A mathematical modelling approach for managing sudden disturbances in a three-tier manufacturing supply chain

© 2019, Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature. This paper aims to develop a recovery planning approach in a three-tier manufacturing supply chain, which has a single supplier, manufacturer, and retailer under an imperfect production environment, in which we consider three types of sudden disturbances: demand fluctuation, and disruptions to production and raw material supply, which are not known in advance. Firstly, a mathematical model is developed for generating an ideal plan under imperfect production for a finite planning horizon while maximizing total profit, and then we re-formulate the model to generate the recovery plan after happening of each sudden disturbance. Considering the high commercial cost and computational intensity and complexity of this problem, we propose an efficient heuristic, to obtain a recovery plan, for each disturbance type, for a finite future period, after the occurrence of a disturbance. The heuristic solutions are compared with a standard solution technique for a considerable number of random test instances, which demonstrates the trustworthy performance of the developed heuristics. We also develop another heuristic for managing the combined effects of multiple sudden disturbances in a period. Finally, a simulation approach is proposed to investigate the effects of different types of disturbance events generated randomly. We present several numerical examples and random experiments to explicate the benefits of our developed approaches. Results reveal that in the event of sudden disturbances, the proposed mathematical and heuristic approaches are capable of generating recovery plans accurately and consistently

A multimodal network design problem for domestic container transportation with short sea shipping

With the growing importance of logistic in a green and environmental friendly way, it is widely accepted that short sea shipping (SSS) is a mean to divert the freight traffic from congested corridor in local communities as well as to reduce environmental costs. It can also relieve the problem of traffic congestion and investment on road construction and maintenance. This paper considers a multimodal transportation model for domestic container cargos, in which the flow of container cargos moving between foreign seaports and domestic cities can be transported via domestic seaports using SSS and inland by truck. We propose a two-level strategy in evaluating the various government policies to encourage or regulate the usage of SSS. While the objective of the freight carriers is to minimize its transportation cost, the government could internalize the external cost and invest on the transportation network with considering the cost to the society. A case study with the Taiwan network is performed to illustrate the benefit and performance of the model.postprintThe 12th World Conference on Transport Research (WCTR), Lisbon, Portugal, 11-15 July 2010

A trial to generalise evaluation of key driving factors of port-city waterfront development

This paper investigates the key successful factors in waterfront port development (WPD). Consistent fuzzy preference relation (CFPR), with the combination of the preference ranking organisation methods for enrichment evaluation (PROMETHEE), is applied to six ports, namely Busan, Incheon Inner Port, Bangkok, Kaohsiung, Montreal and Liverpool. The latter technique evaluates the performance of WPD among the studied cases, while the former draws the key successful factors (KSFs) of the selected ports. To draw meaningful comparison with the test results from past research, this paper takes the same evaluation hierarchy in the questionnaire form in Lee et al. (2016). With a further validity of the previous findings in WPD studies, this paper does not only provide insight on exploring the generalisation of KSFs in WPD in a longitude manner, but also contributes to the literature of WPD and port-city interplays. Copyright © 2020 Inderscience Enterprises Ltd

Risk and cost evaluation of port adaptation measures to climate change impacts

The long term impact posed by climate change risk remains unclear and is subject to diverse interpretations from different maritime stakeholders. The inter-dynamics between climate change and ports can also significantly diversify in different geographical regions. Consequently, risk and cost data used to support climate adaptation is of high uncertainty and in many occasions, real data is often unavailable and incomplete. This paper presents a risk and cost evaluation methodology that can be applied to the analysis of port climate change adaptation measures in situations where data uncertainty is high. Risk and cost criteria are used in a decision-making model for the selection of climate adaptation measures. Information produced using a fuzzy-Bayesian risk analysis approach is utilized to evaluate risk reduction outcomes from the use of adaptation measures in ports. An evidential reasoning approach is then employed to synthesize the risk reduction data as inputs to the decision-making model. The results can assist policymakers in developing efficient adaptation measures that take into account the reduction in the likelihood of risks, their possible consequences, their timeframe, and costs incurred.A technical study across 14 major container ports in Greater China is presented to demonstrate the interaction between cost and risk analysis, and to highlight the applicability of the stated methodology in practice. The paper offers a useful analytical tool for assessing climate change risks to ports and selecting the most cost-effective adaptation measures in uncertain conditions. It can also be used to compare the practitioners' perceptions of climate risks across different geographical regions, and to evaluate improvements after implementation of the selected adaptation measures with potential budgetary constraints. The methodology, together with the illustrative cases, provides important insights on how to develop efficient climate change adaptation measures in a supply chain context to improve the sustainability of development and enhance adaptation measures for ports, port cities, intermodal transport, supply chains, and urban and regional planning in general. © 2017 Elsevier Ltd

Mapping of the human ribosomal large subunit protein gene RPL29 to human chromosome 3q29-qter

The human ribosomal protein L29, which we reported previously, was subsequently shown to have the same nucleotide sequence as that of cell surface heparin/heparan sulfate-binding protein, designated HP/HS interacting protein. A polymerase chain reaction-based strategy was used to distinguish the functional intron-containing gene RPL29 (HGMW-approved symbol) from multiple pseudogenes. By somatic cell hybrid analysis, radiation hybrid mapping, and fluorescence in situ hybridization, we have located RPL29 on the telomeric region of the q arm of chromosome 3. RPL29 is the most distal marker of the long arm of chromosome 3. Of the human ribosomal protein genes mapped, RPL29 is the shortest distance from another ribosomal protein gene marker, RPL35a which has also been mapped to the 3q29-qter region.link_to_subscribed_fulltex

High-spin structure in Er-157 up to and above band termination

The high-spin structure of Er-157 has been greatly expanded using the Gammasphere spectrometer to investigate the Cd-114(Ca-48,5n) reaction at 215 MeV. Many new transitions have been placed in a greatly augmented level scheme up to spin 40h with many collective rotational sequences established. With increasing angular momentum, this nucleus undergoes a Coriolis-induced shape transition from a deformed state of collective rotation to a noncollective configuration. This transition manifests itself as favored band termination near I=45h in three rotational structures. Many weakly populated states lying at high excitation energy that decay into the terminating states have been discovered. Cranked-Nilsson-Strutinsky calculations suggest that the levels that feed the terminating states arise from weakly collective configurations that break the Z=64 semimagic core

High-Spin Structure beyond Band Termination in ¹⁵⁷Er

The angular-momentum induced transition from a deformed state of collective rotation to a noncollective configuration has been studied. In Er-157 this transition manifests itself as favored band termination near I=45 (h) over bar. The feeding of these band terminating states has been investigated for the first time using the Gammasphere spectrometer. Many weakly populated states lying at high excitation energy that decay into these special states have been discovered. Cranked Nilsson-Strutinsky calculations suggest that these states arise from weakly collective "core-breaking" configurations