1,720,960 research outputs found
Collaborative Logistics Networks
No full textThe logistics and transportation sectors play a vital role in modern economies, representing countries competitiveness enhancement opportunities and, in the meantime, imposing significant social and environmental challenges. In 2015, logistics and transportation costs accounted to 7.85% and 9-10% of United States and European Union GDPs, respectively. In the same year, these industries contributed for the 5.5% to global GHG emissions. These results derive as from new market trends and requirements emergence (e.g., urbanization, e-commerce, etc.) as from logistics and transportation systems \complex" nature (e.g., multiple actors with different goals, uncertainty, etc.).
To face the mentioned issues, reorganisations of current logistics and transportation systems have still to be studied, planned, tested and evaluated. In recent years, the “City Logistics" and the “Physical Internet" theoretical frameworks, focusing on urban and inter-urban environments respectively, have been gaining momentum between researchers and practitioners. Nevertheless, real implementations of such paradigms are still far to be deployed: indeed, innovative collaborative logistics business and organisational models as well as technological enablers supporting a successful execution of logistics and transport activities are still missing. With these premises, the general goal of this work is to contribute to the understanding of collaborative logistics, focusing on emerging business and organizational models such as the Physical Internet. To this aim, the present research addresses three major aspects. First, the problem is tackled from a conceptual point of view: indeed, since the current collaborative logistics types classification (i.e., the “classic" vertical, horizontal and diagonal ones) is missing a concept to emphasise the emergence of “innovative" models characterized by a simultaneous application of multiple classical approaches, a new collaborative logistics type called “interconnected" is coined. Second, in order to fill the scientific literature gap represented by the absence of a harmonised methodology to analyse collaborative logistics management implications, a taxonomy for scientific contributions classification and future research areas identification is proposed. Finally, starting from the results of the theoretical analysis, a practical application is derived. In particular, the ICT and decision technologies innovation gaps is addressed by presenting a general procedure for cloud-based collaborative logistics platforms design, deployment and preliminary performance evaluation
The private and social cost of the electric car: a comparison between models of different car market segments
Full text linkThe Directive CE n.443/2009 has forced car manufactures to supply Hybrid Electric Vehicles (HEVs), Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicles (PHEVs) and Electric Vehicles (EVs) in the Italian car market. This paper aims to estimate the economical sustainability of these “alternative” powertrains by a Decision Support Model (DSM) approach. A case study reports the DSM private and social costs estimations for 39 car models belonging to different Italian market segments. The private cost assessment evidences that gasoline HEVs, diesel HEVs, PHEVs and EVs are still not competitive with “conventional” powertrains: EVs are the optimal solution only in the case of intensive mobility patterns (10
years of use and more than 20,000 kilometres per year driven). The study results are in line with the Italian market shares of 1.6% for the HEVs and the 0.1% for the EVs in the first 10 months of 2015. The social sustainability assessment on a fuel lifecycle basis (Well-to-Wheels assessment) evidences that a Public Authority’s subsidy should be justified for gasoline HEVs, diesel HEVs, PHEVs and EVs in an amount
