[ { "id": "https://openalex.org/W2983180297", "doi": null, "title": "Exploring the effects of carbon pricing on the decarbonization of freight transport in the Netherlands", "year": 2019, "publication_date": "2019-01-01", "type": "dissertation", "language": "en", "authors": [ "Maaike de Vries" ], "first_author": "Maaike de Vries", "venue": "Research Repository (Delft University of Technology)", "publisher": "Delft University of Technology", "abstract": "In 2015, the UN climate agreement was signed by the Netherlands, which has the central aim to “strengthen the global response to the threat of climate change by keeping a global temperature rise this century well below 2 degrees Celsius and to pursue efforts to limit the temperature increase even further to 1.5 degrees Celsius” (UNFCCC, 2018). To be able to achieve this, “a reduction of at least 60% of GHGs by 2050 with respect to 1990 is required from the transport sector” (EC, 2011). This research focuses on three methods that were identified by Kaack et al. (2018) for the reduction of emissions in the transport sector: increasing the efficiency of freight vehicles, reducing the carbon content of fuel used to transport freight and shifting freight to low carbon-intensity modes. To be able to stimulate the freight transportation sector to the three alternatives, a pricing policy that includes the CO2 emissions of the modes is identified: carbon pricing (Beuthe et al., 2002). Current literature has studied the influence of a carbon price on the container freight transport in the Netherlands while focusing on the modal shift (Zhang et al, 2014; Zhang et al, 2015) or researched the effects of internalizing the external costs on the Belgium freight transportation network (Beuthe et al, 2002). Furthermore, the influence of a carbon price on the potential for urban freight electrification in Madrid was researched by Arroyo et al. (2019). This research contributes to clarifying the effects of carbon pricing on the Dutch freight transportation. As current studies mainly focus on either the effects on the modal shift or the effects on the use of alternative fuels, these do not consider a combination of the effects and do not take into account the increase in the efficiency of the freight vehicles. Furthermore, the current literature focuses on a particular niche market (e.g. only container or a certain region). This research takes a broader view and looks at the influence of the carbon price on all commodities that have an origin, destination or both in the Netherlands. The main research question of this research is: HOW CAN THE FREIGHT TRANSPORTATION NETWORK USE IN THE NETHERLANDS BECOME MORE SUSTAINABLE, CONSIDERING MODAL SHIFT AND ALTERNATIVE FUELS? Currently, most freight is transported by trucks, which is a more expensive mode but has a high network density and enables faster transportation as there is no need for transhipment between modes (Platz, 2009). Inland waterway (IWW) is the second most used mode for freight transportation in the Netherlands (CBS, 2019b). IWW is a cheaper mode, but the transport is dependent on the available ports in the waterways network and is a slow mode of transportation. Rail freight transportation is used the least in the Netherlands (KiM, 2016). The rail mode can be cheap, however transhipment is expensive. Next to that, the trains are dependent on the railways service stations and do not reach high speeds due to inefficiencies (Islam & Zunder, 2018; Janic, 2008). When looking at the emissions of the modes, a clear difference between the emissions is identified: trucks emit up to 2.5 and 5 times more CO2 than IWW and rail respectively (KiM, 2016). This results in an unsustainable distribution: the mode that emits the most emissions is used the most while the most sustainable mode is used the least.", "keywords": [ "Greenhouse gas", "Modal shift", "Climate change", "Business", "Carbon price", "Truck", "Carbon fibers", "Natural resource economics", "Transport engineering", "Environmental science", "Economics", "Engineering" ], "cited_by_count": 0, "is_retracted": false, "is_paratext": false, "open_access_url": "http://resolver.tudelft.nl/uuid:b708e119-9865-4f2b-a4a1-9a9b15981e30" }, { "id": "https://openalex.org/W3189987114", "doi": null, "title": "Introducing High Productivity Vehicles into Australia: Two Case Studies with Different Regulatory Mechanisms", "year": 2006, "publication_date": "2006-08-01", "type": "article", "language": "en", "authors": [ "Kim Peter Hassall" ], "first_author": "Kim Peter Hassall", "venue": null, "publisher": null, "abstract": "The Australian road transport industry has undergone significant changes over the last 39 years. There have been three reviews and increases in the mass carrying limits of trucks. These occurred in the mid 1970s, the Economic Review of Vehicle Limits (ERVL), in the mid 1980s, the Review of Road Vehicle Limits (RoRCL) was undertaken, and the mid to late 1990, the Mass Limits Review, which utilized the introduction of “road friendly” suspension systems to allow higher mass to be carried was implemented in most regions. Mass limit increases were however, just one means of delivering productivity gains. In the mid 1980s the adoption of a variation of the Canadian B-train (the B-Double) was introduced into Australia. This vehicle although longer could achieve payloads some 30% to 40% higher than the more conventional tractor-trailer combinations. In 1999, the National Road Transport Commission also adopted, and further developed another Canadian concept, that of “Performance Based Standards” (PBS). This effectively allowed for flexible truck design, as long as the vehicles performed against a set of up to 18 specific technical performance criteria. The Performance Based Standards approach to vehicle design has enormous implications for Urban freight movement.", "keywords": [ "Truck", "Productivity", "Transport engineering", "Trailer", "Tractor", "Articulated vehicle", "Engineering", "Commission", "Business", "Automotive engineering", "Economics", "Finance" ], "cited_by_count": 0, "is_retracted": false, "is_paratext": false, "open_access_url": "https://trid.trb.org/view/786610" }, { "id": "https://openalex.org/W2388518261", "doi": null, "title": "Ways to construct the Chinese urban green distribution system and trend", "year": 2014, "publication_date": "2014-01-01", "type": "article", "language": "en", "authors": [ "Wang Han-xi" ], "first_author": "Wang Han-xi", "venue": null, "publisher": null, "abstract": "Facing the city haze weather,traffic jams,and the growing demand for goods,urban joint distribution becomes one of the most effective methods in solving problems. The basic elements of urban logistics distribution are goods,road and vehicle.With the integrated management of the city traffic,implementation of freight vehicle standard,the fundamental way to solve the external not economic in urban logistics is built one hub and spoke systems of logistics distribution network. The formation of joint distribution network system,need three levels of public or common distribution node layout,and vehicle relay transport nodes for city characteristics,and a variety of cooperation between enterprises with the city of commodity circulation. In future,the Chinese urban joint distribution to implement should be government guidance,enterprise main push,market-oriented operation mechanism operates.", "keywords": [ "Distribution (mathematics)", "Transport engineering", "Business", "Joint (building)", "Commodity", "Government (linguistics)", "Construct (python library)", "Public transport", "China", "Node (physics)", "Computer science", "Industrial organization" ], "cited_by_count": 0, "is_retracted": false, "is_paratext": false, "open_access_url": "http://en.cnki.com.cn/Article_en/CJFDTOTAL-GZCB201406014.htm" }, { "id": "https://openalex.org/W979850203", "doi": null, "title": "Millón datos, 0 información generación de una metodología de análisis de datos de GPS, para analizar la entrega de supercongelados en la ciudad de Quito", "year": 2014, "publication_date": "2014-12-01", "type": "dissertation", "language": "es", "authors": [ "Bueno Almeida", "Falipe Xavier" ], "first_author": "Bueno Almeida", "venue": null, "publisher": null, "abstract": "A GPS tracking database fleet of 15 trucks of the company Jarygom was compiled, the database is seven months long in which ice cream is delivered to shops and supermarkets in the city of Quito. Following the scientific method, a methodology to guide the process of creating the database, clean, analyze and graph the data was generated. All codes are programmed in Matlab to implement the methodology described above. Indicators related to distance, time of movement and speed of 1344 routes was obtained. Suggestions for improvements to the company, including the elimination of certain routes, creating new policies and improvement projects for the future was generated. In addition to this, evidence was found that validates the importance of the study of Urban Logistics in the city of Quito", "keywords": [ "Global Positioning System", "Truck", "Transport engineering", "Geography", "Process (computing)", "Computer science", "Database", "Welfare economics", "Engineering", "Telecommunications", "Economics", "Operating system" ], "cited_by_count": 0, "is_retracted": false, "is_paratext": false, "open_access_url": "https://repositorio.usfq.edu.ec/bitstream/23000/3795/1/112516.pdf" }, { "id": "https://openalex.org/W4414114470", "doi": "10.1016/j.trip.2026.102117", "title": "Advanced air mobility in the UAE: climate-resilient risk and reliability of UAVs versus traditional couriers", "year": 2026, "publication_date": "2026-06-24", "type": "article", "language": "en", "authors": [ "Rachel Babu", "Ameena Saad Al‐Sumaiti" ], "first_author": "Rachel Babu", "venue": "Transportation Research Interdisciplinary Perspectives", "publisher": "Elsevier BV", "abstract": "Advanced Air Mobility (AAM), which leverages technologies like Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs), promises faster and more flexible urban freight, but its large-scale deployment depends on trade-offs between efficiency, reliability, and system readiness. In the United Arab Emirates, where intense heat, high humidity, strong winds, and sandstorms are common, assessing UAV performance under these climatic stresses is particularly critical. This study compares UAV-based systems with traditional couriers by developing a comprehensive techno-economic model that incorporates exponential reliability functions, detailed cost breakdowns, and an Operational Integration Index (OII), which is defined as the product of route efficiency, system interoperability, and infrastructure readiness. The model was evaluated through Monte Carlo simulations and exhibited a mean reliability of 0.604 (±0.347) for UAVs versus 1.0003 (±0.0021) for trucks. The resulting mean Performance Indices were 0.0095 for UAVs and 0.0987 for trucks, indicating substantially lower and more variable reliability and cost-effectiveness for UAVs compared to traditional couriers. The Operational Integration Index from the calibration indicates lower integration readiness for UAVs (OII = 0.288) compared with trucks (OII = 0.421). Spearman rank correlations reveal that temperature (ρ = -0.464) and wind speed (ρ = -0.456) are the primary drivers of UAV performance, with humidity (ρ = -0.237) moderate and sandstorms negligible (ρ = -0.021), whereas traditional couriers show only weak or non-significant weather dependencies (|ρ | < 0.07). The study underscores the policy challenge of balancing efficiency gains with reliability, environmental sensitivity, and infrastructure readiness in AAM, offering recommendations for regulators and planners on safe system integration.", "keywords": [ "Reliability (semiconductor)", "Truck", "Software deployment", "Index (typography)", "Calibration", "Variable (mathematics)", "Monte Carlo method" ], "cited_by_count": 0, "is_retracted": false, "is_paratext": false, "open_access_url": "https://doi.org/10.1016/j.trip.2026.102117" }, { "id": "https://openalex.org/W2340934126", "doi": "10.22237/jotm/1420070640", "title": "Impact of freight traffic on school walking decisions in urban environments", "year": 2015, "publication_date": "2015-01-01", "type": "article", "language": "en", "authors": [ "Stephanie S. Ivey", "Marian Levy", "Marla Royne Stafford", "Kelsey Ford", "Kranthi Guthikonda" ], "first_author": "Stephanie S. Ivey", "venue": "Journal of Transportation Management", "publisher": null, "abstract": "In light of the decline in social acceptance of walking and biking to school, there is a critical need to examine issues impacting school transportation decisions and to identify strategies to promote healthier behavior. In urban areas with high volume freight corridors, factors affecting school walking decisions can be complicated by increased truck and rail traffic. This paper presents findings from a study of urban neighborhoods in a major southeastern city, including those that are adjacent to freight corridors. Perceptions of neighborhood residents are compared in the context of existing infrastructure and network characteristics (urban vs. urban freight-centric). The results provide insight into factors influencing school transportation decisions in urban environments, and highlight discrepancies between perceptions and actual issues relevant to child pedestrian safety.", "keywords": [ "Transport engineering", "Pedestrian", "Context (archaeology)", "Truck", "Perception", "Business", "Traffic volume", "Geography", "Psychology", "Engineering" ], "cited_by_count": 0, "is_retracted": false, "is_paratext": false, "open_access_url": "https://digitalcommons.wayne.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1044&context=jotm" }, { "id": "https://openalex.org/W7168123198", "doi": "10.1016/j.tre.2026.105080", "title": "Optimizing urban parcel deliveries: Containerized consolidation on public transport", "year": 2026, "publication_date": "2026-07-13", "type": "article", "language": "en", "authors": [ "Cécile Dupouy", "Mellila Kechir", "François Clautiaux", "Olivier Labarthe", "Walid Klibi" ], "first_author": "Cécile Dupouy", "venue": "Transportation Research Part E Logistics and Transportation Review", "publisher": "Elsevier BV", "abstract": null, "keywords": [ "Consolidation (business)", "Public transport", "City logistics", "Rail transportation", "Transportation planning" ], "cited_by_count": 0, "is_retracted": false, "is_paratext": false, "open_access_url": "https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tre.2026.105080" }, { "id": "https://openalex.org/W4413070691", "doi": "10.1007/978-3-031-95284-5_37", "title": "Inefficiency Assessment for Agricultural Commodities in Urban Areas", "year": 2025, "publication_date": "2025-01-01", "type": "book-chapter", "language": "en", "authors": [ "Harshit Talreja", "Mayank Manoj Dubey" ], "first_author": "Harshit Talreja", "venue": "Lecture notes in mobility", "publisher": "Springer International Publishing", "abstract": "Abstract Agricultural commodities make up a significant portion of India’s freight transportation. They pass through urban areas during various supply chain stages, making urban freight essential. However, importance of urban freight often goes unnoticed, impacting efficiency, society, and the environment. In towns with agricultural hubs, issues intensify as freight vehicles block entrances and exits due to inadequate management and infrastructure. This leads to higher expenses in urban areas. The study attempts to identify certain challenges that plague the transportation of agricultural commodities in urban areas. The study is conducted in the city of Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh due to its unique character of production, processing, storage, consumption of agricultural commodities. The primary data was collected by the OD survey, establishment survey, interviews and questionnaires. The study identifies inefficiencies like empty return trips, increase in the trip lengths, along with congestion, overloading, etc. These identified issues coupled with the informality of the sector, lack of education and enforcement lead to other implications in terms of cost, emissions, and opportunity cost.", "keywords": [ "Business", "Inefficiency", "Agriculture", "TRIPS architecture", "Agricultural economics", "Consumption (sociology)", "Enforcement", "Transport engineering", "Geography", "Economics", "Engineering" ], "cited_by_count": 0, "is_retracted": false, "is_paratext": false, "open_access_url": "https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-95284-5_37" }, { "id": "https://openalex.org/W4386966682", "doi": "10.14711/thesis-991013222953403412", "title": "On-Time Delivery by Drone Resupply", "year": 2023, "publication_date": "2023-01-01", "type": "dissertation", "language": "en", "authors": [ "Wenqian Liu" ], "first_author": "Wenqian Liu", "venue": null, "publisher": null, "abstract": "Along with the maturity of technologies, such as the Internet of Things and artificial intelligence, the rapid development of online e-commerce has raised the need for what is known as “smart logistics”. With fewer geographical restrictions, higher delivery efficiency, and greater delivery flexibility, drones are a promising option for achieving fast delivery in last-mile urban logistics. Many leading logistics companies, such as Amazon and FedEx, have carried out experimental projects on drone delivery systems. In academia, various operational models for using drones for delivery have been proposed, including drone-only, truck and drone coordinated systems, and drone resupply. The novelty of drone resupply is that drones transport packages from a depot to trucks en route, and then trucks hand over these packages to customers face by face. Despite its potential benefits, existing studies have been focused on designing solution approaches for the drone resupply problem with a single truck and a single drone. As such, there is a need for further research to explore the potential of drone resupply in real-world applications. In this thesis, we investigate more general drone resupply models for on-time delivery, where a fleet of drones is employed to assist a group of trucks in fulfilling delivery requests within specific delivery deadlines. Considering several practical restrictions in urban areas, we first focus on a situation where each delivery truck follows a predetermined route to deliver packages. To ensure the on-time delivery of packages, trucks are dispatched from the depot at certain cutoff times, even if some packages are not yet available for delivery. Drones are then used to resupply these late available packages to specific trucks en route so as to assure on-time delivery. This raises the problem of drone resupply scheduling, which aims to maximize the total value of the late available packages that can be delivered on time. We formally define the problem and analyze its optimality properties. We develop an exact solution approach based on the time-expanded network flow model and design a greedy heuristic algorithm to solve this problem. A series of computational studies are conducted to validate the efficiency and effectiveness of the proposed solutions. Managerial insights and guidance derived from these studies can help logistics companies to make informed decisions both at strategic and operational levels. The drone resupply model can also be applied to on-time meal delivery. To cope with the delayed deliveries of online meals, we can dispatch drones from restaurants to transport meals to riders en route, and then the riders hand over these meals to customers. Such a problem leads to a drone resupply model with multiple trucks, multiple drones, and multiple depots, with rider routing and drone scheduling optimized jointly. We design a two-phase algorithm to solve the problem efficiently. In the first phase, we identify all possible rider routes, along with the corresponding drone scheduling, for serving order bundles. In the second phase, we use a set covering model to select the best rider routes so that all meals are fulfilled with a minimal delay cost. For the problem with a relatively long service period, we propose a rolling horizon strategy to solve it in a dynamic environment. We conduct computational studies to evaluate the efficiency of the solution method and the effectiveness of the proposed drone-assisted delivery model. The computational results demonstrate that adopting drone resupply in on-time meal delivery could lead to a win-win-win situation, where the delay cost and the traveling distance of riders can be reduced significantly, by as much as 54% and 10%, respectively.", "keywords": [ "Drone", "Aeronautics", "Engineering", "Biology" ], "cited_by_count": 0, "is_retracted": false, "is_paratext": false, "open_access_url": "https://doi.org/10.14711/thesis-991013222953403412" }, { "id": "https://openalex.org/W2386748539", "doi": null, "title": "WIM based vehicle load model for urban expressway bridges", "year": 2014, "publication_date": "2014-01-01", "type": "article", "language": "en", "authors": [ "Chen Bi" ], "first_author": "Chen Bi", "venue": "Earthquake Engineering and Engineering Dynamics", "publisher": null, "abstract": "Significant changes in vehicle loads have occurred in China due to the development of the automobile industry and transportation within the past two decades,particularly the rapid increase in traffic flow and the largescale emergence of heavy trucks. However,research into vehicle loadings on urban bridges is not well developed.In this study,based on traffic flow data collected using a weigh-in-motion system installed on an expressway in an urban logistics zone,we analyzed the gross vehicle weight features,and the probability distribution of the GVW was fitted to a three-mode mixed log-normal distribution. Using the improved Gumbel method,we determined the extreme value distribution of the vehicle loadings in the purpose reference period and assessed the vehicle loadings of urban bridges.", "keywords": [ "Gumbel distribution", "Truck", "Weigh in motion", "Generalized extreme value distribution", "Transport engineering", "Engineering", "Mode (computer interface)", "Vehicle type", "Civil engineering", "Distribution (mathematics)", "Automotive engineering", "Extreme value theory" ], "cited_by_count": 0, "is_retracted": false, "is_paratext": false, "open_access_url": "https://en.cnki.com.cn/Article_en/CJFDTotal-DGGC2014S1108.htm" }, { "id": "https://openalex.org/W3186794854", "doi": "10.2139/ssrn.3842115", "title": "Urban