<i>Background</i>: This paper addresses a new class of scheduling problems in the context of machines subject to (unrecoverable) interruptions; i.e., when a machine fails, the current and subsequently scheduled work on that machine is lost. Each job has a certain processing time and a reward that is attained if the job is successfully completed. <i>Methods</i>: For the failure process, we considered the linear risk model, according to which the probability of machine failure is uniform across a certain time horizon. <i>Results</i>: We analyzed both the situation in which the set of jobs is given, and that in which jobs must be selected from a pool of jobs, at a certain selection cost. <i>Conclusions</i>: We characterized the complexity of various problems, showing both hardness results and polynomial algorithms, and pointed out some open problems.
Transportation and communication, Management. Industrial management
<i>Background:</i> The dynamic vehicle routing problem (DVRP) is a complex optimization problem that is crucial for applications such as last-mile delivery. Our goal is to develop an application that can make real-time decisions to maximize total performance while adapting to the dynamic nature of incoming orders. We formulate the DVRP as a vehicle routing problem where new customer requests arrive dynamically, requiring immediate acceptance or rejection decisions. <i>Methods:</i> This study leverages reinforcement learning (RL), a machine learning paradigm that operates via feedback-driven decisions, to tackle the DVRP. We present a detailed RL formulation and systematically investigate the impacts of various state-space components on algorithm performance. Our approach involves incrementally modifying the state space, including analyzing the impacts of individual components, applying data transformation methods, and incorporating derived features. <i>Results:</i> Our findings demonstrate that a carefully designed state space in the formulation of the DVRP significantly improves RL performance. Notably, incorporating derived features and selectively applying feature transformation enhanced the model’s decision-making capabilities. The combination of all enhancements led to a statistically significant improvement in the results compared with the basic state formulation. <i>Conclusions:</i> This research provides insights into RL modeling for DVRPs, highlighting the importance of state-space design. The proposed approach offers a flexible framework that is applicable to various variants of the DVRP, with potential for validation using real-world data.
Transportation and communication, Management. Industrial management
<i>Background:</i> For several years, two of the major concerns of logistics managers are (i) the visibility of global supply chains and (ii) the uncertainty in deciding which existing logistics security program is the most appropriate according to the security levels for their organization. This last decision is needed to ensure traceability and visibility of the supply chain. The purpose of this paper is to present an analysis of the main public and private supply chain security management programs in Latin America and the Caribbean. <i>Methods:</i> A qualitative and quantitative research methodology based on thematic content analysis is followed. The four main existing security programs in Latin America and the Caribbean are systematically compared and a common general framework is developed. <i>Results:</i> The analysis shows a high degree of similarity between the levels of security contained in the selected programs. <i>Conclusions:</i> We found that there is little guidance available for companies interested in managing security risks in their supply chains through these logistics’ security programs. This article contributes to the literature on logistics security programs that is currently gaining momentum in managing security risks in global supply chains and provides academic insights into the choice and/or complementarity of one or more logistics security programs.
Transportation and communication, Management. Industrial management
<i>Background</i>: The Industry 5.0 emerges as a new paradigm for the industry by considering sustainability, human-centered approaches, organizational resilience, and interaction between humans and machines as its core values. This new trend for the future of the industry is referred to as neoindustrialization. Due to being a topic in development, there is still no precise consensus on its definition, which prompted the current study to comprehensively investigate and analyze the existing literature on Industry 5.0. <i>Methods</i>: The method employed was a scoping review, examining publications from various databases and academic journals, including those specific to the Brazilian context. <i>Results</i>: The results indicate a transition towards an industry that meets societal demands and respects planetary boundaries, aspects that were overlooked by Industry 4.0. <i>Conclusions</i>: In this new scenario, the industry reassumes its leadership by combining technology with new strategies and organizational models. Furthermore, it undergoes organizational changes to align its structure, operations, human resources, and new practices, aiming to meet the demands of society and all stakeholders involved. To achieve this, it is necessary to create an environment conducive to innovation and entrepreneurship, promoting the development of qualified human capital, investments in research and development, and strengthening partnerships between the public and private sectors. A successful neoindustrialization policy will generate high-quality jobs and foster economic growth. Industry 5.0 is the paradigm that will prevail in the 21st century. It is not a matter of speculation; it is an inseparable and inevitable reality. Otherwise, the industry will be relegated to a secondary role in the process of digital and social transformation.
