Search results

The paper discusses the notion of information with regard to its carriers, representatives (or structural carriers) and carried-related processes of transmission, accumulation and processing through the developmental periods of the inorganic and organic world. In the first period, information is contained in a representation of the outcome of physical, chemical and other processes in the physical, chemical and other structures of the non-living world and refers to environmental information. In the second period, information begins to be used to create the physical and chemical structures of the living world and is contained in instructions of the genetic code. In the third period, with the evolution of cognitive systems and intelligence of living beings, in addition to those listed, information is finally being used to build its own structures, which in this paper are called knowledge structures.

In addition to the usual scientific methods in conceptual papers of this type (analysis, synthesis, etc.), the methodology of the paper also relies on the method of analogy, which was used to detect the carriers and representatives of information in the processes of transmission, accumulation and processing of information and the method of classification in order to propose a new taxonomy related to the concept of information.

The paper shows that information carriers and information representatives appear in each of the three mentioned processes - transmission, accumulation and processing of information - and that they need to be distinguished from the information itself. This insight opened a new perspective in observing this concept and led to the proposal of a new taxonomy related to the concept of information in a given context, eliminating seemingly incommensurable approaches to its study in different scientific fields.

The conducted synthesis results in information being recognized as a transmittable/transmissible documentation of reality inseparable from its carrier and its representative.

Information carriers (including mass media and We-Media) play important roles in information diffusion on social networks. The purpose of this paper is to investigate changes in the dissemination of information combing with data analysis.

This work analyzed nearly 200 years of coverage of different information carriers during different periods of human society, from the period of only mouth-to-mouth communication to the period of modern society. Information diffusion models are built to illustrate how the information dynamic changes with time and combined box office data of several movies to predict the process of information diffusion. In addition, a metric is defined to identify which information would become news in the future.

Results show that with the development of information carriers, information spreads faster and wider nowadays. The correctness of the metric proposed has been validated.

The structure of social networks influences the dissemination of information. There are an enormous number of factors that influence the formation of hotspots.

The results and conclusion of this work will benefit by predicting the evolution of information carriers. The metric proposed will aid in searching hot news in the future.

This work may shed some light on a better understanding of information diffusion, spreading not only on social networks but also on the carriers used for the information spreading.

This study aims to explore the challenges of truck-sharing and effective ways of dealing with those in achieving supply chain collaboration and collaboration in transportation management (e.g. transport collaboration) for transport capacity expansion, and reducing carbon emission and traffic congestion for integrating environmental and social sustainability issues. This paper also reveals insights into successful shared-transportation and a reduction in empty trips.

This exploratory qualitative study was conducted by means of interviewing road carriers from the container transportation industry.

In a truck-sharing initiative, technical issues (e.g. carrying capacity) arise, some of which involve the container truck and some involving constraints that cannot be controlled, such as driving restrictions, seaport operating hours, and the presence of the large number of container categories pertaining to the industry. Therefore, a significant amount of “structural empty running” may always prevail. It should also be noted that some, seemingly vital, constraints can actually be changed, treated, or modified for better truck-sharing outcomes, such as building a foundation of trust and establishing coordination among road carriers.

A probable solution to the problem of increasing hinterland transport capacity is to make appropriate use of the huge number of idle truck slots that exist; this could be achieved by encouraging the acceptance of the challenges of truck-sharing realistically and suggesting an approach to handling them.

To broaden its appeal, truck-sharing initiatives must be able to overcome challenges by combining theoretical insight with an understanding of the practical aspects of such an endeavor. This original research fosters knowledge that is unique and which also has real-life applications in maritime logistics studies and supply chain literature for both port authorities and container road carriers.

In difficult geographical zones (mountain, intra-cities areas, etc.), many shippers, from small and medium enterprises to individuals, may demand delivery of different food products (fresh, refrigerated, frozen, etc.) in small quantities. On the other side, carrier companies wish to use their vehicles optimally. Taking into account the perishability constraints (short-shelflife, temperature limits, etc.) of the transported food products and environmental constraints (pollution, carbon impact) while consolidating multiple kinds of food products to use vehicles optimally is not achieved by current transportation planning solutions. The purpose of this paper is to present an interoperable solution of a marketplace, formed by shippers and carriers, dedicated to the schedule of food transport orders.

This transportation planning system named Interoperable-Pathfinder, Order, Vehicle, Environment and Supervisor (I-POVES) is an interoperable multi-agent system, based on the SCEP (supervisor, customer, environment and producer) model (Archimede and Coudert, 2001). Ontologies are developed to create the planning marketplace comprising demands and offers from different sources (multiple shippers and carriers).

A hierarchy ontology for food products. A transporter system ontology. A global ontology that contains all shared concepts used by local ontologies of both shippers and carriers. I-POVES an interoperable model, which facilitates collaboration between carriers and their shippers through its active agents.

I-POVES is tested on a case study from the TECCAS Poctefa project, comprising transport and food companies from both sides of the Pyrenees (France and Spain).

There has been much work in the literature on the delivery of products, but very few on the delivery of food products. Work related to delivery of food products focuses mostly on timely delivery for avoiding its wastage. In this paper, constraints related to food products and to environment (pollution and carbon impact) of transport resources are taken into account while planning the delivery.

This paper aims to report on the efforts of a wholesaler in overcoming one of the main barriers to successful marketing channels – namely the “transparency problem”.

A decision‐support tool that is capable of providing detailed cost‐analysis of transportation arrangements is developed and applied within the context of an action research project set up to improve information exchange of sensitive information between a shipper and two carriers in a Norwegian grocery supply chain.

The study finds that the application of the decision‐support tool is associated with: a transition from arm's‐length transactional relationships to integrated collaborative relationships; enhanced communication and trust between the parties; and substantial savings in distribution costs.

Action research methodology confined to a single shipper and two carriers limits the confidence with which the findings can be generalised; future studies should formally test the effects of communication and trust on integration.

The study provides practical suggestions for achieving mutual benefits from closer collaboration between buyers and suppliers of transportation services.

The study extends knowledge of how to achieve integrated supply‐chain relationships in practice through the utilisation of a new and comprehensive decision‐support tool.

The first well-known liner shipping conference was created for the UK/Calcutta trade in 1875. However, the European Union (EU) decided to abolish repeal the liner conferences system with effect from October 18 2008. This paper aims to study the governing regulations on shipping conferences in Taiwan along with investigating the impact on the EU to repeal conferences. The regulation on liner conferences in the USA is also briefly referred.

Literature review and questionnaire survey are used to conduct the study. This paper reviews important literature relating to the EU to repeal the conferences system and its impact on liner market competition to/from European trade routes, with discussions on the US and Taiwan regulations on shipping conferences. Questionnaire survey data, collected from published report and this research present shippers’ and carriers’ responses on the changes of regulations on liner conferences.

Shippers are strongly supporting the repeal of the conferences system. Academic research results basically reveal that the liner market will be more competitive in the trades to/from the USA and the EU after the repeal of the conferences. For Taiwan, its regulations are rather simple and loosely control over the liner conferences; therefore, if the shipping administration intends to enhance the inspection of the agreements of conferences and strategic alliances, more detailed regulations should be prepared, and the provisions of the EU or USA would be a good reference.

Through the discussions on the legal treatments of shipping conferences from the USA, the EU and Taiwan perspectives, this paper provides shipping researchers with not only a clear evolution of the liner conferences but also a deep understanding of the impact to repeal the conferences on liner market competition.

This paper reviews important literature and related legislations on liner conferences including the USA, the EU and Taiwan. The different responses on the EU to repeal the conferences system from shippers and carriers are discussed. The impact on liner market competition is presented.

The purpose of this paper is to categorize transportation choice research (mode choice and carrier selection) leading to insight on themes in the literature and directions for future research

The proposed transportation choice research categorization framework is based on a comprehensive literature review of the peer‐reviewed journal papers published over the past 20 years, supplemented with a review of practitioner articles to identify current challenges in the logistics field. The academic papers are analyzed in terms of research purpose/question, methodology, findings, and challenges addressed.

The review reveals that several important themes are under‐represented in the transportation choice literature: environmental and energy use concerns; security in the supply chain; supply chain integration; international growth; and the role of the internet and emerging information technologies. This review also found that simulation, case study, and interview methodologies are under‐represented, and that normative modeling research is only lightly represented in this research.

The contributions of this research are three‐fold: the development of a classification scheme for transportation choice research, a structured review that provides a guide to earlier research on the subject of transportation choice, and the identification of research issues for future investigation.

One of the less observed results of transportation deregulation has been the explosive growth of transportation intermediaries or third‐party specialists such as brokers, shippers' agents and integrated leasing companies for use by industrial purchasers and marketing management. Such transportation intermediaries have the performance potential and apparent reasons for existence to suggest that they can both reduce delivered product costs and enhance service quality attributes to promote a company's competitive advantage. In a broader sense, intermediaries may be ideally positioned to assist in coordinating and processing information for the entire value‐added chain.

The purpose of this study is to understand consumers’ use of online retail channels. This study examines how tracking capabilities, delivery speed, trust, logistics carriers’ reputation, people important to the consumer and online reviews influence Millennials’ online purchasing attitudes and intentions.

A survey was administered to 321 Millennials. Subsequently, it was used to test both direct and indirect hypotheses using structural equation modeling techniques.

The study determined that tracking capabilities, trust, people important to the consumer and online reviews directly influence online purchase attitude and by extension intention formation. The results also revealed that logistics carrier reputation moderates the trust to online purchase attitude linkage.

This work improves the explanatory power of the theory of reasoned action by linking logistics factors to online shopping behavior. Further, it provides insight into the moderating influence of logistics carriers’ reputation.

For retailers, the results provide information on how to better develop ecommerce service offerings. By providing information about logistics services and capabilities during the ecommerce transaction, retailers can improve the chance that consumers will complete online purchases.

This research fills a gap in the literature regarding how to influence millennial consumers. Moreover, findings strengthen the understanding of online-purchasing attitudes and intentions formation, important to retailers developing new online shopping platforms and technologies.

The purpose of this paper is to investige the general computing mechanisms of solving the system information problems of interpretation and its fundamental limitations, due to physical basis Turing machine.

For creation of theoretical base of methodology, the authors make an attempt to demonstrate the possibility of a constructive building of Turing machine as meta-ontological basis of computing. In the course of this building the role of the operator of atomic implicative transition if-then as generic operator of recognition/decision-making is shown. In order to substantiate the thesis about the determinative role of implicative transition in the interpretation mechanisms, the authors will carry out the comparative analysis methods of interpretation in systems of pattern recognition and expert systems interpretation type.

The carried-out analysis allows to formulate a common mechanism underlying the classical methods of solving problems of interpretation and to concretize the fundamental limitations of these methods, caused computational basis of their actualization. The cybernetic interpretation of this mechanism is offered.

The fundamental limitations of classical methods of solving problems of interpretation sets the boundaries of the cybernetic approach and allows to outline a way out beyond it. In this context, the authors put forward knowledge-based mechanism of perceptual modeling of dynamics of system visual environment – autonomous agent.