Vans, E- Commerce and Road Freight Transport", "year": 2021, "publication_date": "2021-01-01", "type": "preprint", "language": "en", "authors": [ "David Bonilla" ], "first_author": "David Bonilla", "venue": "SSRN Electronic Journal", "publisher": "RELX Group (Netherlands)", "abstract": null, "keywords": [ "Transport engineering", "Business", "Road transport", "E-commerce", "City logistics", "Passenger transport", "Engineering", "Computer science", "World Wide Web" ], "cited_by_count": 0, "is_retracted": false, "is_paratext": false, "open_access_url": "https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3842115" }, { "id": "https://openalex.org/W613360169", "doi": null, "title": "THE COURIER INDUSTRY: ESTABLISHING ATTRIBUTE VALUATION IN A STATED CHOICE PERSPECTIVE WITH VARYING CHOICE TASK COMPLEXITY", "year": 2002, "publication_date": "2002-01-01", "type": "article", "language": "en", "authors": [ "Troyee Saha" ], "first_author": "Troyee Saha", "venue": null, "publisher": null, "abstract": "A major player in the urban freight travel activity is the courier. The industry consists of number of different types of courier each providing different services and as result, uses different methods to provide that service. The Macquarie Dictionary provides this definition for service: a company which provides service collecting and delivering letters and parcels. The Industrial Relations Commission (NSW) uses the following definition: Courier work means the transportation by means of or taxi truck vehicle of goods up to maximum of 250 kilograms in weight from one place to another by contract carrier. It is intended by the parties that the time to be taken is either the shortest possible time or within the time requested by the principal contractor. It is further intended that in any event completion are to be effected on the same day as commencement or by the earliest reasonable possible time on the following normal working day. (a) For the covering entry of this conference, please see ITRD abstract no. E206301.", "keywords": [ "Valuation (finance)", "Transport engineering", "Commission", "Service (business)", "Truck", "Task (project management)", "Business", "Work (physics)", "Operations research", "Principal (computer security)", "Operations management", "Marketing" ], "cited_by_count": 0, "is_retracted": false, "is_paratext": false, "open_access_url": "https://trid.trb.org/view/735668" }, { "id": "https://openalex.org/W4400845547", "doi": "10.5109/7183408", "title": "Evaluating Environmental Impacts of Green Logistics Initiatives in Batam Indonesia", "year": 2024, "publication_date": "2024-06-01", "type": "article", "language": "en", "authors": [ "Nailah Firdausiyah", "Fauzul Rizal Sutikno", "Annisa Azalia Ratri" ], "first_author": "Nailah Firdausiyah", "venue": "Evergreen", "publisher": "Kyushu University", "abstract": "Green Logistics has become a crucial solution in city logistics systems for solving environmental issues. This research aims to measure the effectiveness of Green Logistics initiatives in Batam City as a pilot project for the National Logistics Ecosystems of Indonesia using vehicle emissions and noise level analysis and a simulation-based approach. The result indicated that the Joint Delivery Systems with Urban Consolidation Center (JDS-UCC) is better at reducing pollution compared to the Limited Emissions Zone and the Limited Traffic Zone as it can reduce the number of trucks and fuel consumption. However, in the severe level of pollution, the JDS-UCC needs to be combined with planting Trembesi (Albizia Saman) trees to effectively reduce the emissions and absorb the noise pollution.", "keywords": [ "Truck", "Noise pollution", "Pollution", "Environmental science", "Business", "Fuel efficiency", "Engineering", "Computer science" ], "cited_by_count": 0, "is_retracted": false, "is_paratext": false, "open_access_url": "http://dx.doi.org/10.5109/7183408" }, { "id": "https://openalex.org/W7169090158", "doi": "10.35090/gatech/13311", "title": "ISO 14083 Guidance for Comparable CO2e Reporting in Urban Road Freight Operations", "year": 2026, "publication_date": "2026-06-01", "type": "article", "language": null, "authors": [ "Dimos Touloumidis", "Sofoklis Dais", "Georgia Ayfantopoulou" ], "first_author": "Dimos Touloumidis", "venue": null, "publisher": null, "abstract": "This study develops a framework for calculating CO2e emissions from urban freight operations performed by light commercial vehicles and heavy goods vehicles. The framework is aligned with ISO 14083 and the GLEC Framework and is restricted to direct vehicle activity on urban roads. Two operational states are considered, namely vehicle movement between service points and stop-related stationary vehicle operation during dwell. Adjacent logistics processes, including loading/unloading, cargo-handling equipment, depot energy use, warehousing and non-propulsion auxiliary equipment, are acknowledged but excluded in order to preserve a clear and auditable system boundary. The methodology combines a three-tier data hierarchy with procedure-specific calculations that distinguish vehicle use emissions from vehicle energy provision emissions and support application under different levels of data availability. Measured fuel or electricity use is prioritised, whereas modelled parameters and default emission intensities are used when primary data are unavailable. The proposed structure supports consistent reporting at round, vehicle and fleet level and differentiates between LCV and HGV operations. It is concluded that a narrowly defined and ISO 14083-consistent framework can improve the comparability and transparency of urban freight emissions assessment, while future research should focus on empirical validation, refinement of dwell-related modelling and gradual expansion toward adjacent processes.", "keywords": [ "Comparability", "Electricity", "Service (business)", "Transparency (behavior)", "Standardization", "Order (exchange)", "Product (mathematics)", "Focus (optics)" ], "cited_by_count": 0, "is_retracted": false, "is_paratext": false, "open_access_url": "https://hdl.handle.net/1853/81908" }, { "id": "https://openalex.org/W4211170500", "doi": "10.14295/transportes.v29i3.2639", "title": "Analysis of characteristics of the cities on the warehouse location: the case of Belo Horizonte metropolitan region", "year": 2021, "publication_date": "2021-12-31", "type": "article", "language": "en", "authors": [ "Isabela Kopperschmidt de Oliveira", "Gracielle Gonçalves Ferreira de Araújo", "Leise Kelli de Oliveira" ], "first_author": "Isabela Kopperschmidt de Oliveira", "venue": "Transportes", "publisher": "Associação Nacional de Pesquisa e Ensino em Transportes", "abstract": "The warehouse location is a critical factor in the efficiency of urban freight transport. However, several factors influence this location. This paper analyses the spatial correlation of characteristics of cities in a metropolitan region and the location of the warehouses through a case study in the Belo Horizonte metropolitan region. The municipalities' socioeconomic and fleet data were analysed using the Local Moran Index and Bivariate Moran Index statistics. The results were presented by clusters using the Local Indicator of Spatial Association. Populational density, land cost, and truck fleet are spatially correlated with the warehouses' location. Furthermore, the characteristics of some municipalities, as Contagem, Ribeirão das Neves, and Ibirité, create high-high clusters, with high spatial correlation in the municipalities of cluster and, also, in the surroundings. Findings suggest the importance of land use, logistics, and real estate sector public policies minimise warehouses' externalities and contribute to economic development.", "keywords": [ "Metropolitan area", "Geography", "Index (typography)", "Truck", "Bivariate analysis", "Real estate", "Regional science", "Business", "Cluster (spacecraft)", "Transport engineering", "Statistics", "Engineering" ], "cited_by_count": 0, "is_retracted": false, "is_paratext": false, "open_access_url": "https://www.revistatransportes.org.br/anpet/article/download/2639/934" }, { "id": "https://openalex.org/W7204904368", "doi": "10.1021/acsestair.6c00215", "title": "Mitigating NO x Emissions from Concrete Supply Chain Transportation in Beijing, China: Inventory, Scenarios, and Clean Transition Pathways", "year": 2026, "publication_date": "2026-08-27", "type": "article", "language": "en", "authors": [ "Xin Gao", "Yajun Wu", "Gen Zhang", "Yangyang Cui", "Furong Yu", "Yifeng Xue" ], "first_author": "Xin Gao", "venue": "ACS ES&T Air", "publisher": "American Chemical Society", "abstract": "Abstract Concrete supply chain transportation is a concentrated but often hidden source of urban freight emissions in megacities. This study develops a segment-resolved bottom-up NOx emission inventory for Beijing’s concrete supply chain in 2024, covering aggregate, cement, rail-to-truck transfer, and ready-mixed concrete delivery activities, and couples it with a logistic technology-diffusion model and Monte Carlo uncertainty analysis to evaluate clean-transition pathways through 2035. Results show that NOx emissions from concrete supply chain transportation reached 4994.7 tonnes in 2024, equivalent to approximately 20.0% of Beijing’s total on-road vehicle NOx emissions. Emissions were highly concentrated in aggregate inter-regional road transportation (58.5%) and concrete local road transportation (31.9%), while China V heavy-duty diesel trucks were the dominant fleet contributor. Under business as usual (BAU), natural fleet turnover reduces NOx emissions by 49.9% by 2035. Road-to-rail modal shift (RTR) and vehicle electrification transition (VET) achieve larger reductions of 60.5% and 76.3%, respectively, and the combined policy (CP) scenario reaches an 87.8% reduction. Uncertainty analysis confirms the robust ranking of policy effectiveness despite variability in activity levels, emission factors, and technology adoption. These findings show that deep mitigation requires matching policies to logistics functions: rail substitution for long-distance bulk haulage, electrification for short-haul urban delivery, and clean feeder transport to avoid end point pollution transfer.", "keywords": [ "Truck", "Electrification", "Supply chain", "Diesel fuel", "NOx", "Pollution", "Greenhouse gas" ], "cited_by_count": 0, "is_retracted": false, "is_paratext": false, "open_access_url": "https://doi.org/10.1021/acsestair.6c00215" }, { "id": "https://openalex.org/W2403060247", "doi": "10.1007/978-3-319-23512-7_37", "title": "Modeling the Impact of Drivers’ Behavior on Energy Efficiency of Medium Duty Electric Vehicles", "year": 2015, "publication_date": "2015-12-21", "type": "book-chapter", "language": "en", "authors": [ "Tessa T. Taefi" ], "first_author": "Tessa T. Taefi", "venue": "Lecture notes in logistics", "publisher": "Springer Nature", "abstract": null, "keywords": [ "Automotive engineering", "Environmental science", "Computer science", "Engineering" ], "cited_by_count": 0, "is_retracted": false, "is_paratext": false, "open_access_url": "https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-23512-7_37" }, { "id": "https://openalex.org/W7197050130", "doi": "10.2139/ssrn.7240038", "title": "Spatially Selective Drone Delivery in Low-altitude Logistics: Built Environment Effects on Operational Costs, Responsiveness, Community Exposure and Equity", "year": 2026, "publication_date": "2026-01-01", "type": "preprint", "language": null, "authors": [ "Ji Zhou", "Yinfei Xi", "Yunlong Tang", "Hui Fu", "Nan Zheng" ], "first_author": "Ji Zhou", "venue": "SSRN Electronic Journal", "publisher": "RELX Group (Netherlands)", "abstract": null, "keywords": [ "Drone", "Software deployment", "Scheduling (production processes)", "Equity (law)", "Service (business)", "Job shop scheduling", "Public service" ], "cited_by_count": 0, "is_retracted": false, "is_paratext": false, "open_access_url": "https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.7240038" }, { "id": "https://openalex.org/W575144393", "doi": null, "title": "Sustainable freight transport systems for Melbourne: how many freight terminals?", "year": 2008, "publication_date": "2008-09-01", "type": "article", "language": "en", "authors": [ "David Ian Wilson" ], "first_author": "David Ian Wilson", "venue": "Transport Research Forum", "publisher": null, "abstract": "This paper models the optimal location of freight terminals or hubs for Melbourne. The objective is to determine the number and location of these terminals. The advantage of developing inland freight terminals with a rail road interchange system is two-fold. First, putting freight on rail will reduce the number of trucks on urban freeways and roads. Second, it will allow the consolidation of freight into fewer high capacity vehicles dedicated to the delivery task within the metropolitan area. The terminals being modelled in this paper are not international or interstate intermodal terminals such as Dynon (rail/road) or the Port of Melbourne rather they are consolidation and distribution facilities with limited storage, handling time critical freight involving parcels or pallets for immediate delivery to retail stores and offices rather than shipping containers or the larger loads associated with national or international transport movements. The terminals are local intra-urban freight facilities. (a) For the covering entry of this conference, please see ITRD abstract no. E217541.", "keywords": [ "Transport engineering", "Truck", "Metropolitan area", "Consolidation (business)", "Traffic management", "Port (circuit theory)", "City logistics", "Rail freight transport", "Pallet", "Business", "Engineering", "Geography" ], "cited_by_count": 0, "is_retracted": false, "is_paratext": false, "open_access_url": "https://atrf.info/papers/2008/2008_Wilson.pdf" }, { "id": "https://openalex.org/W3194637701", "doi": "10.1109/worlds451998.2021.9514001", "title": "Which one to move into? The spatiotemporal coverage examination of logistics facilities in Beijing", "year": 2021, "publication_date": "2021-07-29", "type": "conference-paper", "language": "en", "authors": [ "Yanxia Wang", "Yisong Li", "Yuchun Ren", "Changxiang Lu" ], "first_author": "Yanxia Wang", "venue": null, "publisher": null, "abstract": "The outward migration of logistics facilities is a common phenomenon in metropolitans worldwide. When logistics firms need to move into logistics facilities planned by local policy authorities, which one to move into is a key issue facing them. This study aims at evaluating location superiorities to help logistics firms achieve better relocation decision. We use a cumulative-opportunity accessibility method to measure the potential customer opportunities and spatial service areas covered by each logistics facility within different isochrones. With the quantitative comparison of different facilities and the consideration of actual policy strategies, we put forward some strategies of relocation and time management for logistics firms in Beijing. For example, it is more beneficial for logistics firms located at Yuegezhuang to move into Jinnan logistics base and make their trucks depart from there about 30 minutes earlier. This study demonstrates the utility of cumulative-opportunity accessibility in urban freight field and the identification of logistics facilities with poor spatiotemporal coverage provides a direction for the further promotion of sustainability development in Beijing city.", "keywords": [ "Relocation", "Beijing", "Business", "Promotion (chess)", "Service (business)", "Identification (biology)", "City logistics", "Truck", "Sustainability", "Transport engineering", "Marketing", "Computer science" ], "cited_by_count": 0, "is_retracted": false, "is_paratext": false, "open_access_url": "https://doi.org/10.1109/worlds451998.2021.9514001" }, { "id": "https://openalex.org/W4288966079", "doi": "10.26411/83-1734-2015-3-43-2-19", "title": "The Evolution of a High Productivity Urban e-Commerce delivery vehicle using Australian Performance Based Standards", "year": 2019, "publication_date": "2019-01-01", "type": "article", "language": "en", "authors": [ "Kim Peter Hassall", "Russell K. Thomson", "Ken Cowell" ], "first_author": "Kim Peter Hassall", "venue": "Logistics and Transport", "publisher": null, "abstract": "The introduction of High Productivity Vehicles (HPVs) in Australia, through the Performance Based Standards (PBS) scheme, was predicated on new mechanical engineering standards that were mandated especially for these new vehicles. These standards improved vehicle stability, general performance and safety, especially safety. Two national surveys showed both massive safety and productivity benefits compared to conventional Australian road freight fleets. The first Australian PBS vehicles operated under permits from 1997 but the formalized Australian scheme was implemented in 2006. So arguably the introduction of HPVs under permit and now under a formal regulatory PBS framework has allowed some 20 years of research observations. However, only one major type of single rigid, high productivity truck, without a trailer, has been active in an urban environment as a pilot, over that time. This paper examines this special urban High Productivity Vehicle which could be exceptionally useful for the urban freight task in many countries should they ever adopt it.", "keywords": [ "Productivity", "Truck", "Transport engineering", "Safety standards", "Trailer", "Task (project management)", "Vehicle safety", "Business", "Scheme (mathematics)", "Engineering", "Automotive engineering", "Economic growth" ], "cited_by_count": 0, "is_retracted": false, "is_paratext": false, "open_access_url": "https://doi.org/10.26411/83-1734-2015-3-43-2-19" }, { "id": "https://openalex.org/W631627350", "doi": null, "title": "ADVANCED TECHNOLOGIES FOR COMMERCIAL VEHICLE MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS (CVMS)", "year": 2002, "publication_date": "2002-01-01", "type": "article", "language": "en", "authors": [ "Haiying Li" ], "first_author": "Haiying Li", "venue": null, "publisher": null, "abstract": "Emerging information based technologies including, Intelligent Transport Systems {US), Geographic Information Systems {GIS), Global Position Systems (GPS) provide powerful tools for increasing the efficiency as well as reducing the impacts of goods movement in urban areas. These technologies when integrated with optimisation techniques also have the potential to improve the safety and reliability of urban freight systems. Vehicle routing and scheduling is a central problem in fleet management. The vehicle routing and scheduling problem is an optimisation process where a set of customers are assigned to trucks and the visiting order of customers are determined to minimise delivery costs. Since this is a NP-hard problem, heuristic techniques must be used to find good solutions within a reasonable time. This paper will outline a new heuristic method for solving the vehicle routing and scheduling problem and show how it can be integrated with GIS and GPS to provide a Commercial Vehicle Management System (CVMS). (a) For the covering entry of this conference, please see ITRD abstract no. E206301.", "keywords": [ "Vehicle routing problem", "Global Positioning System", "Truck", "Scheduling (production processes)", "Computer science", "Fleet management", "Transport engineering", "Geographic information system", "Routing (electronic design automation)", "Heuristic", "Operations research", "Engineering" ], "cited_by_count": 0, "is_retracted": false, "is_paratext": false, "open_access_url": "https://trid.trb.org/view/735655" }, { "id": "https://openalex.org/W7135191271", "doi": "10.3389/frai.2026.1759688", "title": "An improved adaptive large neighborhood search algorithm for the flexible two-tier vehicle routing problem with drone stations", "year": 2026, "publication_date": "2026-03-13", "type": "article", "language": "en", "authors": [ "Qi Li", "Wenhao Yan", "Tad Gonsalves" ], "first_author": "Qi Li", "venue": "Frontiers in Artificial Intelligence", "publisher": "Frontiers Media", "abstract": "The two-tier vehicle routing problem (2T-VRP) represents a novel variant differing from the traditional VRPs. It can be applied to urban logistics operations system, offering significant potential for mitigating last-mile traffic congestion and reducing delivering costs. Distinct from traditional VRPs, this scenario contains a hierarchical two-tier structure, with trucks operating on the first tier and drones at stations on the second tier. In this study, we first extend the 2T-VRP framework by relaxing the hierarchical constraints, enabling trucks to transport goods not only to robot stations but also directly to customers. This new variant is referred to as the flexible two-tier vehicle routing problem with drone stations (F2T-VRP-DS). Then we formulate the problem as a mixed-integer linear programming (MILP) model. Finally, given the complexity of this problem, an improved adaptive large neighborhood search heuristic algorithm (IALNS) is proposed. The algorithm incorporates an adapted Clark and Wright saving algorithm as the initial solution, and a simulated annealing scheme is employed as the acceptance criterion. The experimental results show that our algorithm can provide high-quality solutions. In particular, compared with the MILP method, our algorithm demonstrates strong competitiveness on large-scale instances, offering smaller time consumption and better solution quality compared to commercial solver like Gurobi. In addition, based on the results of the sensitivity analysis, we further assessed the influence of several key parameters within the F2T-VRP-DS framework.", "keywords": [ "Simulated annealing", "Vehicle routing problem", "Solver", "Key (lock)", "Routing (electronic design automation)", "Drone", "Variable neighborhood search", "Traffic congestion" ], "cited_by_count": 0, "is_retracted": false, "is_paratext": false, "open_access_url": "https://public-pages-files-2025.frontiersin.org/journals/artificial-intelligence/articles/10.3389/frai.2026.1759688/pdf" }, { "id": "https://openalex.org/W2518298392", "doi": null, "title": "Off-Peak Deliveries from a Business Model Perspective", "year": 2016, "publication_date": "2016-01-01", "type": "dissertation", "language": "en", "authors": [ "Katarina Allmér", "Sofia Feychting" ], "first_author": "Katarina Allmér", "venue": "KTH Publication Database DiVA (KTH Royal Institute