Agent-based monitoring service for management of disruptive events in supply chains

Schedules of supply chains are generated with buffers to absorb the effect of disruptive events that could occur during their execution. Schedules can be systematically repaired through specific modifications within buffers by using appropriate decision models that consider the distributed nature of a supply chain. To this aim, information of disruptive events at occurrence or in advance allows decision models to make better decisions. To detect and predict disruptive events along a schedule execution, a service-oriented monitoring subsystem that uses a reference model for defining monitoring models was proposed. This subsystem offers services for collecting execution data of a schedule and environment data, and assessing them to detect/anticipate disruptive events. Because of the distributed nature and the complexity of these services functionalities, this paper presents an agent-based approach for their implementation. This technology allows dealing with supply chain monitoring by structuring monitoring subsystem functionalities as a set of autonomous entities. These entities are able to perform tailored plans created at execution time to concurrently monitor different schedules. A case study is described to try out the implemented prototype system.     

Gender differences in the meanings associated with food hazards: A means-end chain analysis

It is a common finding that men compared to women are less concerned about food hazards and technologies. While previous literature analyzed determinants such as trust in public actors in order to explain gender differences in food risk perception, a systematic analysis of women’s and men’s cognitions (associations) and emotions (feelings) is lacking. This study focuses on the very first associations and the deeper motives and values that women and men link to three potential food hazards: mycotoxins, pesticides and irradiation. Means-end chain theory was applied and in-depth laddering interviews were conducted with 34 women and 35 men in Munich, Germany. The results reveal that food hazards threaten self-centered and socio-altruistic values of men and women alike and that ‘care for others’ is not only a motive for women.     

Power and energy management of grid/PEMFC/battery/supercapacitor hybrid power sources for UPS applications

This paper presents a hybrid power and energy source supplied by a proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) as the main power source in an uninterruptible power supply (UPS) system. To prevent the PEMFC from fuel starvation and degradation and realize their seamless linking in the hybrid UPS system, the power and energy are balanced by the battery and/or supercapacitor (SC) as two alternative auxiliary power sources. Based on the modeling and sizing of hybrid power and energy components, the power and energy management strategies and efficiency measurements of four operating modes in UPS system are proposed. To evaluate the proposed strategies, an experimental setup is implemented by a data acquisition system, a PEMFC generating system, and a UPS system including AC/DC rectifier, DC/AC inverter, DC/DC converter, AC/DC recharger and its intelligent control unit. Experimental results with the characteristics of a 300 W self-humidified air-breathing of PEMFC, 3-cell 12 V/5 Ah of batteries, and two 16-cell 120 F/2.7 V of SCs in parallel corroborate the excellent management strategies in the four operating modes of UPS system, which provides the basis for the optimal design of the UPS system with hybrid PEMFC/battery/SC power sources.     

Multiplex PCR system to track authorized and unauthorized genetically modified soybean events in food and feed

A diverse range of genetic elements has been used to develop genetically modified organisms (GMOs) over the last 18 years. Screening methods that target few elements, such as the Cauliflower Mosaic Virus 35S promoter (P-35S) and Agrobacterium tumefaciens nopaline terminator (T-nos), are not sufficient to screen GMOs. In the present study, a multiplex PCR system for all globally commercialized GM soybean events was developed to easily trace the events. For this purpose, screening elements of 24 GM soybean events were investigated and 9 screening targets were selected and divided into three individual triplex PCR systems: P-35S, ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase small subunit promoter of Arabidopsis thaliana, T-nos, T-35S, pea E9 terminator, open reading frame 23 terminator of A. tumefaciens, proteinase inhibitor II terminator of potato, acetohydroxy acid synthase large subunit terminator of A. thaliana, and the revealed 3′ flanking sequences of DP-305423-1. The specificity of the assays was confirmed using thirteen GM soybean events as the respective positive/negative controls. The limit of detection of each multiplex set, as determined using certified reference materials of specific GM events, ranged from 0.03 to 0.5%, depending upon target. Furthermore, 26 food samples that contained soybean ingredients, which were purchased from the USA, China, Japan, and Korea, were analyzed, 17 of which contained one or more GM soybean events. These results suggest that the developed screening method can be used to efficiently track and identify 24 GM soybean events in food and feed.     

Drivers of non-revenue water: A cross-national analysis

Reducing water losses is seen as key to sustainable water management, but turns out to be challenging. This paper applies a panel data analysis with fixed effects to assess the major drivers of non-revenue water, some of which are under the control of utilities and some of which are not. The analysis finds that the most important drivers are population density per kilometer of network and type of distribution network, which are mostly resulting from urbanization patterns which are factors mostly out of the control of the utility. Yet, low opportunity costs of water losses and high repair costs of water losses have an important adverse effect on water loss reduction. We also found that the country environment in which the utility operates has an important impact on non-revenue water levels.     

