Using ICT in Developing a Resilient Supply Chain Strategy

AbstractSupply chains in today's globalization are very vulnerable to risks such as natural disasters, terrorism, cyber attacks and credit crunch etc that could easily disrupt the flow of raw materials, finished products and information. Furthermore, these disruptions could yield to a drastic loss in productivity, competitive advantage and profitability that would most probably lead to bankruptcy if not managed appropriately. In fact, supply chain vulnerability is now a major concern in many organizations as some research programs have started to illustrate that modern supply chains are at greater risks than their supply chain managers could even recognise. The aim of this article is to analyse these risks and discuss how they could be prevented and/or managed. In addition, by implementing ICT in collaboration with certain strategies, a resilient supply chain could be developed. Moreover, in case any of these risks occur, the possibility for an organization to be able to bounce back and start operations in the shortest possible time is also considered

Instantaneous Pole Velocity and Global Models

A new approach to estimating the velocity of the pole moving is considered. The method uses the model-calculated spatial distribution of the (vector) horizontal component \textbf{H} for a given year and its change relative to the closest epochs. The velocity equation is obtained from the expression for the time dependence of the position of the pole $\mathbf{H}(\lambda(t),\phi(t),t)=0$. Here $\lambda(t)$ and $\phi(t)$ are the geographic coordinates of the pole at time $t$. The velocity between epochs can be found using the Hermite spline, which gives a smooth line that keeps the velocity vector in each epoch. We use IGRF and COV-OBSx2 models to find the horizontal component.Comment: This is an extended talk from XIV International Conference and School {\guillemotleft}Problems of Geocosmos 2022{\guillemotright}, October 3-7, 2022, St. Petersburg, Russi

Modelling of transport operations in supply chains in obedience to “just-in-time” conception

Transportation is a key logistics function, which determines the dynamic nature of material flows in logistics systems. At the same time, transportation is a source of uncertainty of logistics operations performance in the supply chain. Obviously, the development of a new approach for evaluation of the duration of delivery “Just-In-Time” (JIT) will improve the efficiency of supply chains in accordance with one of the major criteria, namely customer satisfaction. One of the basic approaches to make effective management decisions in transportation and other logistic operations is the JIT concept. In the majority of examined sources the JIT concept is described on the verbal level without any usage of calculation dependences. The paper is devoted to the formation of analytical and simulation models, which allow obtaining the probabilistic evaluation of the implementation of unimodal and multimodal international transportation JIT. The first model where the order of the operations implementation does not affect final result is formed on the basis of the probability theory: distribution laws composition, theorems of numerical characteristics of random variables, formula of complete probability. The second model accounts the impact of operations implementation order in transportation and their interconnection and is based on the simulation (the method of statistic experiments) and shown as a corresponding algorithm, which allows to consider different limitations (technical, organizational and so on). Considered analytical dependences give the possibility to obtain the necessary estimations of the transport operations implementation according to JIT: mean transportation time, delivery implementation probability by the set moment or the delivery time with the set probability. To carry out some comparative calculations and clarify the algorithm, two international routes have been chosen: the first one is a unimodal road transportation, the second one is a multimodal transportation (road and marine transport). All the data, which is necessary for calculation has been collected on the basis of official information (in particular, the data of tachograph, special questionnaires filled in by the drivers, the survey results of the managers). For unimodal transportations analytical dependences and modelling results give close results. For the combined multimodal transportations taking into account various limitations the preference must be given to the simulation. The modelled indexes take into consideration their intercommunication and definitely estimate the supply chains reliability, and this allows decreasing the uncertainty of the logistic system

Third Generation University Strategic Planning Model Development

The paper discusses implementation of a research that is aimed at development of a simulation model which would allow analyzing different development strategies of the third generation university. Small countries’ universities have limits of growth. The problem can be solved with a new approach to university role. The third generation defines university as innovation generation, transfer and implementation center, while maintaining the traditional university functions. The 3G university activities change number of innovative companies in the country. With growth of the number of innovative companies, potential researches and innovation customers’ amount grow. With time the amount of conducted research and developed innovative products growth. Innovative products and technologies is the basis of university competitiveness in the 21st century. Universities must develop, accumulate, implement and get benefits from innovative products and technologies

Invasive Populations of the Emerald Ash Borer Agrilus planipennis Fairmaire, 1888 (Coleoptera: Buprestidae) in Saint Petersburg, Russia: A Hitchhiker?

Simple Summary The emerald ash borer (EAB) is an invasive beetle of Asian origin that has killed millions of ash trees in North America and Russia, with a devastating economic and ecological impact. In September 2020, EAB was detected for the first time in Saint Petersburg, Russia, notably killing ash trees. The invasion came from the eastern direction (Moscow) and became a significantly notable event for Saint Petersburg, famous for its historical parks. Moreover, Saint Petersburg is 120-130 km from the eastern EU borders of Estonia and Finland, with railway, motorway, and ferry connections. Currently, EAB is one of the most serious quarantine insect pests in the EU. There is a risk that the eventual EAB invasion could potentially extirpate European populations of ash. Currently, 95% are devastated by the invasive fungal disease ash dieback. Here, we investigated the development of EAB populations in Saint Petersburg, from its initial invasion (estimated year 2015), until 2021. We found that climatic conditions of north Russia do not favor the natural aerial spread of EAB. The two isolated populations were located, respectively, close to a motorway, and the Neva River (used for cargo shipping), implying that the insect spreads by transport vehicles, or "hitchhiking". This could potentially lead to the eventual invasion of the EU by this serious, tree-killing beetle. The emerald ash borer (EAB), Agrilus planipennis, is an invasive beetle of East Asian origin that has killed millions of ash trees (Fraxinus spp.) in North America and Russia. In September 2020, EAB was detected in Saint Petersburg, a notable event for the metropolitan city. The aim of the present study was to investigate the occurrence and ecology of EAB in Saint Petersburg. The presence of two distinct enclave populations of EAB was revealed, each of which has, most likely, been established through separate events of "hitchhiking" via transport vehicles. Following the invasion, the further spread of EAB in Saint Petersburg was slow and locally restricted, most likely due to climatic factors. This spread by "hitchhiking" suggests that the possibility of the further long-distance geographic spread of EAB in the Baltic Sea region (the EU) is high, both by ground transport (120-130 km distance from EU borders) and ferries that transport cars across the Baltic Sea. In certain cases, the development of EAB on Fraxinus excelsior, based on the stem portion colonized, larval densities, number of galleries, exit holes, viable larvae, and emerged adult beetles, was more successful than in Fraxinus pennsylvanica trees. The observed relatively high sensitivity of F. excelsior to EAB, therefore, casts doubt on the efficacy and benefits of the currently ongoing selection and breeding projects against ash dieback (ADB) disease, which is caused by the fungus Hymenoscyphus fraxineus. Inventory, mapping, and monitoring of surviving F. excelsior trees infested by both ADB and EAB are necessary to acquire genetic resources for work on the strategic long-term restoration of F. excelsior, tackling the probable invasion of EAB to the EU

Three-particle States in Nonrelativistic Four-fermion Model

On a nonrelativistic contact four-fermion model we have shown that the simple Lambda-cut-off prescription together with definite fine-tuning of the Lambda dependency of "bare"quantities lead to self-adjoint semi-bounded Hamiltonian in one-, two- and three-particle sectors. The fixed self-adjoint extension and exact solutions in two-particle sector completely define three-particle problem. The renormalized Faddeev equations for the bound states with Fredholm properties are obtained and analyzed.Comment: 9 pages, LaTex, no figure