of Technology)", "publisher": "KTH Royal Institute of Technology", "abstract": "With an increasing urban population around the world, the need for urban freight distribution is constantly growing. Many cities face problems with traffic congestion, especially during eak hours in the morning and afternoon. At the same time, the roads are often nearly empty during nighttime. In some cities, like Stockholm, heavy haulage is not permitted to enter the city during the night. This means that carriers are forced to perform these deliveries during the day, which leads to inefficient distribution. To investigate the possibilities to use nighttime hours for deliveries, which could lead to a more efficient distribution system and increased sustainability of the city, a pilot project has been initiated by the City of Stockholm to test off-peak deliveries. Other similar trial projects have encountered difficulties with getting businesses to participate, and the incentives to shift to offpeak deliveries have been unclear. Therefore, this thesis aims to investigate what incentives there are for actors within a supply chain to make this shift and the key factors that enable the supply chain to benefit. The thesis is performed as a case study on the pilot project in Stockholm, and uses a business model perspective to analyze how value is created and captured throughout the supply chain. The results show that there is potential for supply chains to increase its total value through offpeak deliveries as a result of increased efficiency, improved delivery reliability and increased utilization of trucks. Pricing models and relative negotiation power between actors have a large effect on how the value is distributed. The main contributors to creating increased value are sufficient delivery volume, compatible processes, and full utilization of trucks. The possibility to use off-peak deliveries for marketing is relatively unexploited and could potentially create more value.", "keywords": [ "Perspective (graphical)", "Computer science", "Artificial intelligence" ], "cited_by_count": 0, "is_retracted": false, "is_paratext": false, "open_access_url": "http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:kth:diva-191287" }, { "id": "https://openalex.org/W7122449440", "doi": "10.1108/imds-01-2026-997", "title": "Guest editorial: Emerging insights from synchromodality and co-modality research", "year": 2026, "publication_date": "2026-01-12", "type": "editorial", "language": "en", "authors": [ "Xuan Yang", "Pengyu Yan", "Russell George Thompson", "Xiang T.R. Kong" ], "first_author": "Xuan Yang", "venue": "Industrial Management & Data Systems", "publisher": "Emerald Publishing Limited", "abstract": "Over the past decade, the global transport and logistics sector has undergone a rapid transformation driven by technological innovation, environmental imperatives and the pursuit of operational resilience. Advances in digital platforms, real-time data integration and algorithmic decision support have significantly enhanced the ability to coordinate flows across modes, enabling more flexible and demand-responsive operations (Kong et al., 2025). Within this evolving landscape, synchromodality and co-modality have emerged as two complementary paradigms redefining how multiple transport modes are jointly planned and utilised, supported by new digital infrastructures that allow dynamic switching and seamless multimodal orchestration.Synchromodality refers to the dynamic and real-time management of freight flows across interconnected modes – such as rail, road, barge and air – where shippers can switch between modes in response to operational or environmental conditions (Verweij, 2011). It represents an evolution beyond intermodal and co-modal transport, emphasising synchronisation, digital integration and decision flexibility (Haller et al., 2015; Tavasszy et al., 2017). In contrast, co-modality highlights the joint use of passenger and freight transport infrastructure, advocating for the optimal combination of services within a unified system to enhance both efficiency and sustainability (Zhu et al., 2023). While synchromodality prioritises real-time mode substitution and system-wide coordination, co-modality focuses on shared capacity and the cross-utilisation of transport assets for people and goods. Together, they offer a systemic response to contemporary challenges – congestion, emissions, the energy transition and urban accessibility – by promoting seamless, intelligent and resource-efficient mobility networks.This Special Issue of Exploring Synchromodality and Co-modality: Pathways to Sustainable and Efficient Transportation System, brings together interdisciplinary perspectives and emerging evidence on how digitalisation, optimisation, behavioural insight and governance mechanisms can advance integrated mobility. The collected studies highlight innovative modelling approaches, empirical validations and real-world applications that jointly illustrate how these paradigms can accelerate the transition toward sustainable, adaptive and data-driven transport systems. Beyond the operational layer, the contributions also underscore the socio-technical and institutional changes needed to foster logistics ecosystems capable of real-time responsiveness and cross-modal collaboration.From an academic standpoint, synchromodality has evolved from a classical multimodal concept into a supply-chain-centric framework where flexibility, cooperation and synchronisation form its core principles (Nobis, 2007; Rondinelli and Berry, 2000). Dong et al. (2018) reframed it as “Synchromodality from a Supply Chain Perspective,” arguing that a holistic view of logistics processes amplifies mode-shift potential without sacrificing cost or service levels. Pfoser et al. (2016) identified cooperation and transparency as decisive success factors, while Giusti et al. (2019) emphasised the pivotal role of orchestration platforms in enabling real-time decision-making. More recently, the emergence of digital logistics platforms has further strengthened this paradigm by facilitating decentralised yet coordinated decision-making, allowing multiple actors to align procurement, transport planning and service contracting through market-based or algorithmic mechanisms (Kong et al., 2023). Haller et al. (2015) and Sakti et al. (2023) likewise associated synchromodality with the vision of the Physical Internet, highlighting synchronisation as a foundation for adaptive, platform-driven and learning-based logistics.In parallel, co-modality research has followed a progressive trajectory – from conceptual framing to technological enablement, operational optimisation and stakeholder coordination. Early work by Trentini and Mahléné (2010) introduced the concept of passenger–goods cohabitation as a pathway to reduce economic and environmental externalities. Building on this foundation, Ronald et al. (2016) showed how ICT and on-demand mobility technologies make such integration practically feasible. More recent studies by Yang et al. (2023, 2024) developed crowdsourced and schedule-based co-modality models, demonstrating that synchronised passenger–freight systems can achieve cost-effective, low-emission urban distribution. Finally, Ma et al. (2023) examined cooperative and competitive interactions among operators through game-theoretical analysis, revealing how coordinated arrangements can yield Pareto-improving outcomes. Collectively, these studies trace a clear evolution from conceptual vision to intelligent and collaborative implementation, highlighting synchronisation, cooperation and digital intelligence as the core enablers of sustainable co-modality.Across the globe, synchromodality has found fertile ground in major logistics corridors and ports. In Europe, the Port of Rotterdam epitomises digitally orchestrated logistics through its Port Vision 2030 and integrated platforms such as Pronto, Navigate and Portmaster, which align maritime, barge, rail and truck operations (portofrotterdam.com). Similar ambitions are visible in the Horizon 2020 SYNCHRO-NET project (synchronet.eu), which merged cloud optimisation and smart-steaming technologies to improve both energy efficiency and network robustness. In the USA, the Georgia Ports Authority's Savannah model extends this philosophy inland: its Mason Mega Rail complex and associated hubs synchronise maritime and rail flows (gaports.com), while the Port of Los Angeles' “Port Optimizer™” platform links terminals, carriers, and shippers in a single digital environment, enabling proactive modal decisions (portoflosangeles.org). In China, the Western Land–Sea New Corridor and the Ningbo–Zhou", "keywords": [ "Flexibility (engineering)", "Sustainability", "Digital transformation", "Mode (computer interface)", "Big data", "Sustainable transport", "Efficient energy use", "Multimodal transport" ], "cited_by_count": 1, "is_retracted": false, "is_paratext": false, "open_access_url": "https://www.emerald.com/imds/article-pdf/126/1/1/11181760/imds-01-2026-997en.pdf" }, { "id": "https://openalex.org/W4300437247", "doi": null, "title": "Technical and operational obstacles to the adoption of electric vans in France and the UK: An operator perspective", "year": 2018, "publication_date": "2018-04-08", "type": "article", "language": "en", "authors": [ "Eléonora Morganti", "Michael J. Browne" ], "first_author": "Eléonora Morganti", "venue": "White Rose Research Online (University of Leeds, The University of Sheffield, University of York)", "publisher": "White Rose University Consortium", "abstract": null, "keywords": [ "Perspective (graphical)", "Operator (biology)", "Political science", "Telecommunications", "Business", "Aeronautics", "Operations research", "Engineering", "Operations management", "Computer science", "Artificial intelligence", "Biology" ], "cited_by_count": 0, "is_retracted": false, "is_paratext": false, "open_access_url": "http://eprints.whiterose.ac.uk/128411/3/ElectricVansMorgantiBrowne2018.pdf" }, { "id": "https://openalex.org/W7165450518", "doi": "10.5281/zenodo.20778007", "title": "How to Cosplay as a Pro Mover", "year": 2026, "publication_date": "2026-06-20", "type": "other", "language": "en", "authors": [ "Daniel Rosehill", "Gemini 3.1 (Flash)", "Chatterbox TTS" ], "first_author": "Daniel Rosehill", "venue": "Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research)", "publisher": "European Organization for Nuclear Research", "abstract": "Episode summary: When a listener's apartment move involves a tiny elevator and a ten-day lease overlap, the solution isn't better packing — it's better performance. This episode unpacks the art of \"moving cosplay\": how a $50 investment in an ANSI Class Two vest, a clipboard, a hand truck with a ratchet strap, and a boring fake business name can transform you from a suspicious renter into an invisible professional. We explore the psychology behind it — the Halo Effect, Milgram's uniform studies, and why building managers pattern-match rather than investigate. Plus: the script for approaching the front desk, the \"pre-move\" framing that explains everything, and how to deflect questions by invoking an unreachable dispatcher. It's social engineering for a bookshelf. Show Notes This episode tackles a listener's delightfully specific problem: moving apartments with a tiny elevator, a ten-day lease overlap, and a desire to avoid paying professional movers a second time. The proposed solution isn't better logistics — it's better theater. The core insight is that building managers are pattern-matching machines. They see dozens of people daily and don't perform deep background checks. They look for signals of legitimacy: a uniform, a clipboard, purposeful movement. A $50 kit — ANSI Class Two high-vis vest, clipboard with laminated inventory sheet, hand truck with ratchet strap — transforms the mover from \"potential liability\" to \"scheduled professional.\" The psychology draws on the Halo Effect (one positive trait colors all perception) and Milgram's uniform studies (a lab coat dramatically increases compliance). The performance extends to the script: \"Good morning, I'm with Precision Relocation Services. We have a scheduled pre-move for unit 7B.\" The pre-move framing explains small items and no truck. If questioned, defer to the unreachable dispatcher. The fake company name should be boring and forgettable — \"Urban Logistics Solutions,\" not something clever. The entire operation is theater designed to eliminate uncertainty, the one thing that makes building managers suspicious. Listen online: https://myweirdprompts.com/episode/moving-cosplay-social-engineering", "keywords": [ "Lease", "Renting", "Framing (construction)", "Racket", "Unicorn", "Original equipment manufacturer", "Apartment", "Class (philosophy)", "Launched" ], "cited_by_count": 0, "is_retracted": false, "is_paratext": false, "open_access_url": "https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.20778007" }, { "id": "https://openalex.org/W7165463810", "doi": "10.5281/zenodo.20778008", "title": "How to Cosplay as a Pro Mover", "year": 2026, "publication_date": "2026-06-20", "type": "other", "language": "en", "authors": [ "Daniel Rosehill", "Gemini 3.1 (Flash)", "Chatterbox TTS" ], "first_author": "Daniel Rosehill", "venue": "Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research)", "publisher": "European Organization for Nuclear Research", "abstract": "Episode summary: When a listener's apartment move involves a tiny elevator and a ten-day lease overlap, the solution isn't better packing — it's better performance. This episode unpacks the art of \"moving cosplay\": how a $50 investment in an ANSI Class Two vest, a clipboard, a hand truck with a ratchet strap, and a boring fake business name can transform you from a suspicious renter into an invisible professional. We explore the psychology behind it — the Halo Effect, Milgram's uniform studies, and why building managers pattern-match rather than investigate. Plus: the script for approaching the front desk, the \"pre-move\" framing that explains everything, and how to deflect questions by invoking an unreachable dispatcher. It's social engineering for a bookshelf. Show Notes This episode tackles a listener's delightfully specific problem: moving apartments with a tiny elevator, a ten-day lease overlap, and a desire to avoid paying professional movers a second time. The proposed solution isn't better logistics — it's better theater. The core insight is that building managers are pattern-matching machines. They see dozens of people daily and don't perform deep background checks. They look for signals of legitimacy: a uniform, a clipboard, purposeful movement. A $50 kit — ANSI Class Two high-vis vest, clipboard with laminated inventory sheet, hand truck with ratchet strap — transforms the mover from \"potential liability\" to \"scheduled professional.\" The psychology draws on the Halo Effect (one positive trait colors all perception) and Milgram's uniform studies (a lab coat dramatically increases compliance). The performance extends to the script: \"Good morning, I'm with Precision Relocation Services. We have a scheduled pre-move for unit 7B.\" The pre-move framing explains small items and no truck. If questioned, defer to the unreachable dispatcher. The fake company name should be boring and forgettable — \"Urban Logistics Solutions,\" not something clever. The entire operation is theater designed to eliminate uncertainty, the one thing that makes building managers suspicious. Listen online: https://myweirdprompts.com/episode/moving-cosplay-social-engineering", "keywords": [ "Lease", "Renting", "Framing (construction)", "Racket", "Unicorn", "Original equipment manufacturer", "Apartment", "Class (philosophy)", "Launched" ], "cited_by_count": 0, "is_retracted": false, "is_paratext": false, "open_access_url": "https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.20778008" }, { "id": "https://openalex.org/W4412602110", "doi": "10.1504/ijmdm.2025.147193", "title": "Deep learning-based hybrid traffic flow prediction model for freight transport", "year": 2025, "publication_date": "2025-01-01", "type": "article", "language": "en", "authors": [ "Anıl Utku", "Sema pinar Kaya", "Ümit Can" ], "first_author": "Anıl Utku", "venue": "International Journal of Management and Decision Making", "publisher": "Inderscience Publishers", "abstract": "Urban freight transportation is crucial to sustaining domestic and international trade and fulfilling the regular requirements of community companies and customers. Therefore, this study developed an efficient convolutional neural network (CNN) and long short-term memory (LSTM) based hybrid deep learning model for predicting traffic flow in freight transportation. The number of freight trucks that would travel along 663 Street in Anderlecht, Belgium, and their average speed was predicted. The created model was compared with support vector machine (SVM), linear regression (LR), multilayer perceptron (MLP), random forest (RF), LSTM, and CNN using the success measures. The critical finding of this study is that combining the feature extraction ability of the 1D CNN model with the learning ability of the LSTM model from multivariate traffic data increases the traffic density prediction success compared to other traditional methods. Based on the results of the experiments, the CNN-LSTM model outperformed all the other models employed in this study. With this model, freight density can be successfully predicted, assisting in planning freight transport activities.", "keywords": [ "Computer science", "Transport engineering", "Deep learning", "Flow network", "Traffic flow (computer networking)", "Flow (mathematics)", "Operations research", "Artificial intelligence", "Computer network", "Engineering" ], "cited_by_count": 0, "is_retracted": false, "is_paratext": false, "open_access_url": "https://doi.org/10.1504/ijmdm.2025.147193" }, { "id": "https://openalex.org/W4401177295", "doi": "10.1504/ijmdm.2025.10065663", "title": "Deep learning based a hybrid traffic flow prediction model for freight transport", "year": 2024, "publication_date": "2024-07-31", "type": "article", "language": "en", "authors": [ "Ümit Can", "Sema Kayapınar Kaya", "Anıl Utku" ], "first_author": "Ümit Can", "venue": "International Journal of Management and Decision Making", "publisher": "Inderscience Publishers", "abstract": "Urban freight transportation is crucial to sustaining domestic and international trade and fulfilling the regular requirements of community companies and customers. Therefore, this study developed an efficient convolutional neural network (CNN) and long short-term memory (LSTM) based hybrid deep learning model for predicting traffic flow in freight transportation. The number of freight trucks that would travel along 663 Street in Anderlecht, Belgium, and their average speed was predicted. The created model was compared with support vector machine (SVM), linear regression (LR), multilayer perceptron (MLP), random forest (RF), LSTM, and CNN using the success measures. The critical finding of this study is that combining the feature extraction ability of the 1D CNN model with the learning ability of the LSTM model from multivariate traffic data increases the traffic density prediction success compared to other traditional methods. Based on the results of the experiments, the CNN-LSTM model outperformed all the other models employed in this study. With this model, freight density can be successfully predicted, assisting in planning freight transport activities.", "keywords": [ "Computer science", "Traffic management", "Flow (mathematics)", "Transport engineering", "Traffic flow (computer networking)", "Computer network", "Engineering" ], "cited_by_count": 0, "is_retracted": false, "is_paratext": false, "open_access_url": "https://doi.org/10.1504/ijmdm.2025.10065663" }, { "id": "https://openalex.org/W650878308", "doi": null, "title": "CO2 emissions from freight transport in London: trends and policies for long run reductions", "year": 2008, "publication_date": "2008-01-01", "type": "conference-paper", "language": "en", "authors": [ "Alberto Zanni", "Abigail L. Bristow" ], "first_author": "Alberto Zanni", "venue": "EUROPEAN TRANSPORT CONFERENCE 2008; PROCEEDINGS", "publisher": null, "abstract": "Freight transport plays an essential role in London's life and economy. However, despite this importance, road freight movements have received far less attention in recent years than passenger travel in terms of both analysis and modelling; and this particularly applies to the analysis of the climate change impact of urban freight transport systems in an evolving policy setting. The aim of this paper, based on research implemented in the framework of the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research Cities Programme, is therefore two-fold: to analyse and project freight transport related CO2 emissions in London, and to examine the potential impact of measures to reduce these emissions in the long run. An application of the findings of both a literature review and Delphi questionnaire are used to provide projections of carbon emissions in London to 2050 with and without interventions, in order to provide policy recommendations. A profile of road freight traffic movements and carbon emissions in London was developed for the last decade. Freight vehicle kilometres have increased by 22.9% (from 1993 to 2005 the full set of available data) with particular growth in the use of Light Goods Vehicles and 6 axle Heavy Goods Vehicles. Emissions from freight transport in London are estimated to have increased by 18.3% between 1993 and 2005. Simple projections suggest that emissions may increase by 30% from 2005 to 2025 and by 85% by 2050 in the absence of further policy interventions. A review of available studies analysing freight movements and policy impact in an urban setting was undertaken and revealed a limited evidence base on the impacts on carbon emissions of particular measures. In order to gain a greater understanding of both the drivers of trends in freight emissions in London and the potential of a range of measures to reduce emissions a Delphi survey was developed. A set of initiatives to be examined includes: promotion of e-commerce and shopping, consolidation centres, collection delivery points, vehicle reception points, loading bay provision, information and communication technologies, higher capacity vehicles, alternative fuels and propulsion technologies, national and local pricing policies, eco driving or SAFED, regulatory