Redesigning an integrated forward–reverse logistics system for a third party service provider: an empirical study

This paper models the logistics business for a large third party service provider and incorporates both forward and reverse product flows for the company. The model that we propose in this paper incorporates price, transportation mode and outsourcing cost. We compare our model with a reduced model that was obtained from past literature and show through Monte Carlo simulation the superiority of the full model in profit generation for the third party service provider. The full model considers multiple transportation modes across the forward and reverse logistics network based on the firm's business structure, whereas the reduced model has only one transportation option from point to point. Additionally, the full model allows for an option to outsource remanufacturing unlike the reduced model that does not permit such outsourcing options. One of the major contributions of this paper is a thorough analysis through the incorporation of pricing and transportation mode of an integrated forward and reverse logistics supply chain.     

A method for identifying customer orientations and requirements for product–service systems design

For manufacturers, developing product–service systems (PSSs) is getting more important because of the trends of servitisation and creating social value. A PSS is a social system where multiple actors mutually provide products and services. A PSS design, therefore, must take into account various actors as customers. However, existing methods provide an insufficient solution as to how various customers should be handled in an analysis to identify and accommodate various customer preferences and requirements. To tackle this issue, this article proposes a new method of identifying customers’ orientations and requirements for PSS design. The proposed method employs a combination of topic analysis, persona and scenario approaches. The effectiveness of the method is demonstrated with its application to an urban development case. Through the demonstration, its practical benefits are concluded as follows: consistent and logical results of requirement analysis and insights into a new market for manufacturers.     

Developing a product–service system through a productisation strategy: a case from the 3PL industry

A Product–Service System (PSS) is created by combing a tangible product and an intangible service into one integrated offering. Thus, a PSS can be achieved by a production company adding intangible services to a product using a servitisation strategy or by a service company adding a tangible product to a service by means of a productisation strategy. The focus of this paper is on the latter. Our work demonstrates a significant gap in the literature in this area. To address this, we adapt an existing PSS conceptual framework as a means to identify the driving and restraining forces considered by a service company as it explored the possibility of pursuing a PSS productisation strategy. The conceptual framework is applied in an exploratory case study with a 3PL service provider. Application of the framework reveals new driving and restraining forces not previously discussed in the literature. Furthermore, it allows a preliminary quantification of the driving and restraining forces using a force field analysis approach. Our work contributes towards the expansion of the empirical knowledge base in the area of PSS.     

Assembling Nano–Microarchitecture for Electromagnetic Absorbers and Smart Devices

Smart devices, nowadays, are inspiring the infinite vitality and possibilities of intelligent life, such as self-power electromagnetic (EM) nanogenerator and microsensor, smart window, thermally-driven EM absorber, interstellar energy deliverer, and so on. Herein, the latest and most impressive works of 3D nano–micro architectures and their smart EM devices are highly focused on. The most key information, including assembly strategy and mechanism, EM response, and approach-structure-function relationship, is extracted and well-organized with profundity and easy-to-understand approach. The merit and demerit are revealed by comparison. What’s more, the brightest and most cutting-edge smart EM devices constructed by 3D nano–micro architectures are reported as highlights, and the device principles are deeply dissected. Finally, a profound and top comment on the fast-growing field as well as challenges are proposed, and the future directions are predicted intelligently.     

Effects of human resource management practices on logistics and supply chain competencies – evidence from China logistics service market

The Chinese logistics service market is a vibrant and highly contested arena. The industry, however, has been characterised as operationally inefficient in comparison with those of the developed economies. Shortage of logistics human resources and lack of logistics expertise have been identified as two of the key contributory factors. Based on responses from 76 Chinese logistics service providers to a survey conducted in 2010, this study explores whether, and how, four sets of human resource management (HRM) practices contribute to nurturing three logistics and supply chain (L&SC) competencies in the Chinese logistics service market. Results from a hierarchical multiple regression analysis show that not all HRM practices were equally effective in building L&SC competencies. While training and development, and recruitment and selection were significant in contributing to nurturing the three L&SC competencies, both performance management and reward management did not. These findings suggest that conventional HRM practices designed to reward individual performance may not be suited to nurturing team-based L&SC competencies in the Chinese context. The implications of these findings were discussed and directions for further studies offered.     

Framework of service standard system for the seismological sector and object of the standardization

C hina is one of the countries suffering from them ost severe earthquake disasters.The death toll fromearthquakes in C hina is estim ated to be600,000,ac-counting for1/3of the global num ber.Tw enty-threeprovincial capitals in C hina and tw o thirds of its bigcities,each w ith a population over one m illion,are lo-cated at high risk areas w ith seism ic intensity overⅦdegrees.The tw o violent earthquakes in the w orld dur-ing the20th century,w hich both caused a death toll ofover200,000and o…     

Smart city research 1990–2016

Scientometrics - This scientometric analysis of the area of ‘smart city(ies)’ research covers 1990–2016, divided into three nine year periods: 1990–1998; 1999–2007;...     

