Liner services network design and fleet deployment with empty container repositioning

Transportation demand of shipping container fluctuates due to the seasonality of international trade, thus, every 3–6 months, the liner company has to alter its current liner shipping service network, redeploy ships and design cargo routes with the objective of minimizing the total cost. To solve the problem, the paper presents a mixed integer linear program model. The proposed model incorporates several relevant constraints, such as weekly frequency, the transshipment of cargo between two or more service routes, and transport time. Extensive numerical experiments based on realistic date of Asia–Europe–Oceania shipping operations show that the proposed model can solve real-case problems efficiently by CPLEX. The results demonstrate that the model can reduce ship’s capacity consumption and raise ships’ capacity utilization.     

Quantum computation based bundling optimization for combinatorial auction in freight service procurements

Combinatorial auction is a useful trade manner for transportation service procurements in e-marketplaces. To enhance the competition of combinatorial auction, a novel auction mechanism of two-round bidding with bundling optimization is proposed. As the recommended the auction mechanism, the shipper/auctioneer integrates the objects into several bundles based on the bidding results of first round auction. Then, carriers/bidders bid for the object bundles in second round. The bundling optimization is described as a multi-objective model with two criteria on price complementation and combination consistency. A Quantum Evolutionary Algorithm (QEA) with β-based rotation gate and the encoding scheme based on non-zero elements in complementary coefficient matrix is developed for the model solution. Comparing with a Contrast Genetic Algorithm, QEA can achieve better computational performances for small and middle size problems.     

Effective Location Based Services with Dynamic Data Management in Mobile Environments

With the proliferation of mobile computing technologies, location based services have been identified as one of the most promising target application. We classify mobile information service domains based on feature characteristics of the information sources and different patterns of mobile information access. By carefully examining the service requirements, we identify the dynamic data management problem that must be addressed for effective location based services in mobile environments. We then devise a general architecture and cost model for servicing both location independent and location dependent data. Based on the architecture and cost model, we propose a set of dynamic data management strategies that employs judicious caching, proactive server pushing and neighborhood replication to reduce service cost and improve response time under changing user mobility and access patterns. Detail behavior analysis helps us in precisely capturing when and how to apply these strategies. Simulation results suggest that different strategies are effective for different types of data in response to different patterns of movement and information access. Shiow-yang Wu is an associate professor of the Department of Computer Science and Information Engineering at National Dong Hwa University, Hualien, Taiwan, R.O.C. He received the BS and MS degrees in computer engineering from National Chiao Tung University, Hsinchu, Taiwan, ROC, and the PhD degree in computer science from the University of Texas at Austin in 1984, 1986, and 1995, respectively. His research interests include data/knowledge bases, mobile computing, distributed processing, intelligence information systems, and electronic commerce. Kun-Ta Wu was born in Taipei, Taiwan, R.O.C., in 1976. He received the B.S. degree in computer science from Soochow University, Taipei, Taiwan, R.O.C., in 1999 and the M.S. degree in computer science and information engineering from National Dong Hwa University, Hualien, Taiwan, R.O.C., in 2001. Currently, he is an Assistant Researcher in the Domestic Division at Science and Technology Information Center, National Science Council, R.O.C., as a member of Information Gathering and Analysis Group of National Information and Communication Security Taskforce. His research interests include mobile computing, wireless network and information security.     

全球宽带电话市场分析

近两年．IP电话又叫网络电话的发展受到全球的关注。随着宽带接入的发展，基于宽带接入提供的网络电话具有了更大的生命力。从宽带电话的经营模式出发，探究这类业务的出现时现有话音业务市场的影响，进而分析这类业务的发展前景。     

跟踪世界先进技术 振兴我国智能网产业

本文全面介绍了我国跟踪智能网世界先进技术，研究开发自主产权的国产智能网情况，简述了国产主流产品ＣＩＮ系列智能网产品产业化和应用情况，对国产智能网的发展应用和产业化提出了建议。     

英国电信业发展的历史沿革和电信公司的扩张战略

本文对自８０年代初以来英国电信业改革和开放的主要历史阶段作一简要回顾，分析了英国电信业的两大电信公司，即英国电信（ＢＴ）与大东电信（Ｃ＆Ｗ）的发展历史以及不断演变的国际化战略。ＢＴ和Ｃ＆Ｗ的发展经验，对于力求在即将开放的全球化电信市场中占有一席之地的中国电信企业有一定的借鉴意义。     

电信运营的发展方向

亚洲电信业的市场正随着经济的蓬勃发展而迅速增大,然而大多数电信运营部门没能尽快更新设备以跟上商业需求增长的步伐。本文在分析用户业务需求的变化和对现有电信基础设施进行评估之后,提出应加强或采用叠加、并行的网络设施来为增长中的用户服务。同时认为通信资费应根据用户实际业务量的情况进行调整。这些做法将有助于电信经营部门处于更有竞争力的地位并从不断扩大的市场中赢得更多份额。     

农村电话用户市场调查与分析

受中国电信委托、原邮电部经济技术发展研究中心在全国进行一次农村电信市场调查，以了解当前农村通信市场发展潜力，本文公布了此次调查的结果，从经济能力、资费和潜在市场等方面提出了发展农话的建议 。     

Planning considerations for domestic replacement satellites

Several domestic satellite systems have been more than 10 years in operation. During this time, the world has experienced a dramatic growth in communication. While the demand for more telephony and data circuits and television channels is still on the rise, new methods of signal transmission and circuit compression have been developed which may balance or reduce the need for more satellite trunk capacity. And while whole national networks are converting to digital transmission, new transmission media like optical fibre, are finding application, and may take over some of the heavy traffic routes previously carried by satellite. On the other side, business data communication between roof-top terminals, thin route traffic to remote users, television distribution by direct satellite broadcasting are becoming more popular and satellite land mobile communication may soon be a reality. Thus the domestic satellite's role appears to be slowly changing towards thin route and mobile traffic and DBS-type distribution and perhaps even radio position determination. System planners are adapting to the new trends in satellite communication and are trying to accommodate the various service payloads on a single satellite. This article discusses some aspects of the emerging multi-purpose domestic satellite, which carries fixed and mobile services, TV direct broadcasting and radio position determination, in view of network digitalization, network expansion, circuit compression, synchronization. The discussion centres on transponder supply and demand, satellite replenishment, K_u-band vs. C-band for TV direct satellite broadcasting, choice of modulation/multiple access for mobile communication, and expected accuracy in radio position determination.     

全球电信界的战略联盟

９０年代初，随着通信向全球化方向发展，发达国家各电信企业纷纷采用联盟的方式，相互联合，发挥各自优势，大举进军全球电信市场。面对这种联盟潮流，想要搭上全球通信的列车，发展中国家应该采取什么措施？坚持什么原则？本文作者对此进行了较深入的分析和研究，并对中国电信的发展提出了建议。