Freight transportation in urban areas has increased significantly in a shorter period due to the widespread use of e-commerce, fast delivery, and population growth. Recently, a noticeable government initiative aimed a...Freight transportation in urban areas has increased significantly in a shorter period due to the widespread use of e-commerce, fast delivery, and population growth. Recently, a noticeable government initiative aimed at creating an effective, acceptable, and sustainable city logistics policy. This paper examines freight consolidation as a transportation strategy for optimizing last-mile delivery costs. Freight consolidation involves combining smaller shipments from various origins into a single, larger shipment for more efficient transportation to a common destination. This approach is particularly beneficial for last-mile delivery, where frequent deliveries of smaller quantities are frequently visible. Finally, we provide an illustrative example targeting urban freight stakeholders for practicing possible consolidation methodology. The result in the illustrative example shows that freight with 3-day consolidation, despite the delay penalty, is cheaper than daily shipping, and both are cheaper than 2-day consolidated shipping. The study will benefit urban businesses and freight services.展开更多
This paper assesses the vehicle dynamics of a new cargo bike concept developed for euro pallet sized cargo. The cargo bike developed is for last-mile delivery. Different aspects of manoeuvrability and stability are ex...This paper assesses the vehicle dynamics of a new cargo bike concept developed for euro pallet sized cargo. The cargo bike developed is for last-mile delivery. Different aspects of manoeuvrability and stability are examined using a series of manoeuvres based on tests from the automotive industry combined with bicycle industry regulations. These manoeuvres objectively evaluate and determine the handling capabilities of the cargo bike concept. Those tests can be compared using the results of the benchmark vehicles. The results conclude the new cargo bike has proper vehicle dynamics above the majority of benchmark vehicles but there is still room for improvement.展开更多
Given the complex clinical situations and the dynamic nature of nursing, the greatest challenge for nursing educators is performing objective evaluation of students’ clinical competence. The Objective Structured Clin...Given the complex clinical situations and the dynamic nature of nursing, the greatest challenge for nursing educators is performing objective evaluation of students’ clinical competence. The Objective Structured Clinical Evaluation (OSCE) is designed to address this challenge and it has been widely used in nursing education. However, its implementation in nursing education in Taiwan has been limited. Accordingly, a quasi-experimental design was utilized to examine students’ clinical performance and stress levels using a 12-station OSCE assessment. Further, we investigated the inter-rater reliability and internal consistency of the OSCE. After controlling for scores of clinical performance, overall differences in pre- and post-practicum stress in the OSCE group were significantly higher than in the control group (F (1, 89) = 4.89, p = 0.03). There was no group effect on practicum performance after controlling for grade point average (F (1, 89) = 2.69, p = 0.14). Cronbach’s alpha for 12 OSCE stations ranged from 0.22 to 0.80 and inter-rater reliability for all 12 stations showed Pearson’s r ranging between 0.76 and 1.00. Cohen’s kappa ranged from 0.70 to 1.00展开更多
The provision of quintuple-play services along wavelength division multiplexed （WDM） long-reach passive optical networks （LR-PONs） employing an ultra-bendable fiber in last-mile distribution is demonstrated experi...The provision of quintuple-play services along wavelength division multiplexed （WDM） long-reach passive optical networks （LR-PONs） employing an ultra-bendable fiber in last-mile distribution is demonstrated experimentally. Particularly, the simultaneous transmission of three 100-GHz-spaced optical channels for the provision of double sideband orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing （OFDM） wireless and wired quintuple-play services to the premises of users located at 75, 85, and 100 km away from the central office is demonstrated. The OFDM-WDM LR-PON is tested considering the last-mile fiber distribution suffering from severe bending conditions without optical dispersion compensation. The experiments are performed for a worst last-mile fiber bending case emulated by considering a Corning ClearCurve fiber experiencing 20 bends and a bend radius of 7.5 mm. All the OFDM signals received at the premises of users present error vector magnitude （EVM） levels compliant with the EVM thresholds of the corresponding standards. An EVM degradation in the OFDM signals received by each user not exceeding 0.8 dB due to the last-mile distribution fiber is achieved.展开更多
Urban road pricing schemes are becoming increasingly popular among researchers and politicians as they promise a handle on increasing inner city traffic and economy as well as sustainable improvements for cities facin...Urban road pricing schemes are becoming increasingly popular among researchers and politicians as they promise a handle on increasing inner city traffic and economy as well as sustainable improvements for cities facing huge congestion and pollution problems. As in the cases of London and Stockholm, many European cities are going to implement such toll systems, especially as also the European Commission is voting for such pricing schemes in the recent white book on transportation and traffic, This research therefore provides a description of different urban road pricing schemes, their cost implications for city （last mile） transport as well as the decision and management options derived from these schemes for logistics companies. These options are furthermore checked regarding their advantages and disadvantages under the described toll schemes.展开更多
文摘Freight transportation in urban areas has increased significantly in a shorter period due to the widespread use of e-commerce, fast delivery, and population growth. Recently, a noticeable government initiative aimed at creating an effective, acceptable, and sustainable city logistics policy. This paper examines freight consolidation as a transportation strategy for optimizing last-mile delivery costs. Freight consolidation involves combining smaller shipments from various origins into a single, larger shipment for more efficient transportation to a common destination. This approach is particularly beneficial for last-mile delivery, where frequent deliveries of smaller quantities are frequently visible. Finally, we provide an illustrative example targeting urban freight stakeholders for practicing possible consolidation methodology. The result in the illustrative example shows that freight with 3-day consolidation, despite the delay penalty, is cheaper than daily shipping, and both are cheaper than 2-day consolidated shipping. The study will benefit urban businesses and freight services.
