Smart and sustainable urban logistic applications aided by intelligent techniques

[EN] CO2-free urban logistics is one of the 10 objectives to reach by 2030 as part of transport policy. What technologies can help to accomplish it? In this paper, we discuss the very complex situation that today¿s big and modern cities are facing with a tremendous environment of many urban logistics companies running in the same city. In the majority of cases, there is less or none coordination among them worsening traffic congestions. We believe that intelligent techniques are one of the key approaches that can aid to support smart and sustainable urban logistic applications. There are large open problems in the field of cooperative urban logistics that can greatly improve with the help of artificial intelligence. Some solutions are cited in this paper, but the overall conclusion is that there is still much work to be done.Giret Boggino, AS. (2019). Smart and sustainable urban logistic applications aided by intelligent techniques. Service Oriented Computing and Applications (Online). 13(3):185-186. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11761-019-00271-zS185186133Market reports (2019) Global last mile delivery market size, status and forecast 2019–2025. The Market reports. Report code : 1362721, pp 1–114Xiao Z, Wang JJ, Lenzer J, Sun Y (2017) Understanding the diversity of final delivery solutions for online retailing: a case of Shenzhen, China. In: World conference on transport research—WCTR 2016 Shanghai. Transportation Research Procedia, vol 25, pp 985–998, 2017. 10–15 July 2016Gonzalez-Feliu J, Semet F, Routhier JL (2014) Sustainable urban logistics: concepts, methods and information systems. Springer, BerlinMacharis C, Melo S (2011) City distribution and urban freight transport: multiple perspectives. Edward Elgar Publishing, CheltenhamPagell M, Wu Z (2009) Building a more complete theory of sustainable supply chain management using case studies of 10 exemplars. J Supply Chain Manag 45:37–56Morana J, Gonzalez-Feliu J (2015) A sustainable urban logistics dashboard from the perspective of a group of operational managers. Manag Res Rev 38(10):1068–1085Gunasekaran A, Kobu B (2007) Performance measures and metrics in logistics and supply chain management: a review of recent literature (1995–2004) for research and applications. Int J Prod Res 45:2819–2840Griffis SE, Goldsby TJ, Cooper M, Closs DJ (2007) Aligning logistics performance measures to the information needs of the firm. J Bus Logist 48:35–56Alonso-Mora J, Samaranayake S, Wallar A, Frazzoli E, Rus D (2017) On-demand high-capacity ride-sharing via dynamic trip-vehicle assignment. Proc Natl Acad Sci 114(3):462–467Gentile G, Noekel K (2016) Modeling public transport passenger flows in the era of intelligent transport systems. Springer, BerlinNeirotti P, De Marco A, Cagliano AC, Mangano G, Scorrano F (2014) Current trends in smart city initiatives: some stylised facts. Cities 38:25–36Chatterjee R (2016) Optimizing last mile delivery using public transport with multiagent based control. Master thesis, pp 1–59Skiver RL, Godfrey M (2017) Crowdserving: a last mile delivery method for brickand—mortar retailers. Glob J Bus Res 11(2):67–77Brüning M, Schönewolf W (2011) Freight transport system for urban shipment and delivery. In: IEEE forum on integrated and sustainable transportation systems, Vienna, pp 136–14

The socio-spatial design of community and governance: Interdisciplinary urban design in China

This book proposes a new interdisciplinary understanding of urban design in China based on a study of the transformative effects of socio-spatial design and planning on communities and their governance. This is framed by an examination of the social projects, spaces, and realities that have shaped three contexts critical to the understanding of urban design problems in China: the histories of “collective forms” and “collective spaces”, such as that of the urban danwei (work-unit), which inform current community building and planning; socio-spatial changes in urban and rural development; and disparate practices of “spatialised governmentality”. These contexts and an attendant transformation from planning to design and from government to governance, define the current urban design challenges found in the dominant urban xiaoqu (small district) and shequ (community) development model. Examining the histories, transformations, and practices that have shaped socio-spatial epistemologies and experiences in China – including a specific sense of community and place that is rather based on a concrete “collective” than abstract “public” space and underpinned by socialised governance – this book brings together a diverse range of observations, thoughts, analyses, and projects by urban researchers and practitioners. Thereby discussing emerging interdisciplinary urban design practices in China, this book offers a valuable resource for all academics, practitioners, and stakeholders with an interest in socio-spatial design and development