equal to the social cost difference in respect to the gasoline and diesel ones. The DSM estimations show that EVs have the highest potential in reducing global and local air pollutants emissions and noise: the social cost benefits range between 595€ to 2,976€ in respect to gasoline cars while between 483€ to 2,417€ in respect to diesel ones, depending on the mobility pattern (5,000 – 25,000 km/year driven, 10 years of usage)
Scenari simulativi del costo privato e sociale dell’automobile. Una stima per 7 modelli con diverse tecnologie propulsive in vendita in Italia
Full text linkQuesto articolo stima i costi privati derivanti dal possesso dell’automobile ed i costi sociali inerenti l’intero ciclo di vita del carburante per sette modelli di automobile (la benzina VW Polo, la diesel Ford Fiesta, la Fiat Punto Evo Natural Power bi-fuel metano-benzina, l’Alfa Romeo MiTo bi-fuel Gpl-benzina, l’ibrida Toyota Yaris, l’elettrica con leasing della batteria Renault Zoe e l’elettrica con proprietà della batteria Peugeot iOn) attualmente in vendita in Italia, utilizzando per l’analisi dati nazionali relativi all'acquisto dei veicoli, ai prezzi dei carburanti e dell’energia elettrica, ai costi di manutenzione, ai costi dell’inquinamento atmosferico e del rumore, al mix energetico. Tra i modelli di automobile considerati, la Ford Fiesta (diesel) è la migliore dal punto di vita del costo totale privato e del consumo di energia relativo al ciclo di vita del carburante, ma la peggiore in termini di costi sociali (inquinamento atmosferico globale, locale e rumore), i quali sono pari a circa il 2,7% del totale dei costi privati. La Toyota Yaris (ibrida) è un'altra scelta molto buona in termini di costi privati (la seconda migliore) ed efficace anche in termini di costi sociali (second best). Tra i modelli bi-fuel, la Fiat Punto (metanobenzina) offre le migliori prestazioni sia in termini di costi privati che sociali. La VW Polo (benzina) ha costi privati più elevati della Ford Fiesta (diesel) e anche della Toyota Yaris (ibrido), risultando invece leggermente migliore rispetto alla Ford Fiesta (diesel) in termini di costi sociali. Contrariamente alle aspettative comuni, i modelli di automobili elettriche sono meno performanti, rispetto alle altre vetture considerate, in termini di consumi energetici e costi connessi all’inquinamento locale mentre risultano solo leggermente migliori rispetto alle automobili convenzionali in termini di costi connessi all’inquinamento globale (CO2). Solamente quando si tengono in considerazione anche i costi dell’inquinamento acustico, le auto elettriche diventano le migliori scelte in termini di costi sociali. Infine, si propone un’analisi di scenario per valutare come la classifica delle vetture sia influenzata da alcuni parametri: anni di possesso del veicolo, chilometri annui percorsi, incentivi resi disponibili dal Governo italiano per le automobili meno inquinanti, aumento del prezzo dei carburanti convenzionali (benzina e gasolio), una diminuzione del costo di produzione delle batterie
Total cost of ownership, social lifecycle cost and energy consumption of various automotive technologies in Italy
Full text linkThis paper estimates the total cost of ownership, social lifecycle cost and energy consumption of 66 cars
with different fuel/powertrains available in Italy in 2013. The aim is to provide the various private and
public decision makers with information that could allow them to better understand the current market
penetration of the various automotive technologies and to predict the future one. It is found that the car
operated by conventional fuels (gasoline, diesel) is currently the least expensive as far as the total costs of
ownership are concerned. The bi-fuel lique
fi
ed petroleum gas (LPG) and the bi-fuel compressed natural
gas (CNG) internal combustion engine vehicles are in the same price range. Both the battery electric
vehicles (BEVs) and, especially, the hybrid ICEVs are more expensive. On the contrary, the social lifecycle
costs of the BEVs are the lowest, thanks not only to their zero air pollutants' emissions in the use phase
but also to their reduced noise emissions. The amount of the social costs relative to the total cost of
ownership, estimated using recent European parameters, represents at the most 6% of the total cost.
