Agent Technology Application in Automating the Coordination and Decision-Making in Supply Chain

Coordinating all the activities among all the parties involved in supply chain can be a daunting task. This paper put forth the viewpoint of applying agent technology to automate the coordination and decision-making tasks in a typical home PC industry supply chain. The main features of the proposed approach, which differentiate it from other approaches, are the following： ① In the prototype, the coordination agents have both cooperation and competition patterns, ② It uses JADE （Java Agent DEvelopment Framework） as the agent development environment to realize efficient and reusable agent software; ③ It produces some innovative models for the business processes and issues faced by parties in the supply chain. A prototype and the overall process flow were also described.     

Incompleteness and clarity in bus contracts: Identifying the nature of the ex ante and ex post perceptual divide

In the transport sector, many types of contracts exist. Some are very precise, and strive for completeness; others are very ‘light-weight’ and are incomplete. Bus and coach contracts, won through competitive tendering or negotiation, are typically incomplete in the sense of an inability to verify all the relevant obligations, as articulated through a set of deliverables. This paper draws on recent experiences in contract negotiation, and subsequent commitment in the bus sector, to identify what elements of the contracting regime have exposed ambiguity and significant gaps in what the principal expected, and what the agent believed they were obliged to deliver. We develop a series of regression models to investigate the extent of discrepancy between the principal and the agents perceived ‘understanding’ of contract obligations. The empirical evidence, from a sample of bus operators, is used to identify the extent of perceived incompleteness and clarity across a sample of bus contracts. A noteworthy finding is the important role that a trusting partnership plays in reducing the barriers to establishing greater clarity of contract specification and obligations, and in recognition of the degree of contract completeness.     

Are we doing it wrong or do we expect too much? Forces that push authorities to become public transport designers

This paper presents a number of reasons that are responsible for the disappointment of authorities in their operators’ efforts to develop public transport (PT) to the advantage of their travellers. The lessons drawn in this paper are based upon the competitive tendering experience of the authors and upon the results of meetings organised with parties involved in competitive tendering and aimed at exchanging lessons. There appears to be three main causes: (1) there is freedom for the operator, but the contract is bad; (2) there is freedom for the operator, there is a good contract, but there is no market; and (3) there is freedom for the operator, but the operator is not able to use it. The paper concludes with a few perspectives for improvement.     

Contracting regimes for bus services: What have we learnt after 20 years?

This paper reviews a number of themes that have played a crucial role in the debate on alternative contracting regimes for the provision of urban bus services. We have selected four crucial issues to reflect on: (i) contractual regimes (in particular competitive tendering as compared to negotiated performance-based contracts, as means to award the rights to provide service); (ii) contract completeness (focussing on ex ante and ex post elements); (iii) building trust through partnership; and (iv) tactical or system level planning for bus services. Experience in these areas suggests that competitive tendering has frequently not lived up to expectations and that negotiation is likely in many circumstances to deliver better value for money.     

Seaports and the structural implications of the economic crisis

The 2008 credit crunch and the subsequent economic crisis ended a period that lasted over two decades wherein international seaports around the globe experienced double-digit volume increases. This chapter provides an analysis of the structural effects that the crisis has on seaports, focusing mostly on developments in Europe. It does so via an examination of (a) the crisis implication for each of the four major types of transport flows that account for the vast majority of port throughput worldwide; (b) the prospects for future capacity organisation and development, given the realignment of the involvement strategies that the various stakeholders (i.e., governments, port authorities, service providers, users, investors) endorse in reaction to the financial tsunami; and (c) the adjustment opportunities, that the trade downturn unintentionally provides, allowing for correction of existing misallocations in the sector via the deployment of relevant adjustment strategies by the related actors. Recapping the identified structural consequences, the final section concludes on the changing role and responsibilities of port authorities and the ‘new issues’ that will require further investigation in the post-financial tsunami era.     

Toward the betterment of risk allocation: Investigating risk perceptions of Australian stakeholder groups to public-private-partnership tollroad projects

This paper presents a qualitative assessment of the risk perceptions held by key Australian stakeholder groups in the context of tollroads operated under the public-private-partnership model. The findings confirm that experience accumulated in recent years has contributed toward the betterment of risk-sharing optimisation amongst the contracting parties. The knowledge acquired through in-depth interviews supports the common view that equitable risk sharing is the vital ingredient of value for money. The proposition that the private sector is better equipped to manage commercial risks involving economic decision making whilst risks that have embedded unquantifiable social and public values and those in the domain of public governance are best left with government alone, appears to be replete with refutable implications. Public perception is a malleable concept and should be managed by both sectors.     

低周疲劳损伤对老化船舶结构剩余极限强度的影响

为了分析低周疲劳累积损伤对老化船舶结构剩余极限强度的影响,应用连续介质损伤力学方法,将损伤耗散余势和塑性应变理论相结合,建立船舶结构剩余极限强度低周疲劳累积损伤模型,得到老化船舶结构极限强度随低周疲劳累积损伤衰减的规律.运用此模型,给出船舶常用Q235钢材和45钢材剩余极限强度随低周疲劳累积损伤衰减规律的工程应用经验关系式,验证了方法的合理性和实用性,为进一步分析低周疲劳对老化船舶结构极限强度的影响奠定了基础.     

优化方法在舰船抗沉决策系统中的应用研究

为了及时有效地抗沉,构建了以模型库系统为主,数据库系统和人机交互系统并重的辅助抗沉决策系统.其中模型库系统分别由装载计算模型、不沉性计算模型和抗沉方案优化模型三个子系统组成.着重研究了用于舰船破损情况下辅助决策的优化模型.以可用抗沉舱的装载量为设计变量,以最小干舷为目标函数,以限制横倾角和纵倾值为约束条件,采用非线性规划法中的惩罚函数法求解优化模型,生成最佳抗沉方案.研究了初稳性高为正值时的优化抗沉方案.通过实例计算,并将计算结果和采用遗传算法的结果相比较,证实了该优化方法用于抗沉操作的可行性.     

基于贝叶斯网络的船舶机舱火灾风险分析

针对船舶机舱火灾风险的特点,提出了基于贝叶斯网络的船舶机舱火灾风险分析方法。根据机舱各区域发生火灾频率不同,把机舱分为主机区域、发电机区域、锅炉区域和电气设备等四个火灾发生频率高的区域,按照火灾从初始事件到发生的整个过程,建立船舶机舱火灾贝叶斯网络模型,对风险因素进行概率推理,判断火情,为消防决策提供依据;然后,通过对该网络进行基于证据的敏感性分析,得到影响机舱火灾风险因素的影响排序,并可以根据排序情况采取相应措施减少火灾的发生。     

空气弹簧联轴器参数对刚度特性影响仿真分析

通过非线性有限元分析软件MSC.MARC建立空气弹簧有限元模型,分别利用REBAR单元和Herrmann单元模拟帘线以及气胎胶囊,通过空腔结构模拟气囊充气过程中内部压力的变化.比较分析了影响空气弹簧径向刚度及轴向刚度的多种因素,包括结构型式(如气囊对数、气囊容积、气囊高度、气囊有效直径)、气囊帘线材质、帘线层数、帘线的角度、橡胶的材料特性以及气囊初始充气压力等,从而对空气弹簧联轴器参数进行了优化.