Transportation and communication, Management. Industrial management
<i>Background</i>: The growth of e-commerce necessitates efficient logistics management to address rising last-mile delivery challenges. To overcome some of the last-mile delivery costs, parcel lockers as a delivery option, can be an alternative solution. This study presents the Capacitated Vehicle Routing Problem with Delivery Options (CVRPDO), which includes locker delivery. <i>Methods</i>: this problem is solved with An Adaptive Large Neighborhood Search (ALNS). The solution suggests some specific destroy and repair operators and integrates them with various selection schemes. The proposed method results are compared with the exact solution of the MIP model of the problem for validation. <i>Results</i>: Objective function values improved by 25%, 30%, 7%, 5%, and 6% for 1000, 800, 600, 400, and 200 customers, respectively, when using a 120-s ALNS runtime compared to the MIP model with a 3-h runtime. <i>Conclusions</i>: the CVRPDO problem involves creating a set of routes for ve-hicles that visit each customer at their delivery location or deliver their parcels to one of the lockers. These routes should respect the capacity of each vehicle and locker while minimizing the total routing costs and the number of utilized vehicles. The problem is resolved by ALNS algorithm, which outperformed the MIP model.
Transportation and communication, Management. Industrial management
Gabriel da Silva Medina, Rommel Bernardes da Costa
<i>Background:</i> This study aims to explore how domestic entrepreneurs can benefit from the thriving global agribusiness by establishing themselves in agro-industrial segments that can best remunerate capital and labour. The ways in which domestic entrepreneurs in Brazil enter different segments of the agribusiness industry were assessed with specific attention to implications for the development of local agro-industrial capabilities. <i>Methods:</i> We assessed the current market share of domestic companies in relation to foreign multinationals in various segments of the sugar and ethanol supply chain in Brazil. <i>Results:</i> Foreign multinationals are market leaders in the fertilizers, machinery and trading segments (domestic companies market share is 20.3%, 33.3% and 42.9% in those segments respectively). However, Brazilian companies have achieved higher market share in segments such as plant breeding, sugarcane processing and farming (domestic market share is 93.2%, 67.4% and 75.5% respectively). Plant breeding, farming and trading benefit from governmental support in research, subsidized credits and market policies respectively. <i>Conclusions:</i> By investing in agro-industrial sectors developing countries can benefit from agribusiness expansion for their economic growth. Investments in science and technology and domestic regulatory actions can help to build country capabilities, although the impacts are sometimes limited to the agro-industrial sectors where domestic companies are more competitive. These lessons can help other developing countries to assess their opportunities and challenges for agro-industrial development.
Transportation and communication, Management. Industrial management
Lasy odgrywają istotną rolę w środowisku i gospodarce. Jednocześnie w wielowymiarowy sposób wpływają na zmiany klimatyczne i podlegają ich skutkom. Niniejszy artykuł jest próbą
opisu i oceny odpowiedzi prawa międzynarodowego i unijnego na pytanie o rolę lasów w polityce klimatycznej.
Environmental law, Regulation of industry, trade, and commerce. Occupational law
Mazyliuk Pavlo, Sitovskyi Oleg, Prentkovskis Olegas
et al.
There were examined the problems of passage of the regulated parts of a road. There were investigated the changes of a traffic movement intensity in Lutsk (Ukraine) during the spread of Covid-19 pandemic. The graphic dependences of the drivers’ actions estimation while passing the traffic lights objects on a chosen movement route at the beginning of quarantine measures, during the least movement intensity and at the increasing of movement intensity, were obtained. A method of increasing of a possibility of the traffic lights objects nonstop passage was offered.
Managing container loading and unloading operations at a container terminal using Intelligent Autonomous Vehicle (IAV) is challenging, especially at intersections in the yard, which are often inevitable. For ensuring efficient and accident-free management of these intersections, the IAV must cooperate by exchanging messages. Due to signal obstruction at these intersections, indirect communication is established through an additional relay node to ensure reliable communication. This paper proposes distributed approach using Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) connectivity to avoid collision and deadlock between IAV at intersections. Due to the obstacles formed by stacked containers blocking the radio transmissions, the proposed algorithm automatically switches the ongoing communication through the UAV to ensure successful communication at intersections. Thus, the idea of introducing UAV as communication relay in a container terminal is an interesting solution that we have adopted in this work. Simulation techniques are used to evaluate our proposal. The obtained results confirm that our UAV-based approach ensures reliable communication and automated intersections management in the yard while further ensuring the safety of IAV traffic.