文摘This paper assesses the vehicle dynamics of a new cargo bike concept developed for euro pallet sized cargo. The cargo bike developed is for last-mile delivery. Different aspects of manoeuvrability and stability are examined using a series of manoeuvres based on tests from the automotive industry combined with bicycle industry regulations. These manoeuvres objectively evaluate and determine the handling capabilities of the cargo bike concept. Those tests can be compared using the results of the benchmark vehicles. The results conclude the new cargo bike has proper vehicle dynamics above the majority of benchmark vehicles but there is still room for improvement.
文摘Given the complex clinical situations and the dynamic nature of nursing, the greatest challenge for nursing educators is performing objective evaluation of students’ clinical competence. The Objective Structured Clinical Evaluation (OSCE) is designed to address this challenge and it has been widely used in nursing education. However, its implementation in nursing education in Taiwan has been limited. Accordingly, a quasi-experimental design was utilized to examine students’ clinical performance and stress levels using a 12-station OSCE assessment. Further, we investigated the inter-rater reliability and internal consistency of the OSCE. After controlling for scores of clinical performance, overall differences in pre- and post-practicum stress in the OSCE group were significantly higher than in the control group (F (1, 89) = 4.89, p = 0.03). There was no group effect on practicum performance after controlling for grade point average (F (1, 89) = 2.69, p = 0.14). Cronbach’s alpha for 12 OSCE stations ranged from 0.22 to 0.80 and inter-rater reliability for all 12 stations showed Pearson’s r ranging between 0.76 and 1.00. Cohen’s kappa ranged from 0.70 to 1.00
基金supported by the Fundaao para a Ciência e a Tecnologia from Portugal(Nos.PEst-OE/EEI/LA0008/2011 and TURBO-PTDC/EEATEL/104358/2008)the European Project(No.FIVER-FP7-ICT-2009-4-249142)
文摘The provision of quintuple-play services along wavelength division multiplexed （WDM） long-reach passive optical networks （LR-PONs） employing an ultra-bendable fiber in last-mile distribution is demonstrated experimentally. Particularly, the simultaneous transmission of three 100-GHz-spaced optical channels for the provision of double sideband orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing （OFDM） wireless and wired quintuple-play services to the premises of users located at 75, 85, and 100 km away from the central office is demonstrated. The OFDM-WDM LR-PON is tested considering the last-mile fiber distribution suffering from severe bending conditions without optical dispersion compensation. The experiments are performed for a worst last-mile fiber bending case emulated by considering a Corning ClearCurve fiber experiencing 20 bends and a bend radius of 7.5 mm. All the OFDM signals received at the premises of users present error vector magnitude （EVM） levels compliant with the EVM thresholds of the corresponding standards. An EVM degradation in the OFDM signals received by each user not exceeding 0.8 dB due to the last-mile distribution fiber is achieved.
文摘Urban road pricing schemes are becoming increasingly popular among researchers and politicians as they promise a handle on increasing inner city traffic and economy as well as sustainable improvements for cities facing huge congestion and pollution problems. As in the cases of London and Stockholm, many European cities are going to implement such toll systems, especially as also the European Commission is voting for such pricing schemes in the recent white book on transportation and traffic, This research therefore provides a description of different urban road pricing schemes, their cost implications for city （last mile） transport as well as the decision and management options derived from these schemes for logistics companies. These options are furthermore checked regarding their advantages and disadvantages under the described toll schemes.