restrictions on vehicle movements or types of vehicle, collaborative systems and the Freight Operator Recognition Scheme developed by Transport for London. Consideration will also be given to the best ways of encouraging take-up of specific initiatives within the wider context of urban sustainable transport policies. For the covering abstract see ITRD E145999", "keywords": [ "Climate change", "Transport policy", "Transport engineering", "Traffic management", "Greenhouse gas", "Passenger transport", "Truck", "Order (exchange)", "Business", "Regional science", "Engineering", "Geography" ], "cited_by_count": 0, "is_retracted": false, "is_paratext": false, "open_access_url": "https://trid.trb.org/view/923977" }, { "id": "https://openalex.org/W2978338663", "doi": null, "title": "Estimativa de geração de viagens de veículos de carga em áreas urbanas utilizando modelagem geográfica e modelo linear generalizado", "year": 2018, "publication_date": "2018-02-08", "type": "dissertation", "language": "pt", "authors": [ "Victor Lima Migliorini" ], "first_author": "Victor Lima Migliorini", "venue": "Americanae (AECID Library)", "publisher": null, "abstract": "The urban freight transportation has gained importance in transport management and public policies in medium and large cities in Brazil and the world. Accurately estimating the number freight trips to supply retail stores is one of the needs highlighted by transport planners. The traditional process for estimating the number of truck-trips employs linear regression. Although suitable, they present limitation regarding the heterogeneity of the urban context as well as the nonlinearity of the variables involved in the problem. Recent investigations on generalized linear models applied other areas of transportation have delivered promising results, therefore not yet evaluated for urban freight. This dissertation introduces models to estimate freight-trip generation to supermarket in urban areas, comparing the results obtained through linear model, generalized linear model and geographically weighted model. Using data from freight-trip generation to markets and supermarkets in Belo Horizonte and socioeconomic data, scenarios were developed using the three models. Findings showed generalized linear models presenting relative gains when compared to the traditional linear models. The geographically weighted model also presented better results than the linear regression. Statistically, the generalized linear model presented slightly better results than the geographically weighted model. However, instead of a static number, the geographically weighted model outputs a continuous surface with local estimative of freight-trip per pixel. This can change the paradigm and innovate the way freight-trip generation is modeled. Finally, through the analysis of the independent variables used in the models, it was found that the higher the average income and the population density, density of jobs and density of customers, lower is freight-trip generation in the region.", "keywords": [ "Humanities", "Physics", "Philosophy" ], "cited_by_count": 0, "is_retracted": false, "is_paratext": false, "open_access_url": "http://hdl.handle.net/1843/BUOS-B64JGF" }, { "id": "https://openalex.org/W2975525911", "doi": null, "title": "The Opportunities for Off-peak hour deliveries in Gothenburg - A case study addressing the stakeholder interactions", "year": 2019, "publication_date": "2019-08-22", "type": "other", "language": "en", "authors": [ "Shendi Kotlji" ], "first_author": "Shendi Kotlji", "venue": "Gothenburg University Publications Electronic Archive (Gothenburg University)", "publisher": "University of Gothenburg", "abstract": "Today, many cities are experiencing problems with deteriorating traffic conditions and congestion – particularly during the peak hours in the early mornings and afternoons. As a result, the decision-makers and stakeholders of transports are steadily realizing the importance of sustainable transport solutions. Among the different initiatives for urban freight, the concept of off-peak hour deliveries has received increased attention as a solution to more efficiently use the transport infrastructure. In most cities, the highway roads are less frequently used during the night hours – which produces great opportunities to initiate transitions of urban freight deliveries.\\nSeveral off-peak trials have been conducted in cities around the world, but many cases have experienced difficulties with persuading the involved stakeholders to participate and apply the transitions on long-term. One of the main reasons is the conflicting interests of the stakeholders which still are unavoidable issues along with the transitions. Therefore, the objective of this thesis is to investigate the stakeholder interactions, as well as the key factors that could enhance the implementation process. At the current state, the off-peak hour deliveries has not been conducted in the city of Gothenburg. Subsequently, there is an interest to discover the opportunities for the concept in this city. To fulfill the objectives of this case study, the relevant information is collected through semi-structured interviews with high positioned managers, researchers and specialists with skills related to urban freight transports and OPHD applications.\\nThe final results of this project demonstrated complexities among the stakeholder interactions within the inner-city area; as a result of the inconveniences created by the off-peak hour deliveries. On the other hand, there are existing key factors that could enhance this application. From an overall perspective, the findings indicated that the use of low-noise technologies, trucks with alternative fuels, and appropriate incentives have great potential to facilitate the transitions in a more successful way. The greatest opportunities lie in conditions where the benefits of the off-peak hour deliveries are instantly attained and includes less systematic changes such as in integrated carrier-receiver operations and companies with decentralized distribution systems. Essentially, if only 10-20 percent of the deliveries could be shifted, there could be several different benefits for the stakeholders involved.", "keywords": [ "Stakeholder", "Business", "Political science", "Public relations" ], "cited_by_count": 0, "is_retracted": false, "is_paratext": false, "open_access_url": "http://hdl.handle.net/2077/61639" }, { "id": "https://openalex.org/W591274272", "doi": null, "title": "A Conference on Last Mile Freight Delivery: Use of Cleaner Mobility Vehicles", "year": 2014, "publication_date": "2014-01-01", "type": "article", "language": "en", "authors": [ "Camille Kamga", "Alison J. Conway", "Nadia Aslam", "Penny Eickemeyer", "Tiago Lopes Farias", "Sandra Melo", "Patrícia Baptista" ], "first_author": "Camille Kamga", "venue": null, "publisher": null, "abstract": "While population increases, so do the demand for products and the freight traffic to deliver them. The increase in truck traffic creates many negative effects including increased traffic congestion, illegal parking and resting, incessant idling, and greenhouse gas and local pollutants emissions. Recently, many initiatives have been promoted to address this problem. The event presented cross-disciplinary perspectives on urban logistics using electric vehicles (EV) and other vehicles as a sustainable mobility transportation solution. Presentations at the event reflected various perspectives, as speakers represented the public and private sectors and academia, including public officials, community leaders, transit community members, academia, consultants and the interested public. The multi‐disciplinary team was from the United States and Europe. The event provided a forum that gathered experts and sustainability advocates to focus on the actions that can be taken immediately to meet the environmental challenges and take advantage of the business opportunities presented by such dense city areas, namely with the use of small sized mobility solutions.", "keywords": [ "Last mile (transportation)", "Business", "Truck", "Public transport", "Sustainability", "Traffic congestion", "Transport engineering", "Event (particle physics)", "Population", "Mile", "Engineering", "Geography" ], "cited_by_count": 0, "is_retracted": false, "is_paratext": false, "open_access_url": "https://trid.trb.org/view/1290997" }, { "id": "https://openalex.org/W4412587428", "doi": "10.1007/978-981-96-9901-8_30", "title": "Multi-agent Deep Q-Learning Algorithm Integrated with Ant Colony Optimization for Solving Dynamic Feeder Vehicle Routing Problem", "year": 2025, "publication_date": "2025-01-01", "type": "conference-paper", "language": "en", "authors": [ "Yuan-ji Ming", "Qingxia Shang", "Bin Qian", "Rong Hu" ], "first_author": "Yuan-ji Ming", "venue": "Lecture notes in computer science", "publisher": "Springer Science+Business Media", "abstract": null, "keywords": [ "Ant colony optimization algorithms", "Computer science", "Q-learning", "Routing (electronic design automation)", "Travelling salesman problem", "Vehicle routing problem", "ANT", "Ant colony", "Mathematical optimization", "Artificial intelligence", "Algorithm", "Reinforcement learning" ], "cited_by_count": 0, "is_retracted": false, "is_paratext": false, "open_access_url": "https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-96-9901-8_30" }, { "id": "https://openalex.org/W7120386135", "doi": null, "title": "Análise da vulnerabilidade da rede viária urbana na acessibilidade do transporte urbano de cargas sob a ótica da emissão de CO2", "year": 2024, "publication_date": "2024-01-01", "type": "dissertation", "language": "pt", "authors": [ "João José Borges de Barros dos [UNESP] Santos" ], "first_author": "João José Borges de Barros dos [UNESP] Santos", "venue": "LA Referencia (Red Federada de Repositorios Institucionales de Publicaciones Científicas)", "publisher": "LA Referencia", "abstract": "Urban mobility in large cities faces significant challenges due to congestion, which impacts the economy, the environment, and public health, exacerbated by rapid urbanization. In Brazil, urban freight transport has been the focus of public policies for its contribution to CO2 emissions. Factors such as the vulnerability of the road network, intensified by floods and accidents, compromise the operational efficiency of this sector, highlighting the need to balance operational and environmental costs in sustainable transport. Proper urban planning and efficient vehicle flow management are essential to mitigate congestion and reduce pollution, demanding an integrated approach that considers economic, spatial, and environmental aspects. This study aims to analyze the vulnerability of the urban road network and its influence on the accessibility of urban freight transport, focusing on CO2 emissions. To this end, studies will be conducted involving: the analysis of the impacts of road network topological characteristics on route choice; the investigation of how these configurations affect the vulnerability and accessibility of freight transport; and the evaluation of the impact of road network vulnerability on CO2 emissions associated with urban freight transport. Chapter 2 identifies factors that increase the vulnerability of the road network for freight transport. Results indicate that poor infrastructure, congestion, and circulation restrictions are the main vulnerability factors, with lack of maintenance and proper planning being critical for safety and efficiency. Chapter 3 analyzes how vulnerability affects road network accessibility, showing that vulnerable areas have reduced accessibility, resulting in longer travel times and operational costs. It is suggested that investments in infrastructure and traffic management policies can improve accessibility. Chapter 4 examines the relationship between accessibility and vulnerability of the urban network, considering different topological configurations and impedances for freight vehicles, evaluating the impact on CO2 emissions. Adapting an integrated indicator of emissions and travel time provides a detailed analysis. Results are fundamental for urban planning, showing that irregular road networks are more vulnerable to disruptions, leading to chaotic traffic redistribution, while regular networks maintain temporary balance but develop new vulnerabilities in the long term. The analysis of vulnerability and its consequences on CO2 emissions highlights the importance of restrictive measures to promote more sustainable and efficient urban freight transport systems.", "keywords": [ "Vulnerability (computing)", "Vulnerability assessment", "Traffic congestion", "Public transport", "Urban planning", "Sustainability", "Balance (ability)" ], "cited_by_count": 0, "is_retracted": false, "is_paratext": false, "open_access_url": "http://repositorio.ufc.br/bitstream/riufc/79221/1/2024_tese_jedsantos.pdf" }, { "id": "https://openalex.org/W7103878240", "doi": "10.5281/zenodo.17511388", "title": "E-Laas project - conference panel (Transport XXI, 2025)", "year": 2025, "publication_date": "2025-10-31", "type": "other", "language": null, "authors": [ "Szczepański, Emilian", "Jacyna, Marianna", "Lewczuk, Konrad" ], "first_author": "Szczepański, Emilian", "venue": "Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research)", "publisher": "European Organization for Nuclear Research", "abstract": "Report from the conference panel at a scientific conference as part of the E-LaaS (Energy optimal urban logistics As A Service) project. The panel held as part of the Transport XXI (September 2 – 5, 2025, Warsaw). Energy optimal urban Logistics As A Service - Project funding informationProject implemented as part of the call ERA-NET Cofund Urban Accessibility and Connectivity (ENUAC China Call) organized by JPI Urban Europe and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC). This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 875022. E-Laas project is carried out in an international consortium. Project coordinator in Europe: Chalmers University of Technology (Sweden), project coordinator in China: Shanghai University (China), consortium members: Tsinghua University (China), Warsaw University of Technology (Poland), cooperation partners: Stockholms stad, Trafikkontoret (Sweden), ParkUnload (Spain), Metropolis GZM (Poland), Shanghai Urban-Rural Construction and Transportation Department (China), Volvo Group Trucks Technology and Operations (Sweden). The Chinese part of the project is funded by National Natural Science Foundation of China. The Swedish part of the project is funded by Swedish Energy Agency. The Polish part of the project is funded by the National Science Centre, Poland (project no. 2022/04/Y/ST8/00134). The value of the co-financing is PLN 878,107.00. Project duration 27/04/2023 - 26/04/2026 (36 months).", "keywords": [ "China", "Truck", "Service (business)", "Research program", "Technical university", "Duration (music)" ], "cited_by_count": 0, "is_retracted": false, "is_paratext": false, "open_access_url": "https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.17511388" }, { "id": "https://openalex.org/W7103894911", "doi": "10.5281/zenodo.17511387", "title": "E-Laas project - conference panel (Transport XXI, 2025)", "year": 2025, "publication_date": "2025-10-31", "type": "other", "language": null, "authors": [ "Szczepański, Emilian", "Jacyna, Marianna", "Lewczuk, Konrad" ], "first_author": "Szczepański, Emilian", "venue": "Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research)", "publisher": "European Organization for Nuclear Research", "abstract": "Report from the conference panel at a scientific conference as part of the E-LaaS (Energy optimal urban logistics As A Service) project. The panel held as part of the Transport XXI (September 2 – 5, 2025, Warsaw). Energy optimal urban Logistics As A Service - Project funding informationProject implemented as part of the call ERA-NET Cofund Urban Accessibility and Connectivity (ENUAC China Call) organized by JPI Urban Europe and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC). This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 875022. E-Laas project is carried out in an international consortium. Project coordinator in Europe: Chalmers University of Technology (Sweden), project coordinator in China: Shanghai University (China), consortium members: Tsinghua University (China), Warsaw University of Technology (Poland), cooperation partners: Stockholms stad, Trafikkontoret (Sweden), ParkUnload (Spain), Metropolis GZM (Poland), Shanghai Urban-Rural Construction and Transportation Department (China), Volvo Group Trucks Technology and Operations (Sweden). The Chinese part of the project is funded by National Natural Science Foundation of China. The Swedish part of the project is funded by Swedish Energy Agency. The Polish part of the project is funded by the National Science Centre, Poland (project no. 2022/04/Y/ST8/00134). The value of the co-financing is PLN 878,107.00. Project duration 27/04/2023 - 26/04/2026 (36 months).", "keywords": [ "China", "Truck", "Service (business)", "Research program", "Technical university", "Duration (music)" ], "cited_by_count": 0, "is_retracted": false, "is_paratext": false, "open_access_url": "https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.17511387" }, { "id": "https://openalex.org/W4416956587", "doi": "10.2139/ssrn.5854482", "title": "Data-driven Energy and Power Demand Estimation for Electric Freight Transport in Finland", "year": 2025, "publication_date": "2025-01-01", "type": "preprint", "language": null, "authors": [ "Nino Chkhartishvili", "Antonio Maria Costa", "Alexander Aushev", "Mikko H. Pihlatie" ], "first_author": "Nino Chkhartishvili", "venue": "SSRN Electronic Journal", "publisher": "RELX Group (Netherlands)", "abstract": null, "keywords": [ "Electrification", "Truck", "Software deployment", "Key (lock)", "Estimation", "Transportation infrastructure", "Electricity", "Demand forecasting" ], "cited_by_count": 0, "is_retracted": false, "is_paratext": false, "open_access_url": "https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.5854482" }, { "id": "https://openalex.org/W4402479281", "doi": "10.1016/j.compenvurbsys.2024.102182", "title": "Logistic facility identification from spatial time series data", "year": 2024, "publication_date": "2024-09-12", "type": "article", "language": "en", "authors": [ "Dirk J. De Beer", "Johan W. Joubert" ], "first_author": "Dirk J. De Beer", "venue": "Computers Environment and Urban Systems", "publisher": "Elsevier BV", "abstract": null, "keywords": [ "Identification (biology)", "Geography", "Series (stratigraphy)", "Time series", "Cartography", "Statistics", "Data mining", "Computer science", "Mathematics", "Geology" ], "cited_by_count": 0, "is_retracted": false, "is_paratext": false, "open_access_url": "http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.compenvurbsys.2024.102182" }, { "id": "https://openalex.org/W4410599982", "doi": "10.3390/math13111698", "title": "Advanced Vehicle Routing for Electric Fleets Using DPCGA: Addressing Charging and Traffic Constraints", "year": 2025, "publication_date": "2025-05-22", "type": "article", "language": "en", "authors": [ "Yuehan Zheng", "Hao Chang", "Peng Yu", "Taofeng Ye", "Ying Wang" ], "first_author": "Yuehan Zheng", "venue": "Mathematics", "publisher": "Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute", "abstract": "With the rapid proliferation of electric vehicles (EVs), urban logistics faces increasing challenges in optimizing vehicle routing. This paper presents a new modeling framework for the Electric Vehicle Routing Problem (EVRP), where multiple electric trucks serve a set of customers within their capacity limits. The model incorporates critical EV-specific constraints, including limited battery range, charging demand, and dynamic urban traffic conditions, with the objective of minimizing total delivery cost. To efficiently solve this problem, a Dual Population Cooperative Genetic Algorithm (DPCGA) is proposed. The algorithm employs a dual-population mechanism for global exploration, effectively expanding the search space and accelerating convergence. It then introduces local refinement operators to improve solution quality and enhance population diversity. A large number of experimental results demonstrate that DPCGA significantly outperforms traditional algorithms in terms of performance, achieving an average 3% improvement in customer satisfaction and a 15% reduction in computation time. Furthermore, this algorithm shows superior solution quality and robustness compared to the AVNS and ESA-VRPO algorithms, particularly in complex scenarios such as adjustments in charging station layouts and fluctuations in vehicle range. Sensitivity analysis further verifies the stability and practicality of DPCGA in real-world urban delivery environments.", "keywords": [ "Transport engineering", "Vehicle routing problem", "Computer science", "Routing (electronic design automation)", "Operations research", "Engineering", "Computer network" ], "cited_by_count": 0, "is_retracted": false, "is_paratext": false, "open_access_url": "https://www.mdpi.com/2227-7390/13/11/1698/pdf?version=1747905782" }, { "id": "https://openalex.org/W2011685050", "doi": "10.1139/l81-061", "title": "Freight facilities for central business district office buildings", "year": 1981, "publication_date": "1981-12-01", "type": "article", "language": "en", "authors": [ "Hwi-Chie Ho", "John F. Morrall III" ], "first_author": "Hwi-Chie Ho", "venue": "Canadian Journal of Civil Engineering", "publisher": "NRC Research Press", "abstract": "Inadequate end-point facilities in office buildings for shipping and receiving freight are partly due to a lack of understanding of the urban goods movement problem by architects and engineers and partly due to inadequate municipal freight facility by-laws. The problems created by inadequate freight facilities impose a wide range of environmental, social, and economic impacts on an urban area. Because of the magnitude and extent of these impacts engineers involved with the planning, design, and approval of office buildings must take an increasingly comprehensive view of the range of factors that should be considered in the design and operation of office building freight facilities.This paper is based on a recently completed study of urban freight facilities conducted by the Department of Civil Engineering of The University of Calgary for the City of Calgary Transportation Department. The study included measurement of