On atmospheric lidar performance comparison: from power–aperture product to power–aperture–mixing ratio–scattering cross-section product

A new performance index for atmospheric lidar, namely the power–aperture–mixing ratio–scattering cross-section (PAMS) product, is proposed. Unlike the index widely used at present, namely the power–aperture (PA) product, the new index provides an accurate comparison between different types of lidar for measuring the same atmospheric parameters. Using a sodium resonance lidar and a ‘Rayleigh’ lidar for measuring temperature and wind in the mesopause region (80–105?km) as an example, the concept and application of PAMS are illustrated.     

Soliton collisions for a generalized variable-coefficient coupled Hirota–Maxwell–Bloch system for an erbium-doped optical fiber

In this paper, we construct soliton solutions for a generalized variable-coefficient coupled Hirota–Maxwell–Bloch system, which can describe the ultrashort optical pulse propagation in a nonlinear, dispersive fiber doped with two-level resonant atoms. Under certain transformations and constraints, one- and two-soliton solutions are obtained via the Hirota method and symbolic computation, and soliton collisions are graphically presented and analyzed. One soliton is shown to maintain its amplitude and shape during the propagation. Soliton collision is elastic, while bright two-peak solitons and dark two-peak solitons are also observed. We discuss the influence of the coefficients for the group velocity, group-velocity dispersion (GVD), self-phase modulation, distribution of the dopant, and Stark shift on the soliton propagation and collision features, with those coefficients are set as some constants and functions, respectively. We find the group velocity and self-phase modulation can change the solitons’ amplitudes and widths, and the solitons become curved when the GVD and distribution of the dopant are chosen as some functions. When the Stark shift is chosen as a certain constant, the two peaks of bright two-peak solitons and dark two-peak solitons are not parallel. In addition, we observe the periodic collision of the two solitons.     

Estimation of stochastic environment force for master–slave robotic system

The aim of this work is to obtain the maximum likelihood estimate (MLE) of controller-gain parameters \(\widehat{K} \) of the slave robot to determine the stochastic environment force. This is accomplished by measuring the joint positions of master and slave for a known master torque using stochastic difference equation. Here, the environmental force is modelled as a zero-mean white Gaussian random process. Therefore, the joint probability distribution function (pdf) of the slave angle over a given time duration can be computed as a function of the parameters ‘K’. This pdf is maximized with respect to ‘K’ to obtain the MLE of controller-gain parameters. Subsequently, convergence analysis of error in the estimates is performed. Also, an expression of the Cramer–Rao lower bound (CRLB) is derived to measure accuracy of the estimation. Comparison of CRLB with variance of MLE supports that our estimates are asymptotically efficient. The estimation performance is validated analytically and through simulations carried out on a two-link master–slave robotic system.     

Casting product–process–producer compatibility evaluation and improvement

The manufacturability of a cast product depends on process capabilities, which in turn depend on the facilities of the producer (foundry). Selecting the right combination of the product, process, and producer to simultaneously optimize functionality and manufacturability considerations is a challenging task. This paper presents a multi-criteria methodology that integrates the hitherto separate problems of process and producer selection, by introducing the concept of an ideal foundry. A set of 25 common criteria (11 objective and 14 subjective type) grouped under six headings (geometry, quality, production, delivery, facility, and other), have been identified to evaluate the process and the producer. Objective criteria are assessed using a fuzzy logic approach, whereas a rating method has been employed to accommodate subjective criteria. An analytical hierarchy process has been used to obtain the relative importance of the evaluation criteria. The methodology is also useful for benchmarking of foundries, and feedback for improving product–process compatibility. This is illustrated with an industrial example of a steel impeller casting.     