Corporate-Run Society: The Practice of the Danwei System in Beijing during the Planned Economy Period

The danwei system is one of the most important institutional arrangements in the Chinese planned economy era (1950s–1970s). It also offers a clue to understanding China’s urban transformation since the economic reform. This paper aims to explore the spatial prototype of the danwei system and understand the internal logic for the operation of this system by conducting a case study of the danwei compound of the Beijing No. 2 Textile Factory. Focusing on the obligation of the factory to run social welfare services, the danwei system formed a so-called “corporate-run society”. A sustainable mechanism for production and reproduction is conceptually portrayed. The institutional practice of the danwei system is understood as a process that is in accordance with socialist constructions, the public ownership system, and state socialism. This paper argues that it is necessary to reconfigure the legacies of the danwei system and explore its implications for contemporary Chinese society

Remaking urban logistics space : e-tailing and supply chain revolution in the case city of Shenzhen, China

Although urban logistics space (ULS) is an important sector for sustainable development, it has been overlooked in urban and transport studies for a long time. Owing to the rapid development of e-tailing and home delivery services, some stakeholders have recently endeavored to revolutionise logistics fulfilment and improve supply chain operation, resulting in great mutations on ULS. Nevertheless, few studies hitherto have related e-tailing and supply chain reconfiguration to the evolution of ULS. This thesis aims to fill this gap, and more specifically to address the research question of how the ongoing e-tailing and supply chain revolution has contributed to the remaking of ULS, by using a mixed research approach in this case study of Shenzhen, China. The effects of e-tailing on supply chain operation are firstly attributed to the Internet-enabled retailing environment. The participation of new market players also warrants a new supply chain paradigm to enable speedy delivery from retailers to widely-dispersed consumers. The core issue is geographic configuration of customer order point, order delivery point and order shipment point. It not only determines the typology of e-tailing supply chain operation, but also pinpoints the critical role of the first-mile and last-mile delivery in achieving the balance between speed and cost of supply chain operation. The soaring e-tailing market has stimulated the engagement from retailers, parcel express firms and professional warehouse developers in developing modernised and superior logistics facilities to deal with first-mile warehousing and transshipment logistics activities. The robust demand, together with spatial, political, and technological factors, accelerated the production process of outwards migration of warehousing and logistics activities, thereby shaping the regionalism of e-commerce logistics activities. A multitude of final delivery solutions hence emerged with attempts to eliminate difficulties in last-mile delivery. Despite of the adoption of diversified approaches, all solutions seek to intensify final delivery network and downscale delivery zone. However, such intensification strategy practically and geographically depends very much on demand density and the availability of space for establishing the final delivery facilities. This results in the spatial disparities of last-mile ULS. The uneven distribution of ULS influences people’s e-shopping engagement. The availability of final delivery facilities has a small effect on e-shopping spending while it is closely correlated with e-shopping frequency. Improvement in last-mile delivery services helps alleviate negative assessment of delivery services, though different final delivery solutions will create varied effects on e-shopping usage. The availability of smart parcel stations for instance can significantly reduce the negative perception of delivery services. The development of e-tailing and home delivery service have been conducive to the new landscape of retailing and logistics. The increasing number of delivery vehicles, sprawling logistic facilities, sprouting final delivery facilities suggest that revisiting space/time in the context of e-tailing logistics is deemed necessary. It not only theoretically contributes to a new geography of e-tailing and logistics, but also highlights the implications of supply chain-based approach for remapping sustainable urban supply chain management.published_or_final_versionGeographyDoctoralDoctor of Philosoph

Workplace Parking Provision and Built Environments: Improving Context-Specific Parking Standards Towards Sustainable Transport