arrival rates and service times of delivery trucks, couriers, and service vehicles at office buildings in Calgary. These measurements, in addition to a survey of existing freight facilities in central business district office buildings, formed the basis for the development of a proposal to revise existing zoning by-laws regarding freight facilities. The primary deficiency of existing Calgary by-laws is that they overstate the need for delivery vehicle facilities by a factor of two for larger office buildings and neglect the space requirements for couriers and service vehicles. The paper includes a comparison of freight facility by-laws for office buildings in a number of selected Canadian cities.", "keywords": [ "Zoning", "Truck", "Transport engineering", "Central business district", "Service (business)", "Business", "Engineering", "Civil engineering", "Environmental planning", "Geography", "Marketing" ], "cited_by_count": 0, "is_retracted": false, "is_paratext": false, "open_access_url": "https://doi.org/10.1139/l81-061" }, { "id": "https://openalex.org/W2339857568", "doi": "10.14288/1.0095538", "title": "Intra-urban industrial linkages and rail terminal location", "year": 2010, "publication_date": "2010-01-01", "type": "dissertation", "language": "en", "authors": [ "Raymon Lev Torchinsky" ], "first_author": "Raymon Lev Torchinsky", "venue": "cIRcle (University of British Columbia)", "publisher": "University of British Columbia", "abstract": "It has been suggested that declining urban freight transport costs have lessened the importance of industrial linkage as a factor in intra-urban industrial location, resulting in the suburbanization of industrial activity. Inner city industrial areas have been characterized as 'zones in transition', implying that such areas do not constitute efficient use of land in the context of modern urban spatial organization. This thesis examines the industrial linkages associated with Vancouver's inner city rail terminal, located on the north shore of False Creek, in order to test the hypothesis that the firms remaining in the vicinity of the terminal form a viable industrial complex focused on the terminal operation. Data gathered in 1975 for a comprehensive survey of Vancouver trucking operations is adapted and analyzed to determine terminal-related linkage patterns. A comparison with the linkages associated with Vancouver's other, rail/truck general freight terminal shows the similarity of the two terminals' impact on the distribution of local industries. In both cases transport costs are an important factor in explaining linkage patterns. The persistence of industrial activity in the inner city can thus be attributed to the continuing influence of transport-related factors, supporting the hypothesis that an inner, city location is not necessarily transitional or inefficient, for industrial firms. However, nonterminal linkages of inner city firms do not diminish with distance; the viability of this complex will be adversely affected by the proposed relocation of the False-Creek terminal to a suburban site.", "keywords": [ "Terminal (telecommunication)", "Transport engineering", "Computer science", "Engineering", "Telecommunications" ], "cited_by_count": 0, "is_retracted": false, "is_paratext": false, "open_access_url": "http://hdl.handle.net/2429/23007" }, { "id": "https://openalex.org/W7112534167", "doi": null, "title": "Key factors for developing freight and passenger integrated transportation systems in Brazil", "year": null, "publication_date": null, "type": "article", "language": null, "authors": [ "Oliveira, Isabela Kopperschmidt de", "Meira, Leonardo Herszon", "Oliveira, Leise Kelli" ], "first_author": "Oliveira, Isabela Kopperschmidt de", "venue": "RePEc: Research Papers in Economics", "publisher": "Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis", "abstract": "The intensification of e-commerce increases freight movements in urban areas, which negatively contributes to promoting sustainable cities. Conversely, the spare capacity of the public transport system could reduce the externalities of urban freight transport and then promote sustainable cities. This article identifies and evaluates key factors for developing integrated freight and public transport systems. Key factors were identified with a literature review and then classified into benefits and barriers related to the urban environment, and challenges and strengths related to the transport operation. Subsequently, these factors were evaluated by experts and classified by estimating a Luce model. The results indicate that benefits are related to the fight against climate change by optimising urban space and reducing the movements of freight vehicles. Barriers are associated with the lack of a collaborative culture and the need to change consumer behaviour, which helps to promote collaboration and reduce just-in-time demand. For the transport operation, the integration of people and freight systems can reduce operational costs, increase the efficiency of the transport system, and improve the accessibility for people and goods, while promoting economic development by decentralising economic activity. To achieve these benefits, the main challenges concern the logistic activity and the cooperation of stakeholders.", "keywords": [ "Externality", "Sustainable transport", "Key (lock)", "Public transport", "Spare part", "Sustainable development", "Transport system" ], "cited_by_count": 0, "is_retracted": false, "is_paratext": false, "open_access_url": "http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0739885924000209" }, { "id": "https://openalex.org/W2242166675", "doi": null, "title": "THE INTEREST OF THE U.S. DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION IN URBAN GOODS MOVEMENT", "year": 1971, "publication_date": "1971-01-01", "type": "article", "language": "en", "authors": [ "Ira Dye" ], "first_author": "Ira Dye", "venue": "Highway Research Board Special Report", "publisher": null, "abstract": "THE OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY OF TRANSPORTATION HAS SOUGHT TO DETERMINE THE MULTIMODAL NATURE OF THE DEMAND FOR TRANSPORTATION SERVICES ON THE BASIS OF TWO CATEGORIES: (1) ORIGIN AND DESTINATION AND (2) PEOPLE VERSUS FREIGHT. THIS SUGGESTS THAT, FOR DOMESTIC TRANSPORTATION, WE USUALLY CONSIDER THE DEMANDS FOR INTERCITY PASSENGER TRAVEL, INTERCITY FREIGHT MOVEMENTS, AND URBAN OR INTRACITY PASSENGER DEMAND. ONE AREA VERY OFTEN NEGLECTED IS THAT OF THE URBAN OR INTRACITY FREIGHT MOVEMENT OF GOODS. WHEN WE DO CONSIDER THIS FOURTH DEMAND CATEGORY, WE TEND TO LOOK AT IT FROM THE STANDPOINT OF JUST TRUCK MOVEMENTS IN THE CITY. IN OTHER WORDS, WHEN ESTIMATING THE NEED FOR ADDITIONAL HIGHWAY CAPACITY, WE HAVE TREATED URBAN GOODS MOVEMENTS IN MUCH THE SAME WAY WE TRADITIONALLY HAVE DEALT WITH INTERCITY TRUCK MOVEMENTS. WHAT DO WE HOPE TO ACCOMPLISH WITH THIS CONFERENCE? FIRST, WE HOPE TO HAVE A BETTER UNDERSTANDING OF THE PRESENT GOODS SYSTEM WITHIN URBAN AREAS. ALL OF US ENGAGED IN THE PLANNING, REGULATION, AND OPERATION OF TRANSPORTATION NEED TO KNOW A LOT MORE ABOUT WHAT TYPES OF GOODS ARE MOVED, HOW THEY ARE CLASSIFIED, WHAT TYPES OF VEHICLES MOVE THEM, WHEN THE GOODS ARE MOVED, AND WHAT COST FACTORS ARE INVOLVED. SECOND, WE HOPE TO ENHANCE OUR KNOWLEDGE OF THE CRITICAL RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN URBAN GOODS MOVEMENT AND THE ENVIRONMENT IN WHICH THEY OCCUR. ON THE ONE HAND, WE NEED TO KNOW HOW REGULATIONS, LABOR PRACTICES, DIFFERENT TECHNOLOGIES, AND URBAN FORM AND STRUCTURE AFFECT THE VOLUMES AND PATTERNS OF URBAN GOODS MOVEMENTS. ON THE OTHER HAND, WE NEED TO KNOW MORE ABOUT THE IMPACTS OF FREIGHT MOVEMENTS ON THE URBAN COMMUNITY, INCLUDING THE EFFECTS OF CHANGES IN THE AMOUNT AND TYPE OF URBAN FREIGHT FACILITIES ON THE LOCATION OF INDUSTRIES, RESIDENCES, AND SUBURBAN SHOPPING CENTERS. THIRD, WE HOPE TO RECEIVE ASSISTANCE IN DEFINING THE PROPER ROLE OF THE U. S. DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION WITH RESPECT TO URBAN GOODS MOVEMENT. FOURTH, WE HOPE TO FIND OUT WHERE WE ARE HURTING THE MOST IN THIS AREA. WHAT ARE THE GAPS IN OUR PLANNING PROCESSES AND THE LIMITATIONS OF OUR FORECASTING TOOLS? WHERE ARE THE DATA DEFICIENCIES? SHOULD THE POLICIES OF THE VARIOUS LEVELS OF GOVERNMENT BE CHANGED TO ADEQUATELY TREAT URBAN GOODS MOVEMENTS, AND IF SO HOW? /AUTHOR/", "keywords": [ "Truck", "Transport engineering", "Business", "Goods and services", "Transportation planning", "Marketing", "Economics", "Engineering", "Economy" ], "cited_by_count": 0, "is_retracted": false, "is_paratext": false, "open_access_url": "https://trid.trb.org/view/133820" }, { "id": "https://openalex.org/W2909532833", "doi": null, "title": "Neighborhood Search Algorithms for Multi-Trip Vehicle Routing", "year": 2018, "publication_date": "2018-06-28", "type": "dissertation", "language": "en", "authors": [ "Véronique François" ], "first_author": "Véronique François", "venue": "Open Repository and Bibliography (University of Liège)", "publisher": "University of Liège", "abstract": "Think about the lines of trucks we overtake on highways. Each of these trucks is performing a journey that may include several delivery or pickup operations before getting to a depot. And each of these journeys is generally determined through a large-scale planning process that concerns a fleet of vehicles. While establishing such a plan, transport operators organize vehicle journeys with an underlying objective such as the minimization of the transportation cost or the maximization of the service level. During the planning process, at least the following decisions have to be made: which customers are going to be visited by each vehicle and in which order. This is a difficult problem to solve even for as few as several tens of customers. In the literature, it is referred to as the vehicle routing problem, which has been extensively studied for nearly six decades. When solving a vehicle routing problem in a practical context, industry or company-specific constraints have to be taken into account, constantly providing the scientific community with new challenges. One of these calls for deciding how many times and when each vehicle should come back to a depot for loading purposes, besides determining the attribution of customers to vehicles and the related visit sequences. The underlying problem is called the multi-trip vehicle routing problem since each vehicle may perform more than one trip during the planning period, trips being separated by loading operations. Such problems are especially relevant in the field of city logistics. In this thesis, we propose a tailored heuristic approach to solve the multi-trip routing problem and compare it to a more classical solution scheme. We extend both solution methods and compare them on a variant of the problem that takes into account time windows and driver shifts. We configure our methods using an automatic algorithm configuration software and obtain numerical results that show that our tailored approach is very effective, especially in the presence of time windows. Moreover, we provide insights about the behavior of several algorithmic components. Also, we question algorithmic development methodologies and benchmark instances commonly used, and we propose related methodological contributions.", "keywords": [ "Vehicle routing problem", "Computer science", "Algorithm", "Routing (electronic design automation)", "Computer network" ], "cited_by_count": 0, "is_retracted": false, "is_paratext": false, "open_access_url": "https://orbi.uliege.be/handle/2268/226188" }, { "id": "https://openalex.org/W7165386661", "doi": "10.5281/zenodo.20512695", "title": "Dataset for E-Laas WP0 - Repository of cases characterizing logistic system scenarios (Milestone M0)", "year": 2026, "publication_date": "2026-06-19", "type": "dataset", "language": "en", "authors": [ "Emilian Szczepański", "Mariusz Izdebski", "Roland Jachimowski", "Marianna Jacyna", "Michał Kłodawski", "Konrad Lewczuk", "Jakub Murawski", "Jan Paszkowski" ], "first_author": "Emilian Szczepański", "venue": "Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research)", "publisher": "European Organization for Nuclear Research", "abstract": "The purpose of this dataset is to provide structured input data for simulation studies of selected urban logistics scenarios developed in the E-Laas project. The presented dataset is an outcome of the work conducted within WP0 of the E-Laas project and represents Milestone M0. It should be understood as a common reference dataset supporting the definition, structuring and analysis of reference cases and scenarios. Other datasets published as part of project reports or individual scientific publications may contain additional data, extended variables or more detailed input structures resulting from the specific methodological requirements and research objectives of those studies. The dataset was created as part of the E-Laas project (Energy optimal urban logistics As A Service).Project implemented as part of the call ERA-NET Cofund Urban Accessibility and Connectivity (ENUAC China Call) organized by JPI Urban Europe and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC). This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 875022. E-Laas project is carried out in an international consortium. Project coordinator in Europe: Chalmers University of Technology (Sweden), project coordinator in China: Shanghai University (China), consortium members: Tsinghua University (China), Warsaw University of Technology (Poland), cooperation partners: Stockholms stad, Trafikkontoret (Sweden), ParkUnload (Spain), Metropolis GZM (Poland), Shanghai Urban-Rural Construction and Transportation Department (China), Volvo Group Trucks Technology and Operations (Sweden).- The Chinese part of the project is funded by National Natural Science Foundation of China.- The Swedish part of the project is funded by Swedish Energy Agency.- The Polish part of the project is funded by the National Science Centre, Poland (project no. 2022/04/Y/ST8/00134). The value of the co-financing is PLN 878,107.00. Project duration 27/04/2023 - 26/04/2026 (36 months).", "keywords": [ "Milestone", "Work (physics)", "Truck", "China", "Deliverable", "Structuring", "Project management" ], "cited_by_count": 0, "is_retracted": false, "is_paratext": false, "open_access_url": "https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.20512695" }, { "id": "https://openalex.org/W7165413670", "doi": "10.5281/zenodo.20512694", "title": "Dataset for E-Laas WP0 - Repository of cases characterizing logistic system scenarios (Milestone M0)", "year": 2026, "publication_date": "2026-06-19", "type": "dataset", "language": "en", "authors": [ "Emilian Szczepański", "Mariusz Izdebski", "Roland Jachimowski", "Marianna Jacyna", "Michał Kłodawski", "Konrad Lewczuk", "Jakub Murawski", "Jan Paszkowski" ], "first_author": "Emilian Szczepański", "venue": "Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research)", "publisher": "European Organization for Nuclear Research", "abstract": "The purpose of this dataset is to provide structured input data for simulation studies of selected urban logistics scenarios developed in the E-Laas project. The presented dataset is an outcome of the work conducted within WP0 of the E-Laas project and represents Milestone M0. It should be understood as a common reference dataset supporting the definition, structuring and analysis of reference cases and scenarios. Other datasets published as part of project reports or individual scientific publications may contain additional data, extended variables or more detailed input structures resulting from the specific methodological requirements and research objectives of those studies. The dataset was created as part of the E-Laas project (Energy optimal urban logistics As A Service).Project implemented as part of the call ERA-NET Cofund Urban Accessibility and Connectivity (ENUAC China Call) organized by JPI Urban Europe and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC). This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 875022. E-Laas project is carried out in an international consortium. Project coordinator in Europe: Chalmers University of Technology (Sweden), project coordinator in China: Shanghai University (China), consortium members: Tsinghua University (China), Warsaw University of Technology (Poland), cooperation partners: Stockholms stad, Trafikkontoret (Sweden), ParkUnload (Spain), Metropolis GZM (Poland), Shanghai Urban-Rural Construction and Transportation Department (China), Volvo Group Trucks Technology and Operations (Sweden).- The Chinese part of the project is funded by National Natural Science Foundation of China.- The Swedish part of the project is funded by Swedish Energy Agency.- The Polish part of the project is funded by the National Science Centre, Poland (project no. 2022/04/Y/ST8/00134). The value of the co-financing is PLN 878,107.00. Project duration 27/04/2023 - 26/04/2026 (36 months).", "keywords": [ "Milestone", "Work (physics)", "Truck", "China", "Deliverable", "Structuring", "Project management" ], "cited_by_count": 0, "is_retracted": false, "is_paratext": false, "open_access_url": "https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.20512694" }, { "id": "https://openalex.org/W4402074397", "doi": "10.19184/berkalafstpt.v2i3.1340", "title": "Development of Evaluation Indicators for Logistic Transportation System with Triple Bottom Line Approach: Jakarta Study Case", "year": 2024, "publication_date": "2024-05-31", "type": "article", "language": "en", "authors": [ "Muhammad Hafiz Risat Julian", "Nahry Nahry" ], "first_author": "Muhammad Hafiz Risat Julian", "venue": "Berkala Forum Studi Transportasi Antar Perguruan Tinggi.", "publisher": "InaCombS; Universitas Jember; dan Universitas Indonesia", "abstract": "Jakarta has significant problems related to logistics transportation, including congestion, environmental pollution, and the negative impact of operating overloaded trucks. To overcome these externalities, it is necessary to have an urban logistics system and planning cycle that considers the concept of sustainability. This study aims to propose an arrangement of indicators as a tool for evaluating the urban logistics transportation system. The research was carried out through a literature study process, identification of the long list of indicators and selection criteria, independent selection, surveys and interviews, ranking with the VIKOR Method, and validation with expert considerations. A final set of indicators was produced, namely ten indicators, divided into economic, social, and environmental aspects, for evaluating the sustainability of the city's logistics transportation system. This research is helpful as input in developing a set of indicators for evaluating the logistics transportation system in urban areas, especially in Jakarta Capital Special Region. ABSTRAK Jakarta memiliki permasalahan signifikan terkait transportasi logistik, antara lain kemacetan, pencemaran lingkungan, dan dampak negatif pengoperasian truk dengan muatan berlebih. Untuk mengatasi eksternalitas tersebut, diperlukan sistem logistik perkotaan dan siklus perencanaan yang mempertimbangkan konsep keberlanjutan. Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk mengusulkan suatu susunan indikator sebagai alat bantu evaluasi sistem transportasi logistik perkotaan. Penelitian dilakukan melalui proses studi literatur, identifikasi Long-list indikator dan kriteria seleksi, seleksi mandiri, survei dan wawancara, pemeringkatan dengan Metode VIKOR, dan validasi dengan pertimbangan para ahli. Dihasilkan seperangkat indikator akhir, yaitu sepuluh indikator yang terbagi dalam aspek ekonomi, sosial, dan lingkungan untuk menilai keberlanjutan sistem transportasi logistik kota. Penelitian ini bermanfaat sebagai masukan dalam mengembangkan seperangkat indikator untuk mengevaluasi sistem transportasi logistik di perkotaan, khususnya di Daerah Khusus Ibukota Jakarta.", "keywords": [ "Triple bottom line", "Line (geometry)", "Transport engineering", "Business", "Computer science", "Engineering", "Mathematics", "Political science", "Sustainable development" ], "cited_by_count": 0, "is_retracted": false, "is_paratext": false, "open_access_url": "http://doi.org/10.19184/berkalafstpt.v2i3.1340" }, { "id": "https://openalex.org/W4403239893", "doi": "10.33042/2522-1809-2024-4-185-255-261", "title": "METHOD OF MONITORING TRAFFIC FLOWS USING THE BRIEFCAM SYSTEM", "year": 2024, "publication_date": "2024-09-06", "type": "article", "language": "en", "authors": [ "Andrii Galkin" ], "first_author": "Andrii Galkin", "venue": "Municipal economy of cities", "publisher": "O.M. Beketov National University of Urban Economy in Kharkiv", "abstract": "Urban logistics forms the backbone of modern cities, ensuring the efficient movement of goods and services. With growing urbanisation and traffic congestion, optimising traffic flows has become crucial. The study monitors traffic flows using BriefCam software to enhance sustainable urban logistics. Cost-effective surveillance systems like CCTV generate vast data, opening new opportunities for improving traffic flow monitoring. Traditional methods, while reliable, are limited by labour intensity, cost, and accuracy. BriefCam software optimises vehicle monitoring through structured methodologies, including collection of data, filter application, result validation, and data generation. Utilising this data provides insights to improve traffic management, urban transport speed, and sustainable logistics practices. Modern cities use affordable CCTV systems, operating 24/7 and accumulating vast data suitable for automated traffic monitoring. Traditional methods require significant labour and costs, whereas floating car data (FCD) offers real-time traffic data collection, despite some reliability issues. BriefCam provides an innovative approach with a structured methodology for monitoring vehicles, aiding in sustainable urban logistics by optimising traffic flows and improving urban transport speed. The article provides a detailed look at the methods used in the study, the process of using BriefCam to monitor vehicles, the filters applied for detailed analysis, techniques for verifying the results, and general conclusions drawn from the study. Efficient traffic management based on this analysis can lead to additional measures during peak hours, optimising traffic lights, and increasing lanes. Knowing the time frames when freight vehicle numbers rise helps businesses plan deliveries to avoid peak congestion, enhancing logistics efficiency. BriefCam software offers immediate insights for reducing congestion, enhancing safety, and improving urban quality of life. Integrating digital approaches with traditional methods provides a comprehensive view of traffic dynamics, which aids urban planners and policymakers in optimising strategies, reducing emissions, and creating better living conditions in cities. Keywords: traffic monitoring, urban traffic management, intelligent transport systems, freight traffic flow.", "keywords": [ "Computer science", "Environmental science", "Transport engineering", "Engineering" ], "cited_by_count": 0, "is_retracted": false, "is_paratext": false, "open_access_url": "https://khg.kname.edu.ua/index.php/khg/article/download/6326/6246" }, { "id": "https://openalex.org/W4412464441", "doi": "10.1016/j.trc.2026.105670", "title": "Robust route planning for sidewalk delivery robots", "year": 2026, "publication_date": "2026-04-15", "type": "article", "language": "en", "authors": [ "Xin Tong", "Michele D. Simoni" ], "first_author": "Xin Tong", "venue": "Transportation Research Part C Emerging Technologies", "publisher": "Elsevier BV", "abstract": "Sidewalk delivery robots are a promising solution for urban freight distribution, reducing congestion compared to trucks and providing a safer, higher-capacity alternative to drones. However, unreliable travel times on sidewalks due to pedestrian density, obstacles, and varying infrastructure conditions can significantly affect their efficiency. This study addresses the robust route planning problem for sidewalk robots, explicitly accounting for travel time uncertainty due to varying sidewalk conditions. Optimization is integrated with simulation to reproduce the effect of obstacles and pedestrian flows and generate realistic travel times. The study investigates three different approaches to derive uncertainty sets, including budgeted, ellipsoidal, and support vector clustering (SVC)-based methods, along with a distributionally robust method to solve the shortest path (SP) problem. A realistic case study reproducing pedestrian patterns in Stockholm’s city center is used to evaluate the efficiency of robust routing across various robot designs and environmental conditions. The results show that, when compared to a conventional SP, robust routing significantly enhances operational reliability under variable sidewalk conditions. The Ellipsoidal and DRSP approaches outperform the other methods, yielding the most efficient paths in terms of average and worst-case delay. Sensitivity analyses reveal that robust approaches consistently outperform the conventional SP, particularly for sidewalk delivery robots that are wider, slower, and have more conservative navigation behaviors. These benefits are even more pronounced in adverse weather conditions and high pedestrian congestion scenarios.", "keywords": [ "Robot", "Computer science", "Business", "Artificial intelligence" ], "cited_by_count": 0, "is_retracted": false, "is_paratext": false, "open_access_url": "https://doi.org/10.1016/j.trc.2026.105670" }, { "id": "https://openalex.org/W7118221337", "doi": "10.1049/icp.2025.4163", "title": "Optimising infrastructure and charging strategies for bidirectional electric delivery fleets under PV, grid, and cost constraints", "year": 2026, "publication_date": "2026-01-01", "type": "conference-paper", "language": "en", "authors": [ "Joel Weingart", "Maike Scherrer" ], "first_author": "Joel Weingart", "venue": "IET conference proceedings.", "publisher": "Institution of Engineering and Technology", "abstract": "The electrification of delivery fleets offers significant opportunities for decarbonising urban logistics, yet it also introduces complex challenges in balancing infrastructure investments, operational flexibility, and energy system integration. This paper presents a strategic optimisation model formulated as a Mixed-Integer Linear Program (MILP) to support long-term infrastructure planning for electric delivery depots. The model jointly optimises photovoltaic (PV) capacity, stationary battery storage, vehicle batteries, grid connection limits, and bidirectional charging strategies. A case study of a Swiss parcel logistics company serves as the empirical basis, with two depots of different scales analysed to assess how local conditions shape optimal solutions. Real-world data, including vehicle schedules, energy consumption, PV yield, and dynamic electricity tariffs, are used as inputs. Results show that site-specific modelling is essential, as no general conclusions can be drawn across locations. At smaller depots, PV and modest stationary storage provide most benefits, while bidirectional charging adds limited value due to daytime vehicle operation. At larger depots with higher demand, bidirectional charging of trucks and increased storage capacity become more advantageous. The findings highlight the need for tailored electrification strategies and provide actionable insights for logistics operators, energy providers, and policymakers.", "keywords": [ "Electrification", "Truck", "Electricity", "Grid", "Energy storage", "Electric vehicle", "Photovoltaic system", "Grid connection", "Battery capacity" ], "cited_by_count": 0, "is_retracted": false, "is_paratext": false, "open_access_url": "https://digitalcollection.zhaw.ch/handle/11475/34873" }, { "id": "https://openalex.org/W1562227736", "doi": null, "title": "Environmental and Energy Benefits of Freight Delivery Consolidation in Urban Area", "year": 2013, "publication_date": "2013-03-01", "type": "article", "language": "en", "authors": [ "Jane Lin", "Qin Chen", "Kazuya Kawamura" ], "first_author": "Jane Lin", "venue": null, "publisher": null, "abstract": "Among new, innovative city logistics strategies, delivery cooperation has received increasing academic and practical attention mostly in Europe and Japan. The idea is to establish cooperation among the suppliers, carriers and the customers through Urban Consolidation Center (UCC), a public facility usually located at the city boundary; with proper consolidation of loads and routing, the goods are then sent to the customers in the urban area with cleaner vehicles and less vehicle miles traveled (VMT). In this study, the authors investigated the feasibility of UCC in an urban setting at the tactical level with respect to total logistics cost and environmental impact. In other words, whether UCC could reduce the logistics cost which involves the monetary costs for activities from production to consumption, while maintaining acceptable level of energy consumption and vehicular emissions. It is found that under certain conditions, UCC may become a favorable last-mile urban delivery solution to the current one without a UCC. Especially the benefits of UCC strategies become significant when the customer rent cost is high and UCC terminal operation cost is low. UCC becomes more beneficial as the economic scale is greater (i.e., higher numbers of customers and suppliers). In addition, public subsidy for UCC terminals would make urban cooperative delivery more competitive, resulting in lower truck VMT and emissions in the urban area.", "keywords": [ "Truck", "Business", "Consolidation (business)", "Transport engineering", "Subsidy", "Energy consumption", "Last mile (transportation)", "Environmental economics", "Operations management", "Finance", "Engineering", "Mile" ], "cited_by_count": 0, "is_retracted": false, "is_paratext": false, "open_access_url": "https://rosap.ntl.bts.gov/view/dot/26167/dot_26167_DS1.pdf" }, { "id": "https://openalex.org/W4412381723", "doi": "10.31705/trf.2025.17", "title": "Optimizing freight transportation through e-mobility integration: a case study from Sri Lanka", "year": 2025, "publication_date": "2025-01-01", "type": "conference-paper", "language": "en", "authors": [ "L.R. Rathuge", "Varuna Adikariwattage", "H.R. Pasindu" ], "first_author": "L.R. Rathuge", "venue": null, "publisher": null, "abstract": "The transportation sector globally faces growing pressure to adopt sustainable practices, as freight transport significantly contributes to greenhouse gas emissions and diesel consumption. In Sri Lanka, freight systems exacerbate environmental degradation, with transport-related activities accounting for a substantial portion of air pollution. Electric vehicles (EVs) present a transformative opportunity to reduce emissions and operational costs, yet their integration into freight systems, particularly in developing countries, remains underexplored. This research investigates the optimization of freight transportation through e-mobility integration, addressing challenges such as rural routes, limited charging infrastructure, variable demand, and time-sensitive delivery requirements. While the study focuses on a case involving perishable goods logistics, its findings aim to be broadly applicable to freight transportation, developing a scalable mixed fleet model that combines EVs with conventional vehicles. The research is driven by inefficiencies in Sri Lanka’s freight systems, characterized by dispersed collection points, variable loads, and geographical challenges, which lead to elevated costs and reduced productivity. Transitioning to EVs aligns with national e-mobility goals and global sustainability targets, offering a pathway to lower environmental impact. The primary objective is to determine an optimal strategy for introducing e-mobility into freight transportation, focusing on enhancing the efficiency of collection and distribution networks. The methodology unfolds in five stages. Initially, the current freight system is evaluated by collecting data on route characteristics, fleet performance, and operational metrics to establish a baseline for comparison. Next, accessible EV technologies are investigated, assessing their operating costs, performance parameters such as range and payload capacity, and infrastructure needs like charging solutions. A cost model is developed to compare EVs with conventional vehicles, providing a financial basis for integration. The third stage involves a feasibility assessment to identify routes suitable for EV deployment, considering range limitations, charging infrastructure availability, and payload requirements. In the fourth stage, mixed fleet scenarios are modeled using the Capacitated Vehicle Routing Problem with Time Windows (CVRPTW) and Mixed Integer Linear Programming (MILP), testing various fleet compositions while factoring in route lengths, terrain challenges, and charging constraints. Finally, the best-performing scenario is selected based on cost efficiency, emission reductions, and operational feasibility, validated through global case studies of successful EV integration in urban logistics. Preliminary findings suggest that EVs, such as electric light trucks and three-wheelers, are well-suited for shorter rural routes, complementing conventional vehicles for longer hauls. Technological advancements, including improved battery ranges and solar-powered charging, help overcome rural infrastructure gaps. International examples of EV adoption in urban freight logistics demonstrate significant emissions reductions and cost savings on optimized routes, though challenges like range anxiety persist, which this study addresses through localized modeling.", "keywords": [ "Sri lanka", "Transport engineering", "Traffic management", "Computer science", "Business", "Environmental planning", "Environmental science", "Engineering" ], "cited_by_count": 0, "is_retracted": false, "is_paratext": false, "open_access_url": "https://dl.lib.uom.lk/bitstreams/afa9a408-5020-426e-a28f-cff8cae805a0/download" }, { "id": "https://openalex.org/W569269063", "doi": null, "title": "DEVELOPING A TELEMATICS PLATFORM FOR THE MANAGEMENT OF GOODS DELIVERIES IN URBAN AREAS", "year": 2006, "publication_date": "2006-01-01", "type": "article", "language": "en", "authors": [ "Angela Spence", "Gianfranco Burzio", "Samira Hayes", "J Garcia Ramon" ], "first_author": "Angela Spence", "venue": null, "publisher": null, "abstract": "The potential of telematics applications to support the management of a more sustainable approach to urban freight delivery is being investigated by the EC research project, FIDEUS. In addition to the development of a special set of vehicles conceived specifically for delivering goods in the urban areas, a further objective of FIDEUS is to provide an ITS tool which can be used both by transport operators and city authorities to monitor andmanage delivery operations more effectively. The principal task is the development of a complementary range of vehicles designed specifically to facilitate urban delivery operations. These consist of: a 12-ton truck (Renault Midlum); a 3.5-ton van (IVECO Daily); and an innovative Micro-Carrier Urban Vehicle (MCUV). The micro-CUV consists of a prototype load carrier designed specifically for deliveries in inner cities. The purpose is to meet the requirements of delivery and collection of letters and parcels in anurban environment and in particular pedestrianised areas and zones with restricted vehicle access. It consists of a tractor and chassis and is ableto transport a special 'container' in which the goods will be loaded. Theoperator will either accompany the carrier on foot or ride on a platform.The development of a standardised 'goods container' for such deliveries is also part of the project. A critical aspect of FIDEUS is to exploit the possibility of using all three vehicles in a complementary fashion. The functions of the logistics and telematics platforms are described. The vehicles will be equipped with an on-board telematic platform able to exchange data with the FIDEUS Operations Centre through a SOAP interface. Examples are given for the foods and parcels delivery sectors. Lyon, Hanover, and Barcelona are providing sites for demonstration activities. For the covering abstract see ITRD E134653.", "keywords": [ "Telematics", "Truck", "Transport engineering", "Container (type theory)", "Chassis", "Task (project management)", "Exploit", "Engineering", "Telecommunications", "Computer science", "Computer security", "Systems engineering" ], "cited_by_count": 0, "is_retracted": false, "is_paratext": false, "open_access_url": "https://trid.trb.org/view/850625" }, { "id": "https://openalex.org/W2803685883", "doi": null, "title": "Technology-based past and future emission inventories for the transportation sector", "year": 2017, "publication_date": "2017-08-10", "type": "article", "language": "en", "authors": [ "Liang Liu" ], "first_author": "Liang Liu", "venue": "Illinois Digital Environment for Access to Learning and Scholarship (University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign)", "publisher": "University of Illinois System", "abstract": "Emission inventories are necessary inputs to atmospheric models in determining air quality, health, and climate impacts. Transportation sector contributes greatly to emissions of all kinds of pollutants, thus it is crucial to understand its emissions and impacts. This dissertation improves the accounting of past and future emissions mainly in the transportation sector. \\n \\nThis work develops an integrated modeling framework to forecast emissions and impacts from freight truck and rail transportation in the United States during 2010-2050. Macroeconomic scenarios are linked with a commodity input-output model, freight flow forecasting models, a dynamic vehicle fleet model, and a reduced-form air quality model to generate emissions and impacts under multiple future pathways. Emissions and impacts are projected under four macroeconomic scenarios featuring different economic growth rates and climate policies, as well as three scenarios of urban spatial forms. \\n \\nWhile freight activities more than double during 2010-2050, emissions of all pollutants decrease by more than 50% under all scenarios, as older vehicles built to less-stringent standards retire. In the business-as-usual scenario, mortalities decrease from 5500 to 3055, and the total integrated forcing increases from 14 to 22 TW from 2010-2050. Climate policy, in the form of carbon tax, increases oil fuel prices, causes a modal shift from truck to rail, and reduces mortalities and forcing by 20% and 30%, respectively. Eliminating high-emitting truck conditions reduces mortalities by 35% but has little impact on forcing. Polycentric and compact spatial forms reduce urban freight activity and emissions but increases population exposure, with a slight net benefit of 90 avoided deaths in 2050. \\n \\nThis work also updates a previous historical emission inventory (1850-2010) of black carbon (BC) and primary organic carbon (OC). The mismatch between the BC concentration trend and the previous emission trend during 1960s-1980s in the United States indicates misrepresentations of past emission characteristics. A dynamic fleet vehicle model is applied to determine historical on-road vehicle emissions. Unlike previous inventories, the technology transitions in the vehicle fleet are explicitly modeled, including vehicle growth, retirement, and transitioning to high-emitting conditions. The emission factors and technology splits for on-road vehicles, off-road diesel engines, residential combustion, and shipping are updated per the observational constraints. Emissions from traditional brick and cement kilns are included. \\n \\nThe updated increase almost linearly from 1270 Gg in 1850 to 5650 Gg in 1990, and slowly decrease till 2000, and finally increase again reaching 5580 Gg in 2010. Global OC emissions increase almost linearly from 1850-1975, and remain relatively constant until 1995 before emissions start to increase again, totaling 4950 Gg in 1850 and 11860 Gg in 2010. BC emission trend from on-road vehicles shows a rapid increase from 1960 to 1985, a relatively constant period for about 15 years, and then a slow decrease from 2000 to 2010, different than the previous continuous increasing trend. The updated global BC and OC emissions are 15-30% and 15-45% higher than the previous inventory, respectively.", "keywords": [ "Business", "Regional science", "Environmental planning", "Geography" ], "cited_by_count": 0, "is_retracted": false, "is_paratext": false, "open_access_url": "http://hdl.handle.net/2142/99168" }, { "id": "https://openalex.org/W7163392219", "doi": "10.5281/zenodo.20527489", "title": "Dataset for Logistics Market Stakeholders in the Context of Sustainable Development and ESG", "year": 2026, "publication_date": "2026-06-03", "type": "dataset", "language": null, "authors": [ "Jakub Murawski" ], "first_author": "Jakub Murawski", "venue": "Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research)", "publisher": "European Organization for Nuclear Research", "abstract": "The purpose of this dataset is to enable the replication of the research results presented in the article: Murawski, J. (2025). Logistics Market Stakeholders in the Context of Sustainable Development and ESG, Rocznik Ochrona Środowiska, 27, 837–854. https://doi.org/10.54740/ros.2025.067 The dataset was created as part of the E-Laas project (Energy optimal urban logistics As A Service).Project implemented as part of the call ERA-NET Cofund Urban Accessibility and Connectivity (ENUAC China Call) organized by JPI Urban Europe and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC). This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 875022. E-Laas project is carried out in an international consortium. Project coordinator in Europe: Chalmers University of Technology (Sweden), project coordinator in China: Shanghai University (China), consortium members: Tsinghua University (China), Warsaw University of Technology (Poland), cooperation partners: Stockholms stad, Trafikkontoret (Sweden), ParkUnload (Spain), Metropolis GZM (Poland), Shanghai Urban-Rural Construction and Transportation Department (China), Volvo Group Trucks Technology and Operations (Sweden).- The Chinese part of the project is funded by National Natural Science Foundation of China.- The Swedish part of the project is funded by Swedish Energy Agency.