Intermodal freight terminals : terminal business planning

The main purpose of this paper is to provide a framework for existing- and newly proposedinter-modal freight terminals in their business planning process. This framework is importantfor constructing- and improving the central terminal service portfolio of handling (loading,discharging, and transhipping) and storage of containerised cargo. Supportive activities (e.g. administration, customs) are taken into account as well.In particular, its aim is to investigate whether business planning offers a good approach for terminal operators in order to construct and improve their terminal service portfolio. The specific problem addressed here is as follows: To what extent is Business Planning useful for terminal operators inorder to be able to construct and improve their intermodal freight terminal service portfolio?Questions that will be answered in this paper are: who is the principle agent in the combinedtransport channel? How can the terminal operator improve its market power in the combinedtransport chain? Should the terminal operator seek a take-over with a European logisticsservice provider? Should the terminal operator look for a merger with a physical transportcompany? Should the terminal operator look for acquisitions of other freight terminals? Theterminal operator should look for a take-over by a global player? The conclusion of this paper is that business planning offers an excellent opportunity to terminal operators to betterconstruct and operate their terminal service portfolio. The main conclusions are that

Topos theory and `neo-realist' quantum theory

Topos theory, a branch of category theory, has been proposed as mathematical basis for the formulation of physical theories. In this article, we give a brief introduction to this approach, emphasising the logical aspects. Each topos serves as a `mathematical universe' with an internal logic, which is used to assign truth-values to all propositions about a physical system. We show in detail how this works for (algebraic) quantum theory.Comment: 22 pages, no figures; contribution for Proceedings of workshop "Recent Developments in Quantum Field Theory", MPI MIS Leipzig, July 200

Mobility through Heterogeneous Networks in a 4G Environment

Serving and Managing users in a heterogeneous environment. 17th WWRF Meeting in Heidelberg, Germany, 15 - 17 November 2006. [Proceeding presented at WG3 - Co-operative and Ad-hoc Networks]The increase will of ubiquitous access of the users to the requested services points towards the integration of heterogeneous networks. In this sense, a user shall be able to access its services through different access technologies, such as WLAN, Wimax, UMTS and DVB technologies, from the same or different network operators, and to seamless move between different networks with active communications. In this paper we propose a mobility architecture able to support this users’ ubiquitous access and seamless movement, while simultaneously bringing a large flexibility to access network operators

Localized tachyons in C^3/Z_N

We study the condensation of localized closed string tachyons in C^3/Z_N nonsupersymmetric noncompact orbifold singularities via renormalization group flows that preserve supersymmetry in the worldsheet conformal field theory and their interrelations with the toric geometry of these orbifolds. We show that for worldsheet supersymmetric tachyons, the endpoint of tachyon condensation generically includes ``geometric'' terminal singularities (orbifolds that do not have any marginal or relevant Kahler blowup modes) as well as singularities in codimension two. Some of the various possible distinct geometric resolutions are related by flip transitions. For Type II theories, we show that the residual singularities that arise under tachyon condensation in various classes of Type II theories also admit a Type II GSO projection. We further show that Type II orbifolds entirely devoid of marginal or relevant blowup modes (Kahler or otherwise) cannot exist, which thus implies that the endpoints of tachyon condensation in Type II theories are always smooth spaces.Comment: Latex, 50 pgs incl. appendices, 5 eps figs; v2. refs+minor textual editions adde

Analysis of the effect of mobile terminal speed on WLAN/3G vertical handovers

Proceedings of IEEE Global Telecommunications Conference, GLOBECOM '06, San Francisco, California, 27 november - 1 december, 2006.WLAN hot-spots are becoming widely spread. This, combined with the availability of new multi-mode terminals integrating heterogeneous technologies, opens new business opportunities for mobile operators. Scenarios in which 3G coverage is complemented by WLAN deployments are becoming available. Thus, true all-IP based networks are ready to offer a new variety of services across heterogeneous access. However, to achieve this, some aspects still need to be analyzed. In particular, the effect of the terminal speed on the detection and selection process of the preferred access network is not yet well understood. In fact, efficiency of vertical handovers depends on the appropriate configuration of mobile devices. In this paper we present a simulation study of handover performance between 3G and WLAN access networks showing the impact of mobile users’ speed. The mobile devices are based on the IEEE 802.21 cross layer architecture and use WLAN signal level thresholds as handover criteria. A novel algorithm to dynamically adjust terminals’ configuration is presented.Publicad

Competitiveness of Arabian gulf ports from shipping lines’ perspectives: Case of Sohar port in Oman

Purpose: The purpose of this article is to investigate the factors that encourage shipping lines to use port of Sohar, in Oman. Some selected factors were used to assess to what extent it affects the port choice from shipping lines companies’ perspective. These factors include infrastructure, hinterland, connectivity and port’s dues. Design/methodology/approach: for this study both quantitative and qualitative methodologies were used. Self-administered questionnaire used for collecting quantitative data while interviews were used to collect qualitative data. Secondary data was collected by reviewing academic literature and recent relevant articles and reports. Findings: Port of Sohar has a better opportunity to be the gateway of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) States and all Cargo could have dropped in the port and transferred to other GCC States by road, rail and other transportation modes. This opportunity is gained by the strategic location of Sohar Port outside of the Strait of Hormuz. It can be concluded that port competitiveness can be improved through strategic location, improved hinterland conditions, port facilities, services cost, volume of cargo, connectivity to other ports and dwell time factor. Research limitations: The research was limited mainly by conducting it only at the port of Sohar because surrounding ports are too far away and it should involve more ports to gain comparative results. Limited number of stakeholders as Port Authority, Oman International Container Terminal (OICT) and shipping lines companies and agents is another limitation. Practical implications: The port can improve its competitive advantages and focus on the investigated factors. The government can also continue in working in the three big infrastructural projects; the new express roads, Sohar Airport and rail network connections with other GCC networks. Originality/value: the study used specific factors that expected to contribute to the shipping lines companies’ selection of ports in the gulf region. This could help the port to identify their competitive advantage and how they can use these competencies to improve their competitiveness in relation to other ports in the region.Peer Reviewe

Spectrum sharing and cognitive radio

Spectrum sharing has been the subject of a 3 year research programme organised by the UK's Virtual Centre of Excellence in Mobile and Personal Communications. Cognitive radio was identified as a key enabling technology to allow spectrum to be shared efficiently between terminals and networks. The project has harnessed the skills of 4 UK Universities working together to understand the potential benefits for its industrial members of cognitive radio technology. This paper discusses some of the work that has been carried out by the Mobile VCE researchers in the field of cognitive radio together with some of the key results and conclusions. The central work has developed algorithms that control the dynamic allocation of radio resources between cooperating network operators as well as spectrum access protocols that allow suitably equipped terminals to sense and use free spectrum. Simulation work has shown that a gain in the efficiency of spectrum use is feasible for both types of spectrum sharing