Order quantity flexibility as a form of customer service in a supply chain contract model

This paper analyzes the Quantity-Flexibility (QF) contract, under which the buyer provides to the supplier information about expected future orders for the predetermined horizon and the supplier, in return, provides the buyer with the flexibility to adjust future orders later. Under this scheme, the flexibility profile of the contract can be perceived by the buyer as a form of customer service, by which the supplier commits to fulfil the buyer??s maximum likely order at the cost of the supplier??s inventory risk. The simulation results show that the benefit of the contract to either party clearly depends on the flexibility profile of the contract. For the supplier, there exists a trade-off between customer service level and inventory risk associated with the flexibility profile. However, for the buyer, the flexibility demonstrates a principle of diminishing returns, which is contrary to the general notion that buyers always prefer more order quantity flexibility. In fact, greater flexibility does not always translate into better customer service to buyers.     

Intelligent management of supply chain logistics based on 5g LoT

With the rapid development of science and technology and the integration of the global economy, competition in the global market has become increasingly fierce, and competition between enterprises has gradually become competition between supply chains. The application of Internet technology to the agricultural industry chain has a wide potential for development, and the LoT and the big data have become an important pillar of the development of smart agriculture. The implementation of Internet technology improves the degree of visibility and transparency of the agricultural supply chain, reduces supply chain uncertainty and improves the smart management of the supply chain. Research, development and implementation of technology 5g LoT brings new development opportunities for traditional supply chain management. In order to understand changes in the production and life of people under the 5g Internet environment of things, this document uses case analysis and bibliographic analysis methods for the collection of documents from the CNKI, Wanfang database, SSCI and other databases and analyses different fields of life using GIS spatial analysis technology. The results of the survey show that, in the case of the use of the 5g LoT, the supply chain may provide more information on the development of an intelligent supply chain, the smart level of chain efficiency has significantly improved, and the percentage is approximately 25%. This article takes as an example the supply of cars, with the help of the LoT system, the accuracy of delivery and the speed of logistics transport have improved significantly. In the smart model, the coefficient can reach 0813, which shows that smart management of the supply chain fewer than 5g LoT can play a major role.

     

基于在线供应链调查的产品生命周期评价

产品生命周期评价(LCA)中的供应链数据收集非常困难而且效率低下,因而在产品LCA研究中常常近似处理、甚至忽略供应链实际生产过程,严重影响了LCA的数据质量与可信度。开发专门的供应链数据收集工具是解决这一问题的有效途径。介绍了可进行在线供应链调查、建模与计算分析的LCA系统e Footprint,基于该系统提出了在线的LCA工作方法,通过长虹美菱冰箱的应用案例验证了系统与方法的可行性,为提高产品LCA的效率和质量提供了新的解决方案。     

Collaborative fractal-based supply chain management based on a trust model for the automotive industry

In the supply chain of the automotive industry, where the procurement ratio of parts from partners is very high, the trustworthiness of partners should be considered during supply chain optimization. In this paper, to deal with the trust issue related to collaboration and reduce the computational load in production planning, we develop a collaborative fractal-based supply chain management framework for the automotive industry. In our framework, the relationships between the participants of a supply chain are modeled as a fractal. Each fractal has a goal model and generates a production plan of its participants based on the goal model. The goal model of each fractal is developed from an operational perspective to consider the trust value of participants during production planning. A fuzzy trust evaluation model is used to evaluate the trust value in terms of numerical value. To validate the developed framework in the automotive industry, simulations are conducted. The results of the simulations indicate that our framework can be useful in generating precise production plans.     

Information sharing in a competitive supply chain with capacity constraint

This paper studies the incentives for vertical demand information sharing in a two-echelon supply chain formed by many downstream retailers and one upstream manufacturer with a limited production capacity. The retailers are engaged in a Cournot competition, and endowed with some private information about the demand. The total order of all the retailers may exceed the manufacturer’s capacity, and in that case, an allocation strategy is required. We show that a discriminated allocation strategy will encourage the retailers to share their demand information. We also find the condition under which full information sharing can be reached. Furthermore, we prove that when the manufacturer cannot satisfy the total order of all the retailers, social welfare and consumer surplus will be locked by the capacity.     