Role of the reaction product in the solidification of Ag–Cu–Ti filler for brazing diamond

In order to reveal the mechanism for brazing diamond using Ag–Cu–Ti filler metal, thermoanalysis of elemental metals (silver and copper) either with added diamond micropowder or with added titanium carbide micropowder as nucleant were investigated to detect undercoolings. No undercooling for the solidification of silver with added titanium carbide powder was detected by the thermoanalytical curve, and also no undercooling for copper with added diamond powder was detected. These phenomena suggest that titanium carbide powder acts in the solidification of silver effectively as a nucleant and that diamond powder also acts in the solidification of copper as a nucleant. Fine-grained silver was observed in the micrograph of the silver added with titanium carbide powder. The results of the calculations on the planar disregistry, , and the dispersion energy, Edisp revealed that the Ag (100)–TiC(100) interface and Cu(100)–diamond (100) interface are more stable than the other combinations. The results of undercoolings of various specimens correlated with both planar disregistry and dispersion energy. According to these results, the titanium carbide reaction product is considered to play an important role in the solidification of silver. The brazing strength is considered to arise from the solidification of the brazing filler metal from the titanium carbide reaction product. © 1998 Chapman & Hall     

ESCSD – expert system for control system design

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to design an expert system for control system design. The architecture of ESCSD is designed and implemented using CLIPS, which is an expert system building tool. The achievements of ESCSD are extracting the heuristics of design approaches, building design methods into knowledge‐bases, partitioning of knowledge‐bases, and providing explanation facilities. The user interface of ESCSD is icon‐based with pop‐up menus for user selections. We have demonstrated in this paper that this kind of user interface is better than previous similar systems, where complex dialogues are required. Also, due to the flexible partitions of the knowledge‐bases, ESCSD can be implemented successfully on the IBM PC with a limited 640K‐byte MSDOS environment. It is further explained that, regardless of the computer size, the knowledge‐bases must be partitioned into the smallest entities to allow future expansion. Several design examples are fully illustrated to clarify the advantages of using the expert system to design control systems.     

Liquid–liquid equilibrium (LLE) study for six-component transesterification system

Transesterification of oils/triglycerides (TGs) with alcohol in the presence of catalyst has been the most commonly used process to produce biodiesel. Major limiting factors of conventional biodiesel transesterification process are phase separation and product purification. Precise and correct knowledge of the phase equilibrium behaviour is crucial for future industrial biodiesel reaction, separation and purification processes. For this purpose, it is important to consider the phase equilibrium behaviour in order to thoroughly understand the entire transesterification system for biodiesel production, which consists of six components. This work is to discuss on the liquid–liquid equilibrium (LLE) data of six-component system which involves TG, palm biodiesel (FAME), methanol (MeOH), glycerine (GLY), diglyceride (DG) and monoglyceride (MG). The phase equilibrium data of this system were determined experimentally through transesterification of crude palm oil (CPO). The experimental LLE data have been transposed into a pseudo-ternary diagram as TG–DG–MG + MeOH–GLY + FAME for better visualisation and understanding of the six-component system. Results showed that the transesterification of TG to FAME has formed a two-phase system where CPO-rich phase and MeOH-rich phase co-existed during the reaction. Due to immiscibility of CPO and MeOH, as well as the miscibility of FAME and MeOH, the LLE data suggested that at specific reaction operating condition, the reacted product (FAME) could be continuously removed by separating the MeOH phase from the CPO phase. This favours the forward transesterification reaction and eventually enhances the reaction efficiency to produce an oil-free FAME.     

Technology–function matrix based network analysis of cloud computing

The academic elite possesses outstanding abilities in terms of knowledge innovation, while they produce a spillover effect on other researchers. This study takes micro level data from projects under the Management Science Sector of the National Natural Science Foundation of China between 2006 and 2010 to define the three categories of funded elite, distinguished young elite, and Cheung Kong scholars; it also examines the correlation between identifying as “elite” and his or her individual project output in order to explore the elite’s spillover effect on the knowledge output of other project principal investigators within the organization. We found that the three categories of elites had more output while they generated mixed spillover effect on their institute researchers’ output. At the end, we discuss the reasons and policy implications behind this phenomenon.     

Dark solitons for a discrete variable-coefficient Ablowitz–Ladik equation for an electrical/optical system

Under investigation in this paper is a discrete variable-coefficient Ablowitz–Ladik equation, which has certain applications in the electrical and optical systems. Employing the Hirota method and symbolic computation, we obtain the dark one- and two-soliton solutions under a variable-coefficient constraint. Linear-, parabolic-, periodic- and s-shaped dark one solitons are observed: We find that the space-time-modulated inhomogeneous frequency shift only affects the velocity of the dark soliton, the coefficient of tunnel coupling between the sites only affects the amplitude of the dark soliton, the time-modulated effective gain/loss term has no effect on either the dark soliton’s velocity or amplitude, and the velocity of the dark soliton decreases as the lattice spacing increases with the amplitude unchanged. Via the asymptotic analysis, we prove that the interactions between the dark two solitons are elastic on the soliton solutions. Overtaking interactions between the linear- and parabolic-shaped dark two solitons, as well as parallel linear- and s-shaped dark two solitons are plotted.