Inductive research in last-mile delivery routing: Introducing the Re-Gifting heuristic

The last-mile problem presents a daunting challenge for many logistics service providers, especially some 7000 small, localized operations for whom the cost of complex software solutions is often prohibitive. As a result, last-mile dispatchers rely on simple heuristics to ensure adequate customer service at an acceptable cost. This research effort extends prior qualitative work by developing and testing a simple vehicle routing heuristic, based on behaviors observed in practice, that prioritizes customer service over cost against other simple vehicle routing heuristics across a variety of environments using simulation. The results support the inclusion of a customer service focus in vehicle routing and the addition of such heuristics to existing algorithm portfolios, specifically in urban areas with well-developed highway systems.     

论我国资产证券化的风险防范

资产证券化存在着许多风险，尤其在我国，由于缺乏相关的法律法规、市场环境及中介机构，资产证券化的运行会蕴涵着更大的风险。必须充分认识这些风险并采取相应的措施，才能降低我国资产证券化的运行风险，促使我国资产证券化顺利进行。     

The motor vehicle industry in an emerging nation: the case of Brazil

As in other emerging nations, in Brazil, the motor vehicle industry is considered to be strategically important for economic development because of its backward and forward linkages and possibilities for export-led growth. This study analyses prospects for the industry by estimating an industry-level cost function that includes output of both vehicles and component parts with capital, labour and intermediate goods as inputs. The cost elasticity of output (an indicator of scale properties) and the elasticity relationships among inputs are explored. One unexpected outcome of the work that appears to be robust is that during early years of the study period, the industry had constant returns or even diseconomies of scale. However, during later years, when output was greater, there were economies of scale. This finding is likely the result of some combination of the entry of new firms, the development of new models or technological change. The study concludes that if firm output can be increased, economies of scale can be expected to strengthen the position of the Brazilian industry in the international marketplace.     

公共充电基础设施对电动汽车购买的异质性影响研究

交通部门是中国最重要的碳排放源之一,交通电动化对实现双碳目标至关重要。本文以中国纯电动汽车消费为例,采集2017年1月至2020年11月中国31个省份（因数据缺失,不包含港澳台地区）充电桩数量及电动汽车销量数据构建面板固定效应模型和门槛效益模型,实证分析了不同类型公共充电基础设施对不同用途纯电动汽车购买的影响,以及不同地区温度对销量影响的门槛效应。研究发现公共充电桩数量增加1%,纯电动汽车购买量显著增加0.85%,其中出租租赁用途纯电动汽车销量显著增加1.57%。直流公共充电桩对纯电动汽车购买的影响远大于交流公共充电桩,并对不同用途的电动汽车存在异质性影响。此外,在气温更低的地方公共充电桩对纯电动汽车购买的影响更大,其显著门槛值为15摄氏度,且气温对出租租赁汽车的影响比非营业用途更大。政策制定者应合理考虑公共充电桩等基础设施的增设布局以保障电动汽车的续航能力,从而促进交通运输部门的脱碳进程。     

电动搬运车辆斩波器的应用分析

介绍以蓄电池和串励直流电动机为动力的电动搬动车辆用斩波器的种类，型号，参数，电路原理和应用情况。     

Strategic policies and demonstration program of electric vehicle in China

Recent Chinese economic and energy policies recognize the transportation sector as a key element in the nation's effort to meet its energy and air quality goals. The development of alternative fuel vehicle (AFV) has been considered as a particularly promising strategy. AFV-related policies can be traced back to the eighth Five-Year Plan period (i.e., 1991-1995). All the work during the last twenty years has cumulatively prompted the transition of AFV development from policy-making to actual implementation and from research and development (R&D) to mass production. The year of 2009 is significant for the AFV industry in China in that the central government announced the “Plan on Shaping and Revitalizing the Auto Industry”. This Plan launched a demonstration program of electric vehicle (EV) deployment in 13 Chinese cities and set the national goal of manufacturing 0.5 million AFVs in three years. To better understand the current status, problems and uncertainties existed in the EV deployment in China, this paper reviewed the relevant policies and reported a survey with the pilot cities during the summer of 2009. Based on the survey findings, this paper developed a number of recommendations to help address the issues found in the demonstration program to date.     