Artificial intelligence-based innovative technologies have advanced at an unprecedented rate in recent years. We can examine the legal implications of these technologies from a variety of angles. The focus of this study is on search engines' civil liability. It seeks to answer the question of how browsers should be held liable in the event of data misuse, based on general civil liability rules. This article employs a descriptive-analytical approach to investigate the Iranian civil liability system and its gaps in the face of artificial intelligence-based technologies, particularly search engines. The principles and pillars of civil liability of search engines in the misuse of user data are investigated in this regard. The findings of this study point to flaws in the Iranian civil liability system, as well as its lack of modernity and fault-oriented orientation. Using various legal tools, we must defend users' rights and prevent corporate abuse in the digital domain. Among the recommendations of this paper are the recognition of browsers' legal personality, the use of various mechanisms such as mandatory civil liability insurance, the acceptance of strict liability, and the adoption of special laws governing artificial intelligence.
Regulation of industry, trade, and commerce. Occupational law, Islamic law
Maziar Yazdani, Fatemeh Hajizadeh, Saeed Ghazi Maghrebi
et al.
Today, huge amounts of data are transmitted around the world through the high capacity of the optical telecommunication networks. In railways, optical transmission networks play an important role in transmitting vital rail data too. Improving the reliability of telecommunication infrastructures is essential to increase productivity, maintain traffic safety and reduce maintenance costs. In this paper, first the reliability of the optical transmission telecommunication network has been modeled and calculated analytically through RBD method and then its results have been approved through Monte Carlo simulation. Due to the importance of the optical transmission network in railway safety, the probability of optical transmission network outages and the Mean Time between Failure (MTBF) for 3 years have been calculated and simulated. A case study for this research was performed by using the real breakdown statistics of the network based on the optical telecommunications of the high-traffic railway area in "Azerbaijan District”, one of Iranian Railways network in north-west of Iran.
The terms of electronic contracts,in terms of their adaptation to cyberspace and the electronic nature of the contract environment, imply a special feature compared to the terms of traditional contracts.Without trust in electronically concluded contracts,new economies will not be able to reach their full potential and will lag behind the opportunities offered by new technologies.Either the trust in the technical possibilities and the validity of the e-contract must be increased or a completely new concept mustbe found to regulate exchange of goods and services in the new digital age. Considering the inherent nature of electronic contracts, the purpose of this study is to provide a conceptual model of factors affecting the acceptance of electronic contract technology by the audience in Iran.In this research, first, by reviewing and analyzing the content of the literature, the concept and nature and history of e-contracts have been identified and the obstacles to its acceptance have been identified.Then, in order to study the factors affecting the acceptance of this technology, using the structural equation modeling method, a conceptual model on the acceptance of factors affecting the acceptance of e-contract technology has been presented and the patterns in quantitative data have been identified.The results showed that there is a significant inverse relationship between legal, technical and security constraints with the adoption of e-contract technology in Iran;And there is a direct and significant relationship between the perceived usefulness of the application and the flexibility of the use of e-contracts with the acceptance of its technology in Iran.
Regulation of industry, trade, and commerce. Occupational law, Islamic law
This paper presents a generalization of a previously defined lexicographical dynamic flow model based on multi-objective optimization for solving the multi-commodity aid distribution problem in the aftermath of a catastrophe. The model considers distribution of the two major commodities of food and medicine, and seven different objectives, and the model can easily be changed to include more commodities in addition to other and different priorities between the objectives. The first level in the model is to maximize the amount of aid distributed under the given constraints. Keeping the optimal result from the first level, the second level can be solved considering objectives such as the cost of the operation, the time of the operation, the equity of distribution for each type of humanitarian aid, the priority of the designated nodes, the minimum arc reliability, and the global reliability of the route. The model is tested on a recent case study based on the Hagibis typhoon disaster in Japan in 2019. The paper presents a solution for the distribution problem and provides a driving schedule for vehicles for delivering the commodities from depots to the regional centers in need for humanitarian aid.
Transportation and communication, Management. Industrial management
Patricia Guarnieri, Lucio Camara e Silva, Bárbara de Oliveira Vieira
As e-waste exponentially increases on a global scale, some legislation and plans to implement reverse logistics have arisen in some countries. While reverse logistics is already well consolidated in developed countries, it is still in a state of infancy in developing countries. In this article, we propose a theoretical model to assess reverse logistics, based on a multicriteria decision aid perspective. This was done while considering a context in which the implementation of the reverse logistics of e-waste is at the beginning. To show the main characteristics of the literature and obtain the model’s inputs, we conducted a systematic literature review to help us understand the main criteria and methods used for this purpose. Then, we illustrated the use of the proposed model with a numerical example. This paper contributes to the current body of research, and aims to assist practitioners within the field of reverse logistics by systematizing the knowledge related to this issue, and offering a model that can guide the decision-making. This model differentiates from others already published because it uses the probabilistic composition of preferences (PCP) method, which does not require the assignment of weights. The model can also be used while considering the preferences of several decision-makers, therefore covering several points of view and providing a more holistic view of the decision problem.