Time-temperature transparency in the cold chain

A study concerning time-temperature information sharing behavior in the one-step forward chilled and frozen food supply chains was conducted. We mailed 1774 questionnaires to food manufacturing companies in Taiwan with a response rate of 7.0%. We showed that obtaining raw materials time-temperature information from suppliers was more difficult than obtaining processed food product information from food manufacturers. The determinant factors considered were also different. For sharing time-temperature information on raw materials during distribution from suppliers to food manufacturers, the relative power of food manufacturers, business strategy, and raw material quality uncertainty were important. However, for sharing information on processed product during distribution from food manufacturers to buyers, only business strategy and processed product quality uncertainty were important. This implies that requesting information from suppliers requires more effort. In addition, when zooming in, we found that the time-temperature sharing strategies of companies differ in the subsectors. For instance, the chilled food sector has higher willingness to share time-temperature information than the frozen food sector.     

Two stage stochastic bilevel programming model of a pre-established timberlands supply chain with biorefinery investment interests

This work studies the supply allocation problem, using a Stackelberg game, for an established timberlands supply chain with an additional decision of new biorefinery investments. In a timberlands system, harvester and manufacturer decision makers have separate objectives to maximize their respective profits. This interaction is represented with a turn based Stackelberg game. The harvesters decide first on the quantity harvested, and the manufacturers decide on how much to utilize. This game is modeled with a bilevel mathematical program. The novel feature of this paper's bilevel formulation is the inclusion of parametric uncertainty in a two stage model. The first stage problem involves logistical decisions around biorefinery investments, such as location and capacity, while the second stage problem involves a bilevel timberlands model with parameter uncertainty. Studying this problem formulation revealed interesting insights for solving multiperiod problems with bilevel stages as well as the decision maker's behavior for the timberlands model.     

生鲜农产品冷链管理及关键技术研究进展

冷链已经成为世界各国提高生鲜农产品流通条件、食品质量安全、农产品附加值及促进农产品走向国际市场的重要保障。与世界发达国家相比,中国的生鲜农产品冷链在技术、整体设备拥有量和系统管理水平等方面均存在一定的差距。在对国内外冷链管理研究进行梳理的基础上,对冷链管理中的几类主要问题:库存、物流系统规划、质量安全、协调机制及关键技术等进行综述和比较分析,最后从生鲜农产品冷链碳排放、消费者行为倾向、闭环供应链等方面探讨中国未来生鲜农产品冷链的发展趋势。     

Bi-objective integrating sustainable order allocation and sustainable supply chain network strategic design with stochastic demand using a novel robust hybrid multi-objective metaheuristic

Sustainability has been considered as a growing concern in supply chain network design (SCND) and in the order allocation problem (OAP). Accordingly, there still exists a gap in the quantitative modeling of sustainable SCND that consists of OAP. In this article, we cover this gap through simultaneously considering the sustainable OAP in the sustainable SCND as a strategic decision. The proposed supply chain network is composed of five echelons including suppliers classified in different classes, plants, distribution centers that dispatch products via two different ways, direct shipment, and cross-docks, to satisfy stochastic demand received from a set of retailers. The problem has been mathematically formulated as a multi-objective optimization model that aims at minimizing the total costs and environmental effect of integrating SCND and OAP, simultaneously. To tackle the addressed problem, a novel multi-objective hybrid approach called MOHEV with two strategies for its best particle selection procedure (BPSP), minimum distance, and crowding distance is proposed. MOHEV is constructed through hybridization of two multi-objective algorithms, namely the adapted multi-objective electromagnetism mechanism algorithm (AMOEMA) and adapted multi-objective variable neighborhood search (AMOVNS). According to achieved results, MOHEV achieves better solutions compared with the others, and also crowding distance method for BPSP outperforms minimum distance. Finally, a case study for an automobile industry is used to demonstrate the applicability of the approach.     

Optimal configuration of cluster supply chains with augmented Lagrange coordination

Enterprises in an industrial cluster could dynamically alliance in the form of cluster supply chains to share inner-cluster resources and services, and respond to the ever-fluctuating customer demands in a cost-effective way. However, an effective and feasible method enabling such dynamic cluster supply chain configuration (CSCC) lags behind practice due to the conflict of interests. Researchers are designing All-in-One theoretic models to optimize CSCC with the assumed decision details of all enterprises, while in fact clustered enterprises are seeking effective decentralized decision mechanisms which protect their decision autonomy in the frequently re-configured CSC. A newly emerged multi-disciplinary optimization method, Augmented Lagrangian Coordination (ALC), which supports the open-structure collaboration with strict optimization convergence, is thoroughly investigated in this paper and applied to solve the conflict. Through a complete analysis of CSC’s configuration policies in typical stages, a generic CSCC model is proposed and then partitioned into an ALC-based decentralized decision model by the typical decision autonomy distribution in clusters. Clustered enterprises collaborate vertically and laterally along the ALC model through multi-dimensional couplings to achieve the overall consistency and optimality. Results have proved the effectiveness of ALC for CSCC problem. A set of sensitivity analysis is also conducted to find out the condition in which an order has to be fulfilled in a CSC and the most appropriate configuration.