A collision avoidance system for a spaceplane manipulator arm

Part of the activity in the area of collision avoidance related to the Hermes spaceplane is reported. A collision avoidance software system which was defined, developed and implemented in this project is presented. It computes the intersection between the solids representing the arm, the payload, and the objects. It is feasible with respect to the resources available on board, considering its performance

A shipping line stowage-planning procedure in the presence of hazardous containers

This work addresses the stowage-planning problem for containerships, known as the Master Bay Plan problem (MBPP), in the presence of hazardous containers. A novel procedure, based on the principles included in the International Maritime Dangerous Goods (IMDG) Code for stowing containers in liner services is presented. Further, shipping alliances are considered. Our aim is to assist the shipping line coordinator (SLC) to optimize the available space assigned to each alliance member. This is possible thanks to the proposed procedure that finds stowage solutions for ships with different structures, capacity and available sections for hazardous containers, and for companies having different stowage strategies. Our procedure can be implemented in a tool, able to verify the stowage constraints and the segregation rules in case of hazardous cargo. Two simple real-life multi-port stowage plans involving hazardous containers are presented and analysed to illustrate the proposed procedure

Hub locations in urban multimodal networks

The present paper deals with the problem of locating hubs for freight mobility in urban and suburban areas. In particular, we present a heuristic method that combines aspects coming from both classical simple plant location problems and shortest path ones on multimodal graphs. In the first phase of the proposed heuristics, we identify those nodes that could be attractive poles for being logistics platforms. In this phase we select the possible modal change nodes by analysing their communication capabilities with the other nodes of the network, such as depots, transit points, retail points, main accesses to the highways and railways. In the second phase, we first compute shortest mono-modal paths looking for well performing modal change nodes from both the required origin and destination nodes. Then, we evaluate the generalized cost of the corresponding possible multimodal path visiting the previously selected commuting points thus being able to identify the best location for the required hubs in the whole logistic network among the set of candidate nodes. Computational experiences and results concerning the logistic network of the metropolitan area of the city of Genoa are reported

Impact of megaships on the performance of port container terminals

Following the advent of megaships, the performance requirements of container terminals have increased significantly, highlighting necessary changes in their layout, infrastructure, and equipment. We focus on the impact of megaships on a terminal within the port network of the Italian Region of Liguria, in terms of its ability to manage the flow of imports from arrival to inland destinations. We use discrete event simulation techniques to analyze the operations of a terminal and evaluate the relevant performance indices in different scenarios, which vary as a function of the \u201ccall size\u201d of the larger containerships. The possibility of guaranteeing a more balanced modal split (favoring rail transport) for the inland distribution of containers is also evaluated. Dwell times at the yard and turnaround times at the berth are considered, with the objective of achieving a modal split of inland transport consisting of no less than 40% rail. Our results show that this objective can be achieved if a higher dwell time for outgoing containers is allowed

An exact approach for the grocery delivery problem in urban areas

In this paper, we face the problem of delivering a given amount of goods in urban areas in a business-to-consumer (B2C) electronic commerce (EC) environment. This problem can be considered as a particular case of vehicle routing problem. As a novel issue, here we have to determine the fleet of no homogeneous vehicles to be used for satisfying the demands of clients coming from grocery e-channels, and their related itineraries, given the traveling limits imposed by the urban government; in fact, commercial vehicles are not allowed to go everywhere and can travel only in restricted daily time windows, according to their pollution emissions. We have to minimize the overall distribution costs, taking into account traveling components and setup ones, together with operative aspects and environmental issues; customer requirements, vehicle capacity and daily shift constraints have to be satisfied too. We outline the main characteristics of the problem in a B2C EC environment and propose a mixed integer linear programming model to solve this NP-hard problem. Computational results of test bed cases related to different sized transportation networks and delivery demands are presented and analyzed with respect to the fleet of vehicles chosen for satisfying the customer demand and the street traffic limitations. Then, a realistic case study derived from the e-distribution channel of a grocery company of Genoa, Italy, is reported. Considerations about CPU time and optimality gap are also given with the idea of making the proposed model effectively used and solved with any commercial software

Ports, external costs, and Northern Italian transport network design: effects for the planned transformation

Modern ports need to be inserted in an efficient network in order to exploit all their potential, positively affecting both the efficiency of the local markets and the external costs of the served industries. Moreover, the role of the ports within the whole supply chain is affected by the location and the organization of intermediate facilities\u2014such as logistics parks or inland ports\u2014that heavily influence both the effectiveness of the logistics corridors and the externalities generated by the transport industry. New and adequate infrastructures can then reduce congestions, pollution, and accidents smoothing the whole logistics chains. The proposed study aims at discussing the effects in terms of rail share of the different planned interventions that are aimed at increasing the rail capacity of the network under investigation. In order to achieve this goal, a network optimization model has been solved by the optimizer solver of a spreadsheet. Outcomes can be used in order to improve current transport policies that might foster a more efficient and less impacting hinterland transport solutio

Evaluation of neonatal transport in a European country shows that regional provision is not cost-effective or sustainable and needs to be re-organised

Aim: There are three dedicated and 41 on-call neonatal emergency transport services (NETS) in Italy, and activity levels vary dramatically. We examined the cost-effectiveness of a hub-and-spoke NETS by looking at the costs and activity levels in the Liguria region and established the financial needs for improving NETS across Italy. Methods: The cost of running NETS in the Liguria region from 2012 to 2015 was evaluated and analysed, and three different models determined the transports needed each year to provide the best organisational model. Results: The average number of NETS transports in the Liguria region during the study period was 234, and the models indicated that 200\u2013350 transports per year were the optimal amount of activity that was needed to achieve good financial performance and for the personnel to acquire a suitable skill set. Only five of the 41 on-call Italian NETS and the three dedicated services carried out more than 200 transports a year. Of the rest, 26 carried out up to 100 and 10 carried out 101\u2013200. Conclusion: Italian NETS, which are managed on the basis of regional decisional autonomy, are expensive and no longer sustainable in this era of limited financial resources. A complete overhaul is urgently needed

Health emergency & care management

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A two step procedure for integrated inventory \u2013 supply chain management information systems

In this work we present a two step procedure aimed at integrating inventory and distribution functions for balancing stock levels in distribution systems. In particular, we analyse the flow of products within a multi-echelon, multi-channel distribution network, with the aim of minimizing logistic costs. The key issue of the present paper is that cost minimization is searched whilst granting a certain customers\u2019 service level, here expressed in terms of percentage of fulfilled demand. Moreover, the present paper focus on the gain that company should derive finding balanced stock levels in the whole network, that is the gain derived by using integration network management models and integrated inventory \u2013 supply chain management information systems. This integration is possible only if inventories\u2019 information related to the whole network are available. Results of computational experimentations aimed at comparing different inventory management policies are presented