to estimate BCS. This study assesses the BMF. One hundred and three Holstein Friesian cows were assessed by the BMF and two assessors throughout a lactation. The BMF output is in the 0–5 scale commonly used in France. We develop and report the first equation to convert these scores to the 1–5 scale used by the assessors in Ireland in this study ((0–5 scale × 0.38) + 1.67 → 1–5 scale). Inter-assessor agreement as measured by Lin’s concordance of correlation was 0.67. BMF agreement with the mean of the two assessors was the same as between assessors (0.67). However, agreement was lower for extreme values, particularly in over-conditioned cows where the BMF underestimated BCS relative to the mean of the two human observers. The BMF outperformed human assessors in terms of reproducibility and thus is likely to be especially useful in research contexts. This is the second independent validation of a commercially marketed body condition scoring system as far as the authors are aware. Comparing the results here with the published evaluation of the other system, we conclude that the BMF performed as well or better

Internet Safety: Positioning VCU as a National Leader in Internet Safety

While a multitude of information from a host of sources exists on how to keep children safe on the Internet, there is not a unified effort to combine it all and get it to the right people. This is not a plan to teach college students about Internet safety. This is a proposal to begin much earlier, targeting middle-school aged children and their parents, many of whom have no idea of the dangers – and opportunities – that exist in cyberspace

Questions, conjectures, and data about multiplicity lists for trees

We review and discuss a number of questions and conjectures about multiplicity lists occurring among real symmetric matrices whose graph is a tree. Our investigation is aided by a new electronic database containing all multiplicity lists for trees on fewer than 12 vertices. Some questions and conjectures are familiar and some are new, and new information is given about several. (C) 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved

The CUL4-DDB1 ubiquitin ligase complex controls adult and embryonic stem cell differentiation and homeostasis

Little is known on post-transcriptional regulation of adult and embryonic stem cell maintenance and differentiation. Here we characterize the role of Ddb1, a component of the CUL4-DDB1 ubiquitin ligase complex. Ddb1 is highly expressed in multipotent hematopoietic progenitors and its deletion leads to abrogation of both adult and fetal hematopoiesis, targeting specifically transiently amplifying progenitor subsets. However, Ddb1 deletion in non-dividing lymphocytes has no discernible phenotypes. Ddb1 silencing activates Trp53 pathway and leads to significant effects on cell cycle progression and rapid apoptosis. The abrogation of hematopoietic progenitor cells can be partially rescued by simultaneous deletion of Trp53. Conversely, depletion of DDB1 in embryonic stem cell (ESC) leads to differentiation albeit negative effects on cell cycle and apoptosis. Mass spectrometry reveals differing protein interactions between DDB1 and distinct DCAFs, the substrate recognizing components of the E3 complex, between cell types. Our studies identify CUL4-DDB1 complex as a novel post-translational regulator of stem and progenitor maintenance and differentiation

Regulation of transcriptional elongation in pluripotency and cell differentiation by the PHD-finger protein Phf5a

Pluripotent embryonic stem cells (ESCs) self-renew or differentiate into all tissues of the developing embryo and cell-specification factors are necessary to balance gene expression. Here we delineate the function of the PHD-finger protein 5a (Phf5a) in ESC self-renewal and ascribe its role in regulating pluripotency, cellular reprogramming, and myoblast specification. We demonstrate that Phf5a is essential for maintaining pluripotency, since depleted ESCs exhibit hallmarks of differentiation. Mechanistically, we attribute Phf5a function to the stabilization of the Paf1 transcriptional complex and control of RNA polymerase II elongation on pluripotency loci. Apart from an ESC-specific factor, we demonstrate that Phf5a controls differentiation of adult myoblasts. Our findings suggest a potent mode of regulation by the Phf5a in stem cells, which directs their transcriptional program ultimately regulating maintenance of pluripotency and cellular reprogramming