- The Polish part of the project is funded by the National Science Centre, Poland (project no. 2022/04/Y/ST8/00134). The value of the co-financing is PLN 878,107.00. Project duration 27/04/2023 - 26/04/2026 (36 months).", "keywords": [ "Context (archaeology)", "China", "Sustainable development", "Truck", "Duration (music)", "Project management", "Foundation (evidence)" ], "cited_by_count": 0, "is_retracted": false, "is_paratext": false, "open_access_url": "https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.20527489" }, { "id": "https://openalex.org/W4243145736", "doi": "10.1108/978-1-78756-803-720181012", "title": "Index", "year": 2018, "publication_date": "2018-10-22", "type": "paratext", "language": "en", "authors": [], "first_author": null, "venue": null, "publisher": null, "abstract": "Citation (2018), \"Index\", Yoshizaki, H.T.Y., Velázquez Martínez, J.C. and Argueta, C.M. (Ed.) Supply Chain Management and Logistics in Latin America, Emerald Publishing Limited, Bingley, pp. 183-193. https://doi.org/10.1108/978-1-78756-803-720181012 Publisher: Emerald Publishing Limited Copyright © 2019 Emerald Publishing Limited INDEX Actionability, 15–16 Advantageousness, 15–16 Analytic hierarchy process (AHP), 39, 47, 154 Artificial node, 25 Benefits, opportunities, costs, and risks (BOCR), 39 indicator, 47 methodology, 50 Bickering, 13 BOCR. See Benefits, opportunities, costs, and risks (BOCR) Brazil, Rio de Janeiro, 78–80, 84, 88 See also Urban freight transportation (UFT) BSW. See Bus-stops of water (BSW) Building the network, 25 Business logistics, 9 Business objectives and customer requirements, 10 Bus-stops of water (BSW), 115 distribution nodes, 115 families distribution per cluster, 118 location, 121 network model, 120 result, 120 total capacity storage, 123 total cost analysis with, 126 transaction cost and, 122–123 unadjusted, 119 Calaminas, 113 Capacitated facility location problem. See Two-stage capacitated facility location problem (TSCFLP) Capacitated Plant Location Model (CPL Model) structure, 157 CAPEX. See Capital expenditures (CAPEX) Capital expenditures (CAPEX), 179 Center for Latin-American Logistics Innovation (CLI), 2 Center for Logistics and Transportation of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (CTL-MIT), 96 Center for Logistics Systems Innovation at University of São Paulo (CISLOG/USP), 136 Center of Excellence in Sustainable Urban Freight (CoE-SUFS), 136, 139 Chapinero, 97–98 City logistics, concept, 94 Clarity, 12, 16 Clear SCS, 12 Clustering search (CS) heuristic, 20 CPLEX and, 28–32 direct assimilation, 27 function, 27 Hamming distance, 27 new center, 27 parameters, 28 pseudocode, 26 step-by- step, 25–26 Coe-SUFS, 136 Coherence evaluation, 13, 16 Collaborative management research, 11 Colombia, 94, 96–98 Colon Free Trade Zone, 62, 67 Commercial logistic activities Historic Center and La Mariscal in Quito – Ecuador, 150–151 mathematical modeling analytical hierarchy process, 156 optimization model, 157 sample size, 155–156 methodologies data collection and preparation, 152–153 data extrapolation, 153 optimization model, 154–155 simulation model, 155 stores and streets weights, 153–154 results and discussion data collection and preparation results, 157–161 optimization model results, 161–164 simulation model results, 164–166 urban logistics application, 151–152 Commercial solver CPLEX, 25 Compatibility evaluation, 13, 16 Competence and resources, 14 Competence test, 14 Competitive logistics infrastructure, 62 Conditional value at risk (CVaR), 173, 176 Conflicts, 13 Consistency, 11, 13 coefficient calculation, 49 Consistency index (CI), 46 Consistency ratio (CR), 46 Consonance, 13–14 Constraints, 23 Construction and demolition waste, annual generation, 41 Cost cash flow, 178 Cost minimization, water distribution system, 120–122 Costs analysis, water distribution system, 125–127 Coverage, 11–12, 16 CPLEX, 25 Crisp pairwise comparison matrix, 48 Crisp weights of vectors, 47 Criteria, facility location determination, 42–43 groups of, 43 Cumulative impact, 13 Customers, VALS in Panama Canal, 64–65, 68–70 Customer’s expectation ranking, 69 CVaR. See Conditional value at risk (CVaR) Decision-making tools, 39 Delivery tracking, 96 Department of Road System Operations (DSV), 136 DET. See Distribution by electric tricycles (DET) Disposal practices, 40 Disruptive violations, 96 Distribution by electric tricycles (DET), 80–81 data collection, 82 economic assessment method, 82–84 environmental assessment method, 84–86 fixed and variable costs of, 86 measurement parameters, 86 monthly cost comparison, 87 pollutants and GHG emission reduction, 87–88 productivity, 87–88 results and analysis, 86–88 Shapiro-Wilk test, 82–83 strategies, 80–81 See also Urban freight transportation (UFT) Dominant approach, 10–11 Drug trafficking, 71 ECLAC. See Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) Economic Area, Panamá Pacific, 63 Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), 57 Ecuador, 150 ELECTRE, 51 Evaluation criteria, 11, 12–15, 16 External consistency, 13–14, 16 Facility location, 38–39, 42, 51 See also Two-stage capacitated facility location problem (TSCFLP) Facility location problem (FLP), 20 FAHP. See Fuzzy-AHP (FAHP) Family cluster (FC), 118 Feasibility, 14–16 Financial risk measurement coherent risk measure, 177 conditional value at risk (CVaR), 173, 176 cost cash flow, 178 Free on Board (FOB), 173–174 inventory policies, 172–173 log-return of LME aluminum prices, 175 London Metal Exchange (LME), 173 methodological approach, 174 methodology, 174–177 Monte Carlo simulation (MCS), 173 net present value (NPV) calculation, 173 profit function distribution, 177 results and discussion, 177–179 sales prices probability, 179 Value at Risk (VaR), 172, 176 working capital management (WCM), 172 working capital (WC), 172 Financial supply chain management (FSCM), 172 First-order strategic fit, 13 Flow cost calculation, 24 FLP. See Facility location problem (FLP) Frame test, 12 Free on Board (FOB), 173–174 Free-scale network, 124 Freight transport, 78, 168–169 Fuel consumption, 101–102 Fuzzy-AHP (FAHP), 39, 43, 51 Fuzzy logic, 37, 39–40, 46, 51 Fuzzy pairwise comparison matrix, 48 Fuzzy scale, 48 Genetic algorithm (GA), 20 Global value chains, VALS, 58 Goal consistency, 13 Goal programming (GP), facility location, 39 Gross inconsistencies, 13 Historic Center in Quito commercial density of, 158 deliveries peak hours, 159 freight-unloading methods, 167 km2 , 149–151, 157–158 loading and unloading bays, 162 optimization model, 161–165 shop density by shop type in, 158 HORECA (hotels, restaurant, coffee shops) area, 96–97 See also Urban freight transportation (UFT) Human settlements (HS), 112–113 Hybrid heuristic method, 2 clustering search (CS), 20 com", "keywords": [ "Index (typography)", "Computer science", "World Wide Web" ], "cited_by_count": 0, "is_retracted": false, "is_paratext": true, "open_access_url": "https://doi.org/10.1108/978-1-78756-803-720181012" }, { "id": "https://openalex.org/W7163330857", "doi": "10.5281/zenodo.20527488", "title": "Dataset for Logistics Market Stakeholders in the Context of Sustainable Development and ESG", "year": 2026, "publication_date": "2026-06-03", "type": "dataset", "language": null, "authors": [ "Jakub Murawski" ], "first_author": "Jakub Murawski", "venue": "Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research)", "publisher": "European Organization for Nuclear Research", "abstract": "The purpose of this dataset is to enable the replication of the research results presented in the article: Murawski, J. (2025). Logistics Market Stakeholders in the Context of Sustainable Development and ESG, Rocznik Ochrona Środowiska, 27, 837–854. https://doi.org/10.54740/ros.2025.067 The dataset was created as part of the E-Laas project (Energy optimal urban logistics As A Service).Project implemented as part of the call ERA-NET Cofund Urban Accessibility and Connectivity (ENUAC China Call) organized by JPI Urban Europe and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC). This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 875022. E-Laas project is carried out in an international consortium. Project coordinator in Europe: Chalmers University of Technology (Sweden), project coordinator in China: Shanghai University (China), consortium members: Tsinghua University (China), Warsaw University of Technology (Poland), cooperation partners: Stockholms stad, Trafikkontoret (Sweden), ParkUnload (Spain), Metropolis GZM (Poland), Shanghai Urban-Rural Construction and Transportation Department (China), Volvo Group Trucks Technology and Operations (Sweden).- The Chinese part of the project is funded by National Natural Science Foundation of China.- The Swedish part of the project is funded by Swedish Energy Agency.- The Polish part of the project is funded by the National Science Centre, Poland (project no. 2022/04/Y/ST8/00134). The value of the co-financing is PLN 878,107.00. Project duration 27/04/2023 - 26/04/2026 (36 months).", "keywords": [ "Context (archaeology)", "China", "Sustainable development", "Truck", "Duration (music)", "Project management", "Foundation (evidence)" ], "cited_by_count": 0, "is_retracted": false, "is_paratext": false, "open_access_url": "https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.20527488" }, { "id": "https://openalex.org/W4410041191", "doi": "10.1007/978-3-031-89444-2_3", "title": "Stations of the Future: A Study on EV Charging Stations Considering Users’ Requirements and Expectations", "year": 2025, "publication_date": "2025-01-01", "type": "conference-paper", "language": "en", "authors": [ "Juan F. Giménez", "Amparo López-Vicente", "Carol Soriano", "Raquel Marzo", "José Solaz", "Elisa Signes" ], "first_author": "Juan F. Giménez", "venue": "Lecture notes in mobility", "publisher": "Springer International Publishing", "abstract": "Abstract One of the products included in USER-CHI project is the definition of the charging stations that not only EVs and LEVs require, but also fulfil the needs and expectations of the end users. A qualitative and quantitative user research following the user experience principles have been performed, achieving a deep knowledge of EV drivers’ charging preferences and patterns in order to increase their acceptance. As a result of this research, we have identified basic requirements, increasing value and desirable features that are related to the charging process of an EV, that should be included in a charging station aimed to achieve end users’ expectations. Taking these features, we have defined four different concepts of stations of the future, namely: Intermodal Station, Highway Station, LEV Charger and Urban Station. Concepts are presented in a handbook, following a composition that includes: a colored realistic sketch of the concept, a presentation of its main features organized in three topics (Technologies-Services-Location), and business models related to the concept. These business models were generated with the five demo-cities that are part of the USER-CHI consortium. The business model related to each concept, is a combination of the seven business models defined with the cities -Logistics Hubs, Citizen e-mobility Station, City Centre (Park&Charge), e-Trucks, e-Taxi Stops, Special Events, Mobile Charging Stations. The most relevant features of the resultant business model related to each conceptual station are presented in a new reduced format, including four topics: The Value, The Business, The Market and The Flow.", "keywords": [ "Environmental science", "Computer science", "Telecommunications", "Business" ], "cited_by_count": 0, "is_retracted": false, "is_paratext": false, "open_access_url": "https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/978-3-031-89444-2_3.pdf" }, { "id": "https://openalex.org/W3127026606", "doi": "10.5281/zenodo.5744888", "title": "Application of the HARMONY tactical freight simulator to a case study for zero emission zones in Rotterdam", "year": 2020, "publication_date": "2020-08-01", "type": "conference-paper", "language": "en", "authors": [ "Michiel Adriaan de Bok", "Lóránt Antal Tavasszy", "Ioanna Kourounioti", "Sebastiaan Thoen", "Larissa Eggers", "Victor Mayland Nielsen", "Jos Streng" ], "first_author": "Michiel Adriaan de Bok", "venue": "Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research)", "publisher": "European Organization for Nuclear Research", "abstract": "As part of a broader vision for emission-free city logistics, the city of Rotterdam plans to introduce a zero-emission zone in combination with urban consolidation centers (UCCs) at the outskirt of the city to generate a shift to zero-emission vehicles. For the design of this zero-emission zone many research questions arise that require a systematic analysis of the impacts of the transition scenarios on the freight demand patterns, the use and market shares of new (zero-emission) vehicles, and the impacts of truck flow and emissions. As a case study we implemented heterogenous transition scenarios for each logistic segment into the Tactical Freight Simulator from the project HARMONY and analysed the system wide impacts. This model is multi-agent, empirical and shipment based and simulates long-term tactical choices (distribution channel choice, shipment size and vehicle type choice, sourcing) and short term tactical choices (tour formation, delivery times). Results shows that the impact of UCCs is not trivial: we can see a small increase in vehicle kilometers travelled (VKT) overall: +0.25% which can be attributed to the rerouting of shipments through the UCCs. Calculations confirm that emissions are reduced dramatically, by 90%, inside the Zero Emission Zone. At the city scale this corresponds to a reduction of almost 10%, as most freight related traffic is generated by the port and involves long haul HGV transport that do not enter the city center. At a regional level the reduction of impacts is very small. More measures are needed if more ambitious reductions in emissions are to be achieved.", "keywords": [ "Harmony (color)", "Simulation", "Computer science", "Aeronautics", "Engineering", "Visual arts", "Art" ], "cited_by_count": 0, "is_retracted": false, "is_paratext": false, "open_access_url": "https://zenodo.org/record/6323720" }, { "id": "https://openalex.org/W4409560392", "doi": "10.2139/ssrn.5220440", "title": "Impact of Bus Rapid Transit on Freight Movement: A Telematics Approach", "year": 2025, "publication_date": "2025-01-01", "type": "preprint", "language": "en", "authors": [ "Yunfei Ma", "Elkafi Hassini", "Saiedeh Razavi" ], "first_author": "Yunfei Ma", "venue": "SSRN Electronic Journal", "publisher": "RELX Group (Netherlands)", "abstract": null, "keywords": [ "Telematics", "Transport engineering", "Transit (satellite)", "Automotive engineering", "Movement (music)", "Computer science", "Engineering", "Telecommunications", "Public transport", "Physics" ], "cited_by_count": 0, "is_retracted": false, "is_paratext": false, "open_access_url": "https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.5220440" }, { "id": "https://openalex.org/W7125495627", "doi": "10.1016/j.urbmob.2026.100189", "title": "Impact of bus rapid transit on freight movement: A telematics approach", "year": 2026, "publication_date": "2026-01-21", "type": "article", "language": "en", "authors": [ "Yunfei Ma", "Elkafi Hassini", "Saiedeh Razavi" ], "first_author": "Yunfei Ma", "venue": "Journal of Urban Mobility", "publisher": "Elsevier BV", "abstract": "While Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) systems are widely implemented to enhance passenger mobility and reduce emissions, their implications for urban freight movement remain understudied. This paper presents a framework for evaluating the impacts of BRT infrastructure and policies on road freight emissions, bottlenecks, and shifts in freight movement patterns. The proposed framework is based on telematics big data and includes a data processing pipeline incorporating data fusion techniques to integrate GPS trajectories, freight vehicle characteristics, and fuel consumption data. The impact of BRT on edge-level emissions is evaluated with a proposed fuel disaggregation model. The framework analyzes shifts in freight origin–destination patterns due to BRT, with statistical validation through permutation testing. Additionally, the framework offers a novel Network-level Spatial–Temporal Freight Bottleneck Impact Index (NSTFBII) to quantify the impact of BRT on the topology of freight bottlenecks. A case study of the Boston Columbus Avenue BRT project is conducted with a month-to-month analysis and an interrupted time series analysis (ITSA) with a control corridor. The findings show that BRT lanes reduce freight flow and emissions, leading to fragmented bottleneck structures and decreased diversity in origin–destination (OD) pairs along the corridor. Additionally, changes in freight movement and emissions in adjacent corridors differ significantly from general traffic, with impacts more pronounced during construction than post-implementation. The findings provide insights for policymakers, offering recommendations that minimize the negative impact on freight while enhancing the benefits of BRT systems.", "keywords": [ "Bottleneck", "Bus rapid transit", "Telematics", "Rail freight transport", "Fuel efficiency", "Global Positioning System", "Energy consumption", "Traffic flow (computer networking)", "Truck" ], "cited_by_count": 0, "is_retracted": false, "is_paratext": false, "open_access_url": "https://doi.org/10.1016/j.urbmob.2026.100189" }, { "id": "https://openalex.org/W4409239332", "doi": "10.1111/deci.70004", "title": "IN THIS ISSUE", "year": 2025, "publication_date": "2025-04-01", "type": "article", "language": "en", "authors": [], "first_author": null, "venue": "Decision Sciences", "publisher": "Wiley", "abstract": "To ensure high service quality, managers need to personalize treatment options and meet their customer demands. Our research is motivated by the need to better anticipate and prepare for that. We develop a generalizable framework that is the first to address two healthcare risk management goals: (1) identifying high risk and stable-demand customers and (2) predicting the medium-term demand for services of stable-demand customers. We also design a model-agnostic method for variable evaluation. It can rank predictors based on their global impact and highlight their effect on a model's local accuracy. In this research, we leverage a large electronic medical records' data set, which comprised 48,344 chronic kidney disease patients treated across geographically diverse Veterans Affairs regions. Our framework indicates that although only 1.3% of the examined individuals are high-risk patients, it can correctly identify 35% of them and highlight an additional 8.9% as having important demand implications. Identifying high-risk individuals can be used in (1) monitoring prioritization, (2) patients' motivation, and (3) patients' stabilization. Furthermore, our model accurately predicts the monthly need for care of stable-demand individuals up to 3 years into the future and outperforms popular statistical and data mining models. This information is especially critical for hospital management in identifying future hiring needs. Although lenient return policies can drive sales and customer loyalty, they have also resulted in enormous returns volumes and reverse logistics costs. Online retailers often feel compelled to offer free returns, but are then faced with numerous operational challenges, ranging from accurately forecasting returns volumes to identifying presales strategies to reduce the likelihood that a (costly) return occurs. In this research, we consider how the complementarity of the products within an order basket is related to consumer returns. By developing an understanding of the link between basket contents and returns, we can improve order-level returns forecasts, while also providing insights into the effect of basket recommendations on the expected return rate. We take a multimethod approach to this problem. First, we use a stylized model to generate theoretical predictions regarding how within-basket complementarity should influence return probability. Next, we propose a data-driven measure of complementarity, degree of copurchase (DCP), which is based on the machine learning concept of association rule and is implementable using standard retail sales data. Finally, utilizing a unique data set provided by a leading online specialty retailer, we implement the DCP measure and test the predictions of our analytical model. We find, as expected, that there is a decreasing relationship between within-basket complementarity and return probability. However, we also show that this decrease is convex, indicating that the return probability impact is more notable when the complementarity is increased from a lower base. Our results have practical implications for both reverse logistics planning and online product recommendations. Firms increasingly engage in mergers and acquisitions (M&As) to improve their network positions and enhance performance. Yet, how the fundamental structure of the merged supply base changes after the M&A and how the structural changes affect the performance are largely unknown. Building upon the strategy-structure-performance framework, this study investigates dual roles of supply base structural changes in M&A events, namely, as an outcome and as a moderator to post-M&A performance. In particular, we examine how the size and the country diversity of the merged supply base change after M&As, as well as how these structural changes affect the merged firm's operational performance. We conduct a difference-in-differences analysis by comparing firms that engaged in M&A events (treatment group) with those comparable firms that did not engage in any M&A events (control group). The results show that the merged firms tend to reduce the size of their supply bases after M&As. In addition, our results demonstrate that both supply base consolidation (i.e., reducing the number of suppliers) and country diversification (i.e., spreading suppliers across multiple countries) improve the merged firms’ post-M&A operational performance, an effect that becomes stronger for horizontal M&As. We also explore how the type of M&As (i.e., horizontal vs. nonhorizontal), industry relatedness between the two merging firms, and the purposes of M&As affect the post-M&A structural changes to the supply bases. This study helps inform supply managers the important roles of supply base in M&As to enhance post-M&A operational performance or to limit the synergies when not properly done. Electrifying transit bus networks (TBNs) has recently become a challenging problem that many public transport operators around the world are facing. Due to the limited driving range of electric buses, electric TBNs are more sensitive to operational delays and uncertainties. Moreover, the impact on sustainability is most profound when the buses are powered by renewable energy resources, which are often subject to intermittency and uncertainty. In this study, we tackle the complicated problem of planning charging schedules amid these various sources of uncertainty. We develop a real-time decision support system that uses real-time data, predictions, and mathematical optimization to update the charging schedules and mitigate the impact of operational uncertainties. Our results show that the online strategy can maintain higher reliability and renewable energy utilization levels compared to other charging strategies. The study has been carried out in cooperation with the public transport operator in Rotterdam in the Netherlands to assist them in their TBN transition process. Autonomous drones are no longer science fiction but ", "keywords": [ "Computer science", "Business" ], "cited_by_count": 0, "is_retracted": false, "is_paratext": false, "open_access_url": "https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdfdirect/10.1111/deci.70004" }, { "id": "https://openalex.org/W4249557358", "doi": "10.1108/s2044-994120140000006019", "title": "List of Contributors", "year": 2014, "publication_date": "2014-12-03", "type": "paratext", "language": "en", "authors": [], "first_author": null, "venue": null, "publisher": null, "abstract": "Citation (2014), \"List of Contributors\", Sustainable Logistics (Transport and Sustainability, Vol. 6), Emerald Group Publishing Limited, Bingley, pp. ix-xi. https://doi.org/10.1108/S2044-994120140000006019 Publisher: Emerald Group Publishing Limited Copyright © 2014 Emerald Group Publishing Limited Patrícia Baptista LAETA, IDMEC-IST, Instituto Superior Técnico, Universidade de Lisboa, Lisboa, Portugal Maria Björklund Department of Management and Engineering, Linköping University, Linköping, Sweden Ming Chen TNO, Delft, Netherlands Álvaro Costa Departamento de Engenharia Civil, Faculdade de Engenharia, Universidade do Porto, Porto, Portugal Sharon Cullinane Department of Business Administration, University of