Both academics and practitioners concur that parking restraints should be actively introduced in urban centers and job-intensive areas, to prevent overdependence on automobiles. Many Chinese metropolises have reduced the level of parking minimums for non-residential premises in central and transit-rich areas. However, there is a lack of research examining the effectiveness of these policies. Taking Shenzhen as a case study, this paper compares the parking supply with the parking minimums at each policy period, and analyzes the spatial characteristics of parking provision for office use. The descriptive analysis found that the effects of minimum parking requirements (MPRs) on parking provision vary by floor area ratio (FAR), operation period, and transit accessibility. By conducting a geographical weighted regression (GWR) model, this paper further examines the spatially varying effects of the built environment on parking provision. The modeling results conclude that the significance and strength of the effects of built environments on parking provision vary across space. (1) The total parking quantity increases with the growth of the FAR, and this increasing effect is larger in suburban areas than in the city proper. (2) Lot size has a positive relationship with parking provision, and the effects are stronger in areas with higher parking demand. (3) Transit accessibility has inconsistent associations with parking provision at different locations, in terms of the direction and strength of the influence. These results provide relevant insights into the development of context-specific parking policies in the high-density contexts of China’s large cities

The role of geographic specificity of logistics for e-commerce companies' Inter-firm integration: A case study of Alibaba

Inter-firm integration is becoming prevalent in current e-commerce and logistics industry. However, less is known about the underlying role of geography in these inter-firm integration cases. Grounding transaction cost framework on the geography of logistics, this paper attempts to contextually examine the geographic specificity of logistics for e-commerce with a qualitative case study of Alibaba, China. Empirical results show that logistics specificity for e-commerce is embedded in logistics network and related geographic knowledge to organize physical logistics. The multi-scale characteristics of logistics specificity are unfolded across the space and time dimension. The changing logistics specificity shows the evolution of e-commerce.Link_to_subscribed_fulltex

Characterization of Microstructures and Fatigue Properties for Dual-Phase Pipeline Steels by Gleeble Simulation of Heat-Affected Zone

To increase transmission efficiency and reduce operation cost, dual-phase (DP) steels have been considered for pipeline applications. Welding has to be involved in such applications, which would cause a localized alteration of materials and cause many potential fatigue issues to arise under cyclic loading. In this work, the fatigue crack propagation and fatigue life of simulated heat-affected zone (HAZ) were examined. Results indicate that when the maximum stress is at the same magnitude, the fatigue life at a peak temperature of 1050 °C is very close to that of a peak temperature of 850 °C, and both of them are higher than that of a peak temperature of 1350 °C. The changes in da/dN with ΔK for HAZ subregions are attributed to the variation of crack path and fracture mode during the crack propagation. The fatigue cracks may propagate along the bainite lath preferentially in coarse-grained HAZ (CGHAZ), and the prior austenite grain boundaries can change the crack growth direction. A considerable amount of highly misoriented grain boundaries in fine-grained HAZ (FGHAZ) and intercritical-grained HAZ (ICHAZ) increase the crack growth resistance. The difference of fatigue crack propagation behavior in HAZ subregions between actual and simulated welded joints was also discussed

Treatment of retroperitoneal kaposiform hemangioendothelioma: 2 case reports

AbstractKaposiform hemangioendothelioma (KHE) is an uncommon vascular tumor that affects young children. It frequently affects the trunk, limbs, head and face, but rarely the retroperitoneal area. This retrospective study analyzed two cases of retroperitoneal KHE admitted to the Children's Hospital of Fudan University, and investigated the clinical characteristics and treatment of this disease

Effect of CuO addition on the sintering temperature and microwave dielectric properties of CaSiO3–Al2O3 ceramics

CuO-doped CaSiO3–1 wt% Al2O3 ceramics were synthesized via a traditional solid-state reaction method, and their sintering behavior, microstructure and microwave dielectric properties were investigated. The results showed that appropriate CuO addition could accelerate the sintering process and assist the densification of CaSiO3–1 wt% Al2O3 ceramics, which could effectively lower the densification temperature from 1250 °C to 1050 °C. However, the addition of CuO undermined the microwave dielectric properties. The optimal amount of CuO addition was found to be 0.8 wt%, and the derived CaSiO3–Al2O3 ceramic sintered at 1100 °C presented good microwave dielectric properties of εr=7.27, Q×f=16,850 GHz and τf=−39.53 ppm/°C, which is much better than those of pure CaSiO3 ceramic sintered at 1340 oC (Q×f=13,109 GHz). The chemical compatibility of the above ceramic with 30 Pd/70 Ag during the cofiring process has also been investigated, and the result showed that there was no chemical reaction between palladium–silver alloys and ceramics