Stability of cluster solutions in a cooperative consumer chain model

We study a cooperative consumer chain model which consists of one producer and two consumers. It is an extension of the Schnakenberg model suggested in Gierer and Meinhardt [Kybernetik (Berlin), 12:30–39, 1972] and Schnakenberg (J Theor Biol, 81:389–400, 1979) for which there is only one producer and one consumer. In this consumer chain model there is a middle component which plays a hybrid role: it acts both as consumer and as producer. It is assumed that the producer diffuses much faster than the first consumer and the first consumer much faster than the second consumer. The system also serves as a model for a sequence of irreversible autocatalytic reactions in a container which is in contact with a well-stirred reservoir. In the small diffusion limit we construct cluster solutions in an interval which have the following properties: The spatial profile of the third component is a spike. The profile for the middle component is that of two partial spikes connected by a thin transition layer. The first component in leading order is given by a Green’s function. In this profile multiple scales are involved: The spikes for the middle component are on the small scale, the spike for the third on the very small scale, the width of the transition layer for the middle component is between the small and the very small scale. The first component acts on the large scale. To the best of our knowledge, this type of spiky pattern has never before been studied rigorously. It is shown that, if the feedrates are small enough, there exist two such patterns which differ by their amplitudes.We also study the stability properties of these cluster solutions. We use a rigorous analysis to investigate the linearized operator around cluster solutions which is based on nonlocal eigenvalue problems and rigorous asymptotic analysis. The following result is established: If the time-relaxation constants are small enough, one cluster solution is stable and the other one is unstable. The instability arises through large eigenvalues of order $O(1)$ . Further, there are small eigenvalues of order $o(1)$ which do not cause any instabilities. Our approach requires some new ideas: (i) The analysis of the large eigenvalues of order $O(1)$ leads to a novel system of nonlocal eigenvalue problems with inhomogeneous Robin boundary conditions whose stability properties have been investigated rigorously. (ii) The analysis of the small eigenvalues of order $o(1)$ needs a careful study of the interaction of two small length scales and is based on a suitable inner/outer expansion with rigorous error analysis. It is found that the order of these small eigenvalues is given by the smallest diffusion constant ${\epsilon }_2^2$ .     

A mathematical model to design a lignocellulosic biofuel supply chain system with a case study based on a region in Central Texas

This study formulates a model to maximize the profit of a lignocellulosic biofuel supply chain ranging from feedstock suppliers to biofuel customers. The model deals with a time-staged, multi-commodity, production/distribution system, prescribing facility locations and capacities, technologies, and material flows. A case study based on a region in Central Texas demonstrates application of the proposed model to design the most profitable biofuel supply chain under each of several scenarios. A sensitivity analysis identifies that ethanol (ETOH) price is the most significant factor in the economic viability of a lignocellulosic biofuel supply chain.     

Carbon footprint of a Cavendish banana supply chain

Purpose

Bananas are one of the highest selling fruits worldwide, and for several countries, bananas are an important export commodity. However, very little is known about banana’s contribution to global warming. The aims of this work were to study the greenhouse gas emissions of bananas from cradle to retail and cradle to grave and to assess the potential of reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions along the value chain.

Methods

Carbon footprint methodology based on ISO-DIS 14067 was used to assess GHG emissions from 1 kg of bananas produced at two plantations in Costa Rica including transport by cargo ship to Norway. Several methodological issues are not clearly addressed in ISO 14067 or the LCA standards 14040 and ISO 14044 underpinning 14067. Examples are allocation, allocation in recycling, representativity and system borders. Methodological choices in this study have been made based on other standards, such as the GHG Protocol Products Standard.

Results and discussion

The results indicate that bananas had a carbon footprint (CF) on the same level as other tropical fruits and that the contribution from the primary production stage was low. However, the methodology used in this study and the other comparative studies was not necessarily identical; hence, no definitive conclusions can be drawn. Overseas transport and primary production were the main contributors to the total GHG emissions. Including the consumer stage resulted in a 34 % rise in CF, mainly due to high wastage. The main potential reductions of GHG emissions were identified at the primary production, within the overseas transport stage and at the consumer.

Conclusions

The carbon footprint of bananas from cradle to retail was 1.37 kg CO₂ per kilogram banana. GHG emissions from transport and primary production could be significantly reduced, which could theoretically give a reduction of as much as 44 % of the total cradle-to-retail CF. The methodology was important for the end result. The choice of system boundaries gives very different results depending on which life cycle stages and which unit processes are included. Allocation issues were also important, both in recycling and in other processes such as transport and storage. The main uncertainties of the CF result are connected to N₂O emissions from agriculture, methane emissions from landfills, use of secondary data and variability in the primary production data. Thus, there is a need for an internationally agreed calculation method for bananas and other food products if CFs are to be used for comparative purposes.     

On the strategic stability of monitoring: implications for cooperative wildlife programmes in Africa

Game-theoretic modelling is used to study the design of an agreement among residents to conserve a wildlife resource, by not hunting animals illegally, when the community monitors its own behaviour. The analysis demonstrates that such an agreement may be very much costlier for a government to sustain if its incentive structure avoids the payment of monitoring fees, and instead relies on community benefits for conservation, with bonuses for reporting poachers. Conditions are identified for the agreement to be stable against both the temptation to avoid monitoring and the temptation to poach, either with guns or by snaring. In particular, the size of the community must exceed a critical value. Implications are discussed for community-based wildlife management programmes in Africa.     

基于生态系统服务供需的雄安新区生态网络构建与优化

城市生态网络构建是城市生态系统服务有效发挥作用的保障,构建完善的生态网络对于城市生态格局的优化具有重要的意义。结合雄安新区总体规划,通过雄安新区生态系统服务供给、需求两个层面识别生态源地。基于源地-缓冲区-廊道-节点框架,构建新区生态网络。其中,基于生态源地与城镇用地驱动因子,运用最小累积阻力方法得到累积阻力差,构建新区三生空间布局。根据成本距离分析和路径分析,结合雄安新区规划绿带分布,生成生态廊道,并在廊道与廊道交汇点、重要生态功能与脆弱的关键点以及道路轨道交汇点识别生态节点。得出：（1）新区生态源地主要位于白洋淀、公园绿地与其他绿地,分为水域生态源和林地生态源两类生态源地,面积总共728 km²。城镇源地主要位于新区东部容城县与雄县城区以及一些零星的农村居民点区域,面积为166 km²。（2）在新区三生空间布局下,加强生态廊道的构建,提升生态源地之间、生态源地与城镇源地之间的连通性,新区生态廊道主要依赖河流廊道和林地廊道两种类型。（3）在新区未来生态网络的建设中,需要重点关注河流廊道交汇点、河流廊道与城区的交汇处、交通道路与生态用地交汇处等的生态节点的建设及其生态功能的提升。     

Design and implementation of transaction privacy by virtue of ownership and traceability in blockchain based supply chain

Cluster Computing - Blockchain was at the top of the 2016 Gartner hype cycle and has been integrated into business profiles by numerous start-ups. Since the emergence of blockchain through Bitcoin,...     

Arginine side chain stacking with peptide plane stabilizes the protein helix conformation in a cooperative way

A combined experimental and computational study is performed for arginine side chain stacking with the protein α‐helix. Theremostability measurements of Aristaless homeodomain, a helical protein, suggest that mutating the arginine residue R106, R137 or R141, which has the guanidino side chain stacking with the peptide plane, to alanine, destabilizes the protein. The R‐PP stacking has an energy of ～0.2‐0.4 kcal/mol. This stacking interaction mainly comes from dispersion and electrostatics, based on MP2 calculations with the energy decomposition analysis. The calculations also suggest that the stacking stabilizes 2 backbone‐backbone h‐bonds (i→i‐4 and i‐3→i‐7) in a cooperative way. Desolvation and electrostatic polarization are responsible for cooperativity with the i→i‐4 and i‐3→i‐7 h‐bonds, respectively. This cooperativity is supported by a protein α‐helices h‐bond survey in the pdb databank where stacking shortens the corresponding h‐bond distances.     

Review of research on closed loop supply chain management in the process industry

Closed loop supply chain (CLSC) management is a major enabler for sustainability in value creating networks. This contribution aims to describe and analyze the main characteristics of CLSC planning in the process industry and the related publications, in order to determine the evolution and gaps of this current research over time and improve our understanding of this issue. We built up a database with the articles on CLSC in different sectors of the process industry and identified the most relevant journals within this field. Furthermore, we derive and identify the requirements for CLSC considerations in the process industry for verifying whether these requirements are met in the literature so far. In addition, we have explored the topic, the methodology and the techniques of analysis, as well as other relevant aspects of the research in this field. We mainly focus on general and specific quantitative approaches, observing what has been done and how, where and by whom it has been carried out. The result is an extensive review of the research work itself and their limitations having an influence on CLSC concepts for the process industry. We conclude with some suggestions to those who begin to research on this apparently disregarded topic.     

An approach for leukemia classification based on cooperative game theory

Hematological malignancies are the types of cancer that affect blood, bone marrow and lymph nodes. As these tissues are naturally connected through the immune system, a disease affecting one of them will often affect the others as well. The hematological malignancies include; Leukemia, Lymphoma, Multiple myeloma. Among them, leukemia is a serious malignancy that starts in blood tissues especially the bone marrow, where the blood is made. Researches show, leukemia is one of the common cancers in the world. So, the emphasis on diagnostic techniques and best treatments would be able to provide better prognosis and survival for patients. In this paper, an automatic diagnosis recommender system for classifying leukemia based on cooperative game is presented. Through out this research, we analyze the flow cytometry data toward the classification of leukemia into eight classes. We work on real data set from different types of leukemia that have been collected at Iran Blood Transfusion Organization (IBTO). Generally, the data set contains 400 samples taken from human leukemic bone marrow. This study deals with cooperative game used for classification according to different weights assigned to the markers. The proposed method is versatile as there are no constraints to what the input or output represent. This means that it can be used to classify a population according to their contributions. In other words, it applies equally to other groups of data. The experimental results show the accuracy rate of 93.12%, for classification and compared to decision tree (C4.5) with (90.16%) in accuracy. The result demonstrates that cooperative game is very promising to be used directly for classification of leukemia as a part of Active Medical decision support system for interpretation of flow cytometry readout. This system could assist clinical hematologists to properly recognize different kinds of leukemia by preparing suggestions and this could improve the treatment of leukemic patients.     