Gothenburg, Gothenburg, Sweden Jonas Flodén Department of Business Administration, University of Gothenburg, Gothenburg, Sweden Helena Forslund School of Business and Economics, Linnaeus University, Växjö, Sweden Jesus Gonzalez-Feliu Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Lyon, France Anne Goodchild University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, United States Egbert Guis TNO, Delft, Netherlands Hyun-Chan Kim Department of Civil and Natural Resources Engineering, University of Canterbury, Christchurch, New Zealand Diana Kusumastuti Department of Civil and Natural Resources Engineering, University of Canterbury, Christchurch, New Zealand Cathy Macharis Research Centre MOBI – Mobility,Logistics and Automotive Technology Research Centre, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Brussels, Belgium; University of Gothenburg, Gothenburg, Sweden Dries Meers Research Centre MOBI – Mobility,Logistics and Automotive Technology Research Centre, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Brussels, Belgium Sandra Melo LAETA, IDMEC-IST, Instituto Superior Técnico, Universidade de Lisboa, Lisboa, Portugal Katrin Molina-Besch Department of Design Sciences, Division of Packaging Logistics, Lund University, Lund, Sweden Joëlle Morana Université Lyon 2, Lyon, France Nina Nesterova TNO, Delft, Netherlands Alan Nicholson Department of Civil and Natural Resources Engineering, University of Canterbury, Christchurch, New Zealand Henrik Pålsson Department of Design Sciences, Division of Packaging Logistics, Lund University, Lund, Sweden Hans Quak TNO and TU Delft, Delft, Netherlands Richard Smokers TNO, Delft, Netherlands Edith Sorkina Department of Business Administration, University of Gothenburg, Gothenburg, Sweden Mathieu Strale Institut de Gestion de l’Environnement et d’Aménagement du Territoire – IGEAT-ULB, Université Libre de Bruxelles, Bruxelles, Belgium Lóránt Tavasszy TNO and TU Delft, Delft, Netherlands Tom van Lier Research Centre MOBI – Mobility,Logistics and Automotive Technology Research Centre, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Brussels, Belgium Tom Vermeiren Research Centre MOBI – Mobility,Logistics and Automotive Technology Research Centre, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Brussels, Belgium Johan Woxenius Department of Business Administration, University of Gothenburg, Gothenburg, Sweden Erica Wygonik Civil & Environmental Engineering, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, United States Book Chapters Sustainable Logistics Transport and Sustainability Sustainable Logistics Copyright Page List of Contributors Transport and Sustainability Editorial Board The 4 A’s of Sustainable Logistics Chapter 1 Options for Competitive and Sustainable Logistics Chapter 2 Mitigating the Negative Environmental Impacts of Long Haul Freight Transport Chapter 3 Comparison of Vehicle Miles Traveled and Pollution from Three Goods Movement Strategies Chapter 4 The Shades of Green in Retail Chains’ Logistics Chapter 5 Assessing Urban Logistics Pooling Sustainability via a Hierarchic Dashboard from a Group Decision Perspective Chapter 6 Packaging for Eco-Efficient Supply Chains: Why Logistics Should Get Involved in the Packaging Development Process Chapter 7 Freight Transport Mode Choice and Mode Shift in New Zealand: Findings of a Revealed Preference Survey Chapter 8 Business Models for Shipper-Operated Intermodal Transport Solutions Chapter 9 Intermodal Break-Even Distances: A Fetish of 300 Kilometres? Chapter 10 The Cargo Tram: Current Status and Perspectives, the Example of Brussels Chapter 11 Towards Zero Emission Urban Logistics: Challenges and Issues for Implementation of Electric Freight Vehicles in City Logistics Chapter 12 The Cost and Effectiveness of Sustainable City Logistics Policies Using Small Electric Vehicles About the Editors About the Authors Index", "keywords": [ "Library science", "Publishing", "Political science", "Humanities", "Management", "Art", "Law" ], "cited_by_count": 0, "is_retracted": false, "is_paratext": true, "open_access_url": "https://doi.org/10.1108/s2044-994120140000006019" }, { "id": "https://openalex.org/W7163354536", "doi": "10.5281/zenodo.20527651", "title": "Dataset for Customer Preferences for Courier Services in Poland – Results of Survey Research", "year": 2026, "publication_date": "2026-06-03", "type": "dataset", "language": null, "authors": [ "Jakub Murawski", "Jan Paszkowski" ], "first_author": "Jakub Murawski", "venue": "Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research)", "publisher": "European Organization for Nuclear Research", "abstract": "The purpose of this dataset is to enable the replication of the research results presented in the article: Murawski, J., Paszkowski, J. (2026). Customer Preferences for Courier Services in Poland – Results of Survey Research. In: Sierpiński, G., Naumann, S., Macioszek, E. (eds) Transport Systems Development – Methods and Solutions. TSTP 2025. Lecture Notes in Networks and Systems, vol 1789. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-032-14826-1_10 The dataset was created as part of the E-Laas project (Energy optimal urban logistics As A Service).Project implemented as part of the call ERA-NET Cofund Urban Accessibility and Connectivity (ENUAC China Call) organized by JPI Urban Europe and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC). This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 875022. E-Laas project is carried out in an international consortium. Project coordinator in Europe: Chalmers University of Technology (Sweden), project coordinator in China: Shanghai University (China), consortium members: Tsinghua University (China), Warsaw University of Technology (Poland), cooperation partners: Stockholms stad, Trafikkontoret (Sweden), ParkUnload (Spain), Metropolis GZM (Poland), Shanghai Urban-Rural Construction and Transportation Department (China), Volvo Group Trucks Technology and Operations (Sweden).- The Chinese part of the project is funded by National Natural Science Foundation of China.- The Swedish part of the project is funded by Swedish Energy Agency.- The Polish part of the project is funded by the National Science Centre, Poland (project no. 2022/04/Y/ST8/00134). The value of the co-financing is PLN 878,107.00. Project duration 27/04/2023 - 26/04/2026 (36 months).", "keywords": [ "China", "Truck", "Duration (music)", "Survey research", "Research program", "Technical university" ], "cited_by_count": 0, "is_retracted": false, "is_paratext": false, "open_access_url": "https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.20527651" }, { "id": "https://openalex.org/W7163352796", "doi": "10.5281/zenodo.20512152", "title": "Dataset for Method of estimation of car trips induced to pick up parcels from parcel lockers", "year": 2026, "publication_date": "2026-06-02", "type": "dataset", "language": "en", "authors": [ "Jan Paszkowski", "Renata Żochowska" ], "first_author": "Jan Paszkowski", "venue": "Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research)", "publisher": "European Organization for Nuclear Research", "abstract": "The purpose of this dataset is to enable the replication of the research results presented in the article: Paszkowski, J. S., & Żochowska, R. (2025). Method of estimation of car trips induced to pick up parcels from parcel lockers. Archives of Transport, 75 (3). https://doi.org/10.61089/aot2025.dc8mxg43 which aim is to estimate the amount of vehicle kilometres induced by trips to retrieve a parcel from a parcel locker, depending on the recipient home location. The dataset was created as part of the E-Laas project (Energy optimal urban logistics As A Service).Project implemented as part of the call ERA-NET Cofund Urban Accessibility and Connectivity (ENUAC China Call) organized by JPI Urban Europe and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC). This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 875022. E-Laas project is carried out in an international consortium. Project coordinator in Europe: Chalmers University of Technology (Sweden), project coordinator in China: Shanghai University (China), consortium members: Tsinghua University (China), Warsaw University of Technology (Poland), cooperation partners: Stockholms stad, Trafikkontoret (Sweden), ParkUnload (Spain), Metropolis GZM (Poland), Shanghai Urban-Rural Construction and Transportation Department (China), Volvo Group Trucks Technology and Operations (Sweden).- The Chinese part of the project is funded by National Natural Science Foundation of China.- The Swedish part of the project is funded by Swedish Energy Agency.- The Polish part of the project is funded by the National Science Centre, Poland (project no. 2022/04/Y/ST8/00134). The value of the co-financing is PLN 878,107.00. Project duration 27/04/2023 - 26/04/2026 (36 months).", "keywords": [ "TRIPS architecture", "Truck", "China", "Estimation", "Duration (music)", "Kilometer", "Technical university" ], "cited_by_count": 0, "is_retracted": false, "is_paratext": false, "open_access_url": "https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.20512152" }, { "id": "https://openalex.org/W7163371196", "doi": "10.5281/zenodo.20512285", "title": "Dataset for Scaling Traffic Behaviour: Traffic Analysis Zones Clustering Using Traffic Motivation Data – Estimating the Optimal Cluster Quantity", "year": 2026, "publication_date": "2026-06-02", "type": "dataset", "language": "en", "authors": [ "Jan Paszkowski", "Jakub Murawski", "Jiajing Gao" ], "first_author": "Jan Paszkowski", "venue": "Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research)", "publisher": "European Organization for Nuclear Research", "abstract": "The purpose of this dataset is to enable the replication of the research results presented in the article: Paszkowski, J. S., Murawski, J., & Gao, J. (2025). Scaling Traffic Behaviour: Traffic Analysis Zones Clustering Using Traffic Motivation Data – Estimating the Optimal Cluster Quantity. 2025 9th International Conference on Models and Technologies for Intelligent Transportation Systems, 1–6. https://doi.org/10.1109/MT-ITS68460.2025.11223546 The dataset was created as part of the E-Laas project (Energy optimal urban logistics As A Service).Project implemented as part of the call ERA-NET Cofund Urban Accessibility and Connectivity (ENUAC China Call) organized by JPI Urban Europe and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC). This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 875022. E-Laas project is carried out in an international consortium. Project coordinator in Europe: Chalmers University of Technology (Sweden), project coordinator in China: Shanghai University (China), consortium members: Tsinghua University (China), Warsaw University of Technology (Poland), cooperation partners: Stockholms stad, Trafikkontoret (Sweden), ParkUnload (Spain), Metropolis GZM (Poland), Shanghai Urban-Rural Construction and Transportation Department (China), Volvo Group Trucks Technology and Operations (Sweden).- The Chinese part of the project is funded by National Natural Science Foundation of China.- The Swedish part of the project is funded by Swedish Energy Agency.- The Polish part of the project is funded by the National Science Centre, Poland (project no. 2022/04/Y/ST8/00134). The value of the co-financing is PLN 878,107.00. Project duration 27/04/2023 - 26/04/2026 (36 months).", "keywords": [ "Truck", "China", "Cluster analysis", "Duration (music)", "Intelligent transportation system", "Cluster (spacecraft)", "Multidimensional scaling" ], "cited_by_count": 0, "is_retracted": false, "is_paratext": false, "open_access_url": "https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.20512285" }, { "id": "https://openalex.org/W7202031665", "doi": "10.1016/j.trip.2026.102188", "title": "Reliability-constrained dynamic assignment and slot pricing for urban construction logistics: a game-theoretic bilevel model", "year": 2026, "publication_date": "2026-08-09", "type": "article", "language": "en", "authors": [ "Musab Abuaddous", "Ali Shehadeh", "Hamsa F. Nimer" ], "first_author": "Musab Abuaddous", "venue": "Transportation Research Interdisciplinary Perspectives", "publisher": "Elsevier BV", "abstract": "Urban construction logistics injects time-critical deliveries into congested corridors precisely when work-zones suppress capacity and raise travel-time variability. We formulate a logistics-oriented, game-theoretic bilevel framework that coordinates work-zone capacity, delivery time windows, and fleet sizing under explicit service-level reliability. The lower level is a variable-demand dynamic traffic assignment with chance constraints on path times Pr [ T ≤ τ ] ≥ ρ ; we prove an equivalence that embeds reliability as a risk-adjusted generalized cost, preserving the structure needed for large-scale Frank–Wolfe–type solvers within a best-response dynamic. The upper level co-optimizes work-zone staging and priced delivery slots to minimize total logistics cost (project NPV, fleet costs, penalties) plus system travel delay, aligning incentives between the construction operator and general traffic. On a 1,240-link metropolitan testbed of a six-week paving program with perishable service windows (ready-mix ≤ 90 min, hot-mix ≤ 75 min), the reliability-aware equilibrium raises on-time delivery from 78% to 90% and cuts late-arrival penalties by 31%. Adding slot pricing and staged closures further lifts on-time performance to 93%, reduces required ready-mix trucks by 14% at constant pour rates, shortens project duration by 8%, and lowers project NPV by 11%, while holding peak-period background delays to +2.3%. The framework redefines work zone planning as a problem of logistics capacity control, explicitly defining service levels, and provides transferable lessons for other time-sensitive urban freight applications where reliability and scheduling, as well as the interactions between the logistics and the network, all play a role in shaping performance.", "keywords": [ "Bilevel optimization", "Duration (music)", "Reliability (semiconductor)", "Service (business)", "Sizing", "Incentive", "Truck", "Monorail", "Equivalence (formal languages)", "Metropolitan area" ], "cited_by_count": 0, "is_retracted": false, "is_paratext": false, "open_access_url": "https://doi.org/10.1016/j.trip.2026.102188" }, { "id": "https://openalex.org/W7163348269", "doi": "10.5281/zenodo.20512284", "title": "Dataset for Scaling Traffic Behaviour: Traffic Analysis Zones Clustering Using Traffic Motivation Data – Estimating the Optimal Cluster Quantity", "year": 2026, "publication_date": "2026-06-02", "type": "dataset", "language": "en", "authors": [ "Jan Paszkowski", "Jakub Murawski", "Jiajing Gao" ], "first_author": "Jan Paszkowski", "venue": "Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research)", "publisher": "European Organization for Nuclear Research", "abstract": "The purpose of this dataset is to enable the replication of the research results presented in the article: Paszkowski, J. S., Murawski, J., & Gao, J. (2025). Scaling Traffic Behaviour: Traffic Analysis Zones Clustering Using Traffic Motivation Data – Estimating the Optimal Cluster Quantity. 2025 9th International Conference on Models and Technologies for Intelligent Transportation Systems, 1–6. https://doi.org/10.1109/MT-ITS68460.2025.11223546 The dataset was created as part of the E-Laas project (Energy optimal urban logistics As A Service).Project implemented as part of the call ERA-NET Cofund Urban Accessibility and Connectivity (ENUAC China Call) organized by JPI Urban Europe and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC). This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 875022. E-Laas project is carried out in an international consortium. Project coordinator in Europe: Chalmers University of Technology (Sweden), project coordinator in China: Shanghai University (China), consortium members: Tsinghua University (China), Warsaw University of Technology (Poland), cooperation partners: Stockholms stad, Trafikkontoret (Sweden), ParkUnload (Spain), Metropolis GZM (Poland), Shanghai Urban-Rural Construction and Transportation Department (China), Volvo Group Trucks Technology and Operations (Sweden).- The Chinese part of the project is funded by National Natural Science Foundation of China.- The Swedish part of the project is funded by Swedish Energy Agency.- The Polish part of the project is funded by the National Science Centre, Poland (project no. 2022/04/Y/ST8/00134). The value of the co-financing is PLN 878,107.00. Project duration 27/04/2023 - 26/04/2026 (36 months).", "keywords": [ "Truck", "China", "Cluster analysis", "Duration (music)", "Intelligent transportation system", "Cluster (spacecraft)", "Multidimensional scaling" ], "cited_by_count": 0, "is_retracted": false, "is_paratext": false, "open_access_url": "https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.20512284" }, { "id": "https://openalex.org/W2766200163", "doi": null, "title": "Mobileitsbeleid van gemeenten : onderzoek naar de inzet van lichte elektrische vrachtvoertuigen (LEVVs) voor stadslogistiek", "year": 2017, "publication_date": "2017-03-01", "type": "report", "language": "nl", "authors": [ "Susanne Balm", "Kaspar Koolstra", "Freek Willems", "Jos Sluijsmans" ], "first_author": "Susanne Balm", "venue": "Data Archiving and Networked Services (DANS)", "publisher": "Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences", "abstract": "Deze rapportage is onderdeel van het LEVV-LOGIC project (2016-2018) waarinonderzoek gedaan wordt naar de inzet van lichte elektrische vrachtvoertuigen (LEVVs) voor stadslogistiek. Steeds meerbedrijven wilLEVVsontwikkelen of gebruiken voor het vervoer van goederen in steden. Echter, ditgaat gepaard met onzekerheid, onder andere door een gebrek aan eenduidig mobiliteitsbeleid omtrent de voertuigen. De voertuigen vallen momenteel vaak buitenfiets-, elektrisch vervoer-en goederenvervoerbeleid. Doel van deze rapportage is enerzijds om bedrijven te informeren over huidige en aankomende gemeentelijke beleidsmaatregelen die van invloed zijn op de inzet van LEVVsen anderzijds om gemeenten te motiveren via mobiliteitsbeleid in te spelen op de ontwikkelingenmet LEVVs. --- This report is part of the LEVV-LOGIC project (2016-2018) which exploresthe use of light electric freight vehicles (LEFV) for city logistics. An increasing number of organisations wantsto develop oruse LEFVs for freight distribution in cities. However, thisis associated with uncertainty, as there areno clear mobility policiesfor thesevehicles. The vehicles are not explicitly part of local or national cycle-, electric transport-or freight policies. The aim of this report is first, to inform companies about current and future policy measures that influence the use of LEFVs and second, to encourage policy makers to respond to the development of LEFVs.", "keywords": [ "Political science", "Management", "Business administration", "Humanities", "Theology", "Business", "Economics", "Philosophy" ], "cited_by_count": 0, "is_retracted": false, "is_paratext": false, "open_access_url": "https://research.hva.nl/en/publications/3a2fa66f-01bd-433a-8e8d-c8a818e78ddc" }, { "id": "https://openalex.org/W7163341672", "doi": "10.5281/zenodo.20512153", "title": "Dataset for Method of estimation of car trips induced to pick up parcels from parcel lockers", "year": 2026, "publication_date": "2026-06-02", "type": "dataset", "language": "en", "authors": [ "Jan Paszkowski", "Renata Żochowska" ], "first_author": "Jan Paszkowski", "venue": "Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research)", "publisher": "European Organization for Nuclear Research", "abstract": "The purpose of this dataset is to enable the replication of the research results presented in the article: Paszkowski, J. S., & Żochowska, R. (2025). Method of estimation of car trips induced to pick up parcels from parcel lockers. Archives of Transport, 75 (3). https://doi.org/10.61089/aot2025.dc8mxg43 which aim is to estimate the amount of vehicle kilometres induced by trips to retrieve a parcel from a parcel locker, depending on the recipient home location. The dataset was created as part of the E-Laas project (Energy optimal urban logistics As A Service).Project implemented as part of the call ERA-NET Cofund Urban Accessibility and Connectivity (ENUAC China Call) organized by JPI Urban Europe and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC). This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 875022. E-Laas project is carried out in an international consortium. Project coordinator in Europe: Chalmers University of Technology (Sweden), project coordinator in China: Shanghai University (China), consortium members: Tsinghua University (China), Warsaw University of Technology (Poland), cooperation partners: Stockholms stad, Trafikkontoret (Sweden), ParkUnload (Spain), Metropolis GZM (Poland), Shanghai Urban-Rural Construction and Transportation Department (China), Volvo Group Trucks Technology and Operations (Sweden).- The Chinese part of the project is funded by National Natural Science Foundation of China.- The Swedish part of the project is funded by Swedish Energy Agency.- The Polish part of the project is funded by the National Science Centre, Poland (project no. 2022/04/Y/ST8/00134). The value of the co-financing is PLN 878,107.00. Project duration 27/04/2023 - 26/04/2026 (36 months).", "keywords": [ "TRIPS architecture", "Truck", "China", "Estimation", "Duration (music)", "Kilometer", "Technical university" ], "cited_by_count": 0, "is_retracted": false, "is_paratext": false, "open_access_url": "https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.20512153" }, { "id": "https://openalex.org/W2660232001", "doi": null, "title": "Mobileitsbeleid van gemeenten", "year": 2017, "publication_date": "2017-03-01", "type": "article", "language": "nl", "authors": [ "Susanne Balm", "Kaspar Koolstra", "Freek Willems", "Jos Sluijsmans" ], "first_author": "Susanne Balm", "venue": null, "publisher": null, "abstract": "Deze rapportage is onderdeel van het LEVV-LOGIC project (2016-2018) waarinonderzoek gedaan wordt naar de inzet van lichte elektrische vrachtvoertuigen (LEVVs) voor stadslogistiek. Steeds meerbedrijven wilLEVVsontwikkelen of gebruiken voor het vervoer van goederen in steden. Echter, ditgaat gepaard met onzekerheid, onder andere door een gebrek aan eenduidig mobiliteitsbeleid omtrent de voertuigen. De voertuigen vallen momenteel vaak buitenfiets-, elektrisch vervoer-en goederenvervoerbeleid. Doel van deze rapportage is enerzