The changing role of ports in supply-chain management: an empirical analysis

As integrated supply-chain management (SCM) is now at the epicentre of business transformation, firms are breaking down boundaries between internal functions, as well as between the enterprise itself and key partners in the value chain (e.g. customers, distributors, suppliers and carriers). One of the main goals of such new management approach is to get everyone in the supply chain into a common platform of logistics transactions and information systems.

Against such background, the aim of this work is to analyse how and if port operators can face the challenge of higher integration, on the assumption that the higher the integration between the actors the higher the competitiveness of the whole supply chain.

Accordingly, we adopted an SCM approach in the analysis of the port of Le Havre in Renault's supply chain. More specifically, we referred to the Lambert tri-dimensional model based on supply chain's structure (actors), key business processes and links between actors. The field work—which mainly consisted of semi-structured interviews to Renault, logistics and port operators, and, finally, to the Le Havre Port Authority—was crucial to gather the needed information.     

Valuing the Prevention of Road Accidents in Belgium

Abstract

In a recent international comparison of the social costs of road accidents, Trawén et al. (2003) noted that cost data are not available for Belgium and, by consequence, play no part in Belgian policy‐making. The purpose of the present paper is, therefore, to value the costs per casualty type and per accident in Belgium. Empirical data are provided on human and economic production losses as well as on direct accident costs such as medical costs, hospital visiting costs, accelerated funeral costs, property damage, administrative costs of insurance companies, litigation costs, police and fire department costs, and congestion costs. In Belgium the marginal unit value of preventing a road casualty is estimated at €2 004 799 per fatal casualty, €725 512 per seriously injured and €20 943 per slightly injured victim. The unit cost per accident amounts to €2 355 763, €850 033, €34 944 and €2571 for fatal, serious, slight injury and property damage only accidents, respectively. These results are consistent with valuations reported in other high‐income countries. Finally, the total costs of road accidents in 2002 are valued at €7.2 billion (2004 prices), or 2.6% of gross domestic product.     

敷设粘弹性阻尼的加筋板振动和阻尼分析

对敷设粘弹性阻尼的加筋板的固有频率和模态损耗因子进行了分析。考察了在加筋板结构上加自由阻尼层和加粘弹性筋梁的两种情况，分析了粘弹性阻尼材料模量、损耗因子、阻尼层厚度以及粘弹性梁剖面尺寸的影响。对粘弹性筋梁的讨论，拓宽了加筋板的粘弹性阻尼的敷设形式。     

低温送风系统散流器的性能评价

通过实验和数值模拟计算，对风车－风扇诱导型散流器的性能进行分析，表明该型散流器具有高诱导比，并且在一次风量变化范围很大时均能正常工作，因而能在空调房间的工作区内形成较为均匀的气流分布和温度分布。由此可见，在冰蓄冷低温送风系统中，采用该型散流器可获得舒适的室内热环境。     

A NEW ESTIMATION METHOD OF SPATIAL PEAK TEMPORAL AVERAGE INTENSITY AND SPATIAL PEAK PULSE AVERAGE INTENSITY IN HIFU FIELD

High intensity focused ultrasound( HIFU) inmedicine has been developed rapidly for more thanten years.It changes the situation of slowly ad-vancing in ultrasonic therapy. HIFU has become anew character of ultrasound in medicine.The ex-tracorporal lithotriptor,the pyrothrapy,the HIFUsurgery,the HIFU hemostasis,and the HIFUabortion are the most important progresses.Theyshow that the applications of ultrasound in therapywill have greater project than that in diagnosis[1] .China has made m…     

Transportation Risk ANalysis tool for hazardous Substances (TRANS) – A user-friendly,semi-quantitative multi-mode hazmat transport route safety risk estimation methodology for Flanders

The paper develops a methodology for assessing the relative risk levels in moving hazardous materials by various transport modes. Transportation Risk ANalysis tool for hazardous Substances (TRANS) divides routes into smaller segments using multi-criteria analysis and likelihood scores of accidents in which dangerous cargoes are involved possibly causing fatalities. The consequences of accident scenarios are calculated in terms of the number of people within 1% of the lethal distance from the accident centre. This provides a user-friendly, semi-quantitative risk analysis tool. The generic method allows for comparing the risk levels of the segments of routes used in the transportation of hazardous goods.     

Assessment of hybrid‐drive bus fuel savings for Brazilian urban transit

Buses are the main transit mode in Brazil, transporting more than 55 million passengers per day. Most of these vehicles run on diesel oil causing a dependence on oil, extensive greenhouse gas emissions and increasing air pollution in urban areas. In order to improve this situation, options for Brazilian cities include the use of alternative fuels and new propulsion technologies, such as hybrid vehicles. This paper proposes a procedure for evaluating the performance of a recently developed hybrid‐drive technology. A simple procedure is presented to compare hybrid‐drive buses with conventional diesel buses in urban operations, particularly with respect to fuel economy. Next the potential for reducing diesel oil consumption through the use of hybrid‐drive buses is assessed. Field tests carried out by the authors indicate that fuel consumption improvement through the use of hybrid‐drive buses would certainly exceed 20%, resulting in lower fuel costs and carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions.     

The tax treatment of company cars, commuting and optimal congestion taxes

In Europe, the preferential tax treatment of company cars implies that many employees receive a company car as part of their compensation package. In this paper, we consider a model in which wages and the decision whether or not to provide a company car are the result of direct negotiation between employer and employee. Using this framework, we theoretically and numerically study first- and second-best optimal tax policies on labour and transport markets, focusing on the role of the tax treatment of company cars. We obtain the following results. First, higher labour taxes and a more favourable tax treatment of company cars raise the fraction employees that receives a company car; congestion and congestion tolls reduce it. Second, in countries that provide large implicit subsidies to company cars, eliminating the preferential tax treatment of company cars may be an imperfect but quite effective substitute for currently unavailable congestion tolls. The numerical illustration, calibrated using Belgian data, suggests that it yields about half the welfare gain attainable through optimal congestion taxes. Third, the favourable tax treatment of company cars justifies large public transport subsidies; the numerical results are consistent with zero public transport fares. Finally, we find that earlier models that ignored the preferential tax treatment of company cars may have substantially underestimated optimal congestion tolls in Europe. The numerical illustration suggests that about one third of the optimal congestion toll we obtain can be attributed to the current tax treatment of company cars.     

双层通道中可渗透底部起伏的波浪散射(英文)

The scattering of plane surface waves by bottom undulations in channel flow consisting of two layers is investigated by assuming that the bed of the channel is composed of porous material. The upper surface of the fluid is bounded by a rigid lid and the channel is unbounded in the horizontal directions. There exists only one wave mode corresponding to an internal wave. For small undulations, a simplified perturbation analysis is used to obtain first order reflection and transmission coefficients in terms of integrals involving the shape function describing the bottom. For sinusoidal bottom undulations and exponentially decaying bottom topography, the first order coefficients are computed. In the case of sinusoidal bottom the first order transmission coefficient is found to vanish identically. The numerical results are depicted graphically in a number of figures.