Consequently, even if the external costs were internalized, the alternative fuel vehicles would not
become convenient for the
fi
nal consumer from a monetary point of view. Considering the energy
consumption, with the 2011 Italian energy production mix, the BEVs and the diesel hybrid are the most
energy ef
fi
cient cars. Focusing on 7 speci
fi
c models, and simulating realistic scenarios, it is found that the
relative ranking of the BEVs in terms of total costs improves moderately when the traveled distance
increases, subsidies are introduced and battery price drops. However, the BEVs become convenient only
when the annual distance traveled is at least 20,000 km, a value much higher than the current Italian
average and posing serious issues in terms of vehicles' range. Only a joint reduction of the battery price to
V
240/kWh from initial estimated cost of
V
412/kWh and the introduction of a subsidy would make the
BEVs competitive with the current average Italian annual distance traveled
The Potential Demand for Carsharing by University Students: An Italian Case Study
No full textThe paper presents a methodology to estimate the potential demand for carsharing from university students. The methodology is based on three surveys: a paper-and-pencil questionnaire; a detailed, face-to-face, computer-assisted interview, and a contingent valuation interview. The data collected are used to operationalize a model that estimates the generalized cost under alternative scenarios, with and without carsharing. A Monte Carlo simulation procedure is used to estimate the probability that a person would use carsharing. The methodology has been tested with the students enrolled at the University of Trieste. The main finding is that, under the prevailing conditions, a quite large number of the sample students (32%) would benefit in terms of generalised cost from the use of carsharing if private car was unavailable. The model is also used to perform scenario analysis
Understanding the demand for carsharing: lessons from Italian case studies
No full textThe aim of this paper is to estimate the potential demand for carsharing, to this
aim a model which calculates the total generalized cost for a given mobility pattern and
transport mode mix is developed. The model considers: a) that a person sometimes travels
with friends and family, and therefore shares the travel expenses and/or satisfies several
travel needs, and b) that uses in given time period more than one mode of transport. The
parameters of the model are derived by detailed, face-to-face, computer-assisted interviews.
A limited number of interviews have been so far completed. However, they hint to some
very interesting empirical evidence. It is found that car ownership is currently very high in
the Italian families and that the car is used extensively both for work\study and, especially,
for other-than-work\study trip purposes. Offering a carsharing service (CS) would enhance
the mode choice and could, in some cases, lower the total mobility costs. The respondents
assign quite a large value to the pleasure of owning a car, much more so than the pleasure
of being carsharing users, both for workers and for students. Consequently, the respondents
would dislike not owing a private car, while having the choice between the private and the
carsharing car is preferred especially by the students. The mobility cost indicators reflect,
but not perfectly, the preference-based choices of the sample. Three individual case studies
are further analyzed. They have been defined as: a low, a medium and a high mobility case
study. The low mobility case study shows that these persons would largely benefit from the
existence of a CS service, they would use it occasionally and they would probably be willing
to forgo the private car. The medium mobility case study shows that the variables parking
time, access time and CS fare can easily switch the balance between convenience and inconvenience
of using CS. The higher mobility case study in a small town setting demonstrates
that in such circumstances the prospects for a viable CS service are rather bleak
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Full text linkThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
A Decision Support System for Cooperative Logistics
No full textThis contribution specifies a cloud based cooperative Decision Support System (DSS) that aims at integrating logistics management and decision support strategies for Intermodal Transportation Systems. The proposed DSS is dedicated to synchronize different transportation means by using the modern Information and Communications Technology tools and by taking into account environmental aspects. The paper describes the DSS cloud based architecture and presents the procedure to be followed in order to design a DSS able to support Decision Makers in different logistic decision fields
Variations on the Author
Full text link“Variations on the Author” discusses two of Eduardo Coutinho’s recent films (Um Dia na Vida, from 2010, and Últimas Conversas, posthumously released in 2015) and their contribution to the general question of documentary authorship. The director’s filmography is characterized by a consistent yet self-effacing form of authorial self-inscription: Coutinho often features as an interviewer that rather than express opinions propels discourses; an interviewer that is good at listening. This mode of self-inscription characterizes him as an author who is not expressive but who is nonetheless markedly present on the screen. In Um Dia na Vida, however, Coutinho is completely absent form the image, while Últimas Conversas, on the contrary, includes a confessional prologue that moves the director from the margins to the center of his films. This article examines the ways in which these works stand out in the filmography of a director who offers new insights into the notion of cinematic authorship
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