Transportation and communication, Management. Industrial management
New generations of high-technology products are frequently launched before the previous model is sold out. Customers have an incentive to end the use of their old product and purchase a new one with the latest technological innovations. The unsold old models become less attractive, while the supply of remanufactured products from end-of-use products is uncertain in time, quantity, and quality. Other than adjusting the price, upgrading the returning unsold new products may be a source of remedy. This study provides profit maximization models associated with customer choice demand functions based on manufacturer, retailer, and joint supply chain scenarios. Two acquisition strategies are compared: acquire end-of-use products only and collect both end-of-use products and unsold old-style new products. The results reveal that returning the optimal quantity of overstocked new products brings about a greater benefit in all scenarios. Compared to the remanufacturer, the retailer is the optimal undertaker for collecting used products. In addition to this, slow technological development of the new-generation model causes a decrease in profit for the manufacturer. The optimal quantity of new products to be bought back decreases, because both the manufacturer and the retailer prefer to promote unsold outmoded products rather than upgrade the used products.
Transportation and communication, Management. Industrial management
In recent times, several airlines have commenced the operation of ultra-long-range (ULR) services. Using a mixed methods research approach, this paper examines the aircraft deployment, the target passenger market segments, the aircraft cabin configurations, the flight stage lengths and the available seat kilometres (ASKs) produced on the world’s ten longest air routes. The study found that some airlines are operating ultra-long-range services on a hub-to-hub basis, whilst other airlines are operating these services to open new spoke city markets. The case airlines are targeting the premium and leisure travel market segments. The Boeing 787-9 is the most popular aircraft type for these services followed by the Airbus A380-800 and the Boeing B777-200LR aircraft. Qatar Airways Doha to Auckland service has the longest flight stage length (14,535 kilometres). The other 9 air routes all exceed 13,400 kilometres in length. The greatest number of annual ASKs are produced on the Emirates Dubai to Auckland services (5.09 billion ASKs) and the smallest number of annual ASKs are on the Qantas Airways Perth to London services (2.49 billion ASKs).
For a safe overtaking manoeuvre on two-lane highways, drivers need a sufficient sight distance along the roadway, but it depends on the traffic environment. To provide an adequate Passing Sight Distance (PSD), a number of models have been proposed since the initial model introduced by American Association of State Highways and Transport Officials (AASHTO) in 1954. It is a current design practice in Sri Lanka as well, however, not validated for local traffic conditions. This paper will present an alternative PSD model and an evaluation of AASHTO model for national highway design. Experiment was based on GPS data collection. In conclusion, PSD demand was satisfied by AASHTO PSD under mix traffic conditions, but not the safety concerns for speeds greater than 80 km/h, while alternative model successful for all speeds.
Collaboration in the freight industry has not been widely adopted mainly due to the perceived barriers in competition resulting in a lack of trust among fleet operators. Collaboration in this sector has significant benefits, including the reduction of empty running, operating costs (OPEX) and greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) resulting in greater utilisation of existing logistics assets. A review of the literature to establish the critical aspects of freight collaboration was undertaken, as well as analyses of published case studies and European Union (EU)-funded projects. The critical aspects and barriers identified include: revenue sharing; compliance with competition law; process synchronization; organisational and systems interoperability; different forms of collaboration from a physical and coordination structure perspective; and strategies for collaboration. To facilitate collaboration a freight collaborative business model (FCBM) framework that highlights problematic areas in freight collaboration is proposed to support standardizing collaborative practices in the freight industry. Three published freight industry collaboration business cases were evaluated against the model. The business model framework is intended as a tool to be used to compare different business models and identify the best innovations to help facilitate collaborative practices. The freight collaboration business model was applied to the Freight Share Lab research project in order to demonstrate the concept and investigate whether efficiency can be unlocked through deployment of a dynamic data and asset sharing platform to enable route and load optimization across multiple fleets of freight vehicles, rail freight wagons and containers.
Transportation and communication, Management. Industrial management