Designing Vehicle Form Based on Subjective Customer Impressions

Automotive body styling is determined by two key design elements： profile and form. In recent years, the authors have been able to quantify profile designs that embody consumer preferences and verify the effectiveness of these efforts. This study focuses on form, quantifying parameters like roundness and angularity in order to identify the relationship of these qualities to customer preferences. In order to fully understand the relationship between form as a whole （which consists of front, side, and rear elements） and consumer preference, 3D-CAD software and statistics are used to quantify form. An eye-tracking camera is then used to analyze line of sight and establish a cause-and-effect relationship between form and where customers focus their attention, and the desired insights are obtained. Keywords： automotive, designing vehicle form, 3D-CAD     

Travelling neo-tribes: conceptualising recreational vehicle users

Neo-tribes have been defined as including people from different walks of life who come together in fluid groupings, bound by common interests, similar lifestyles, rituals and language. This concept is popular in sociological literature, but has rarely been applied to travellers or tourism literature. This study sought to understand whether neo-tribalism could add insights into our existing knowledge of recreational vehicle (RV) users in Canada. Using a grounded theory approach including focus groups and in-depth interviews, the research found RV users exhibit neo-tribal characteristics which can be characterised as symbolic and behavioural. The behavioural aspects of this neo-tribe are evident in campsites, where rituals such as happy hours exist. Symbolic aspects included fluidity of membership and commitment to the RVing lifestyle. The findings suggest that the neo-tribal concept is a highly useful tool for understanding the motivations, behaviour and needs of travellers and adds new insights into our understanding of the RVing experience.     

New energy vehicle online selection method considering attribute compensation relationship and aspiration strength

With the development of information technology, online trading platforms for new energy vehicles, represented by Autohome.com, provide individualized decision-making support services for consumers. Considering that consumers often have different attribute requirements when deciding to buy a new energy vehicle. From the requirement information, we can derive the consumers' individual preferences for attribute compensation relationships. This relationship may also indicate, to some extent, that consumers have different strength constraints on different attribute requirements, i.e. aspiration strength. Therefore, to adjust consumers' attribute aspirations and select more products that satisfy consumers’ requirements, this paper investigates how to derive aspiration strength based on the attribute compensation relationship provided by consumers. Specifically, we first define a functional mapping relationship between the attribute compensation relationship and the aspiration strength. According to the mapping relationship, we obtain the aspiration strength. We can change the attribute aspirations based on aspiration strength. Furthermore, attribute compensation relationships are considered to compensate for the product attribute performance. Based on this, we design a new online selection method for new energy vehicles. Finally, a case study of Autohome.com is proposed to verify the effectiveness of the method. We use comparative analysis and random number experiments to demonstrate its robustness and necessity.     

The flow-refueling location problem for alternative-fuel vehicles

Beginning with Hodgson (Geogr.Anal.22(1990) 270), several researchers have been developing a new kind of location-allocation model for “flow capturing.” Instead of locating central facilities to serve demand at fixed points in space, their models aim to serve demand consisting of origin-destination flows along their shortest paths. This paper extends flow-capturing models to optimal location of refueling facilities for alternative-fuel (alt-fuel) vehicles, such as hydrogen fuel cells or natural gas. Existing flow-capturing models assume that if a flow passes just one facility along its path, it is covered. This assumption does not carry over to vehicle refueling because of the limited range of vehicles. For refueling, it may be necessary to stop at more than one facility in order to successfully refuel the entire path, depending on the vehicle range, the path length, and the node spacing. The Flow Refueling Location Model (FRLM) optimally locates p refueling stations on a network so as to maximize the total flow volume refueled. This paper presents a mixed-integer programming formulation for the nodes-only version of the problem, as well as an algorithm for determining all combinations of nodes that can refuel a given path. A greedy-adding approach is demonstrated to be suboptimal, and the tradeoff curve between number of facilities and flow volume refueled is shown to be nonconvex.