Blood supply of the human cervical sympathetic chain and ganglia

OBJECTIVE: Cadaveric studies of the blood supply to the human cervical sympathetic chain and ganglia are lacking in the English literature. This study seeks to elucidate the gross blood supply of the cervical sympathetic chain so as to avoid surgical disruption of these vessels and thus decrease the risk of vascular insufficieny and subsequent dysfunction of thoracolumbar autonomic outflow to the head and neck. METHODS: Twelve (24 sides) human cadavers (8 male and 4 female) were dissected and their brachiocephalic veins, internal carotid arteries, and vertebral arteries cannulated. Red and blue latex was injected into the arteries and veins respectively. Dissection of the neck was carefully performed and the blood supply of the cervical sympathetic chain identified. RESULTS: The primary arterial supply to the sympathetic chain and ganglia were from superior to inferior the ascending pharyngeal, ascending cervical, thyrocervical trunk, and supreme intercostal arteries. The primary venous drainage of these structures was primarily by direct posterior branches into the internal jugular vein. In addition, we have found an area at the junction of the lower two-thirds and upper one-third of the neck, which is deficient in blood supply (both arterial and venous). CONCLUSIONS: Although sympathetic injury is a rare consequence of cervical operations, the current data should be useful to the surgeon who operates in the cervical region so as to avoid potential complications from disruption of the primary blood supply of the cervical sympathetic chain and ganglia. Also, future techniques of selective iatrogenic disruption of the blood supply to portions of these structures e.g. stellate ganglion may be helpful in treating entities such as hyperhydrosis.     

Smart contract based policies for the Internet of Things

Cluster Computing - Internet of Things (IoT) is one of the most powerful platforms that incorporates several other technological components within itself. The IoT ecosystem comprises devices,...     

基于供需视角的黄河流域甘肃段生态安全格局识别与优化

利用多源空间数据,计算生态系统服务的高值区,识别生态源地,在计算土地利用程度、地均GDP和人口密度确定生态系统高需求区的基础上,通过夜间灯光数据修正生态阻力面系数,利用最小累积阻力模型提取源地与高需求区之间的生态廊道,以此构建并优化区域生态安全格局。结果表明：(1)黄河流域甘肃段生态源地总面积4.59×10⁴ km²,占研究区总面积的32.1%,集中分布于甘南和陇东中部地区。(2)生态系统服务高需求区总面积2.18×10⁴ km²,占研究区总面积的15.2%,主要集中于陇中及陇东的城市建成区,生态系统服务供应和需求空间匹配度差。(3)生态廊道总长度2908.3 km,整体格局上形成了东西向与南北向两大主要廊道轴线。生态廊道的识别中重点考虑了生态需求空间,提出了基于"两带-三区"的流域生态安全格局优化建议。     

水源供给服务供需流空间不匹配特征识别及优化

如何识别水源供给服务在自然-人类社会系统中的空间流动过程和匹配特征,对于区域水资源管理和可持续利用具有重要意义。以重庆市为研究区域,基于InVEST模型和社会经济发展视角定量评估流域尺度下的水源供给量和需水量,结合水资源安全指数和热点分析构建水源供给服务流模型,揭示水源供给服务供需空间匹配关系,依据水源供给服务流空间属性特征划分供需匹配关系的区域类型,借助地理探测器从自然、社会和生态三个角度讨论影响各区域类型水源供给服务供需匹配关系的影响因素。结果表明:(1) 2000、2010、2020年重庆市流域水源供给量与需水量均先减少后上升,供需比平均值分别为1.17、1.08、0.9,整体供需不匹配的问题逐渐得到缓解,但局部仍有供需不匹配现象。空间上中高度赤字区域集中在主城区内,向外辐射为轻度赤字区域,盈余区域分布在东北和东南方向。(2) 2000、2010、2020年重庆市水源供需比冷、热点范围均在缩小,流域面积分别相对减少了25.34%、9.2%。水源供给服务流空间上整体呈现出自东北、东南方向向西流动的路径,同时冷点区内部呈边缘向中心流动。(3) 汇流区集中在西北部,经流区位于中部,外流区集中在东南和与东北部。影响汇流区供需匹配关系的主导因素是蒸散发,解释力为74.08%;影响经流区的主导因素是第三产业GDP,解释力为51.44%;外流区各影响因子的解释力均较低。不同影响因子之间蒸散发与其它因素的交互作用显著增强。研究可以为重庆市自然资源的管理与流域生态补偿机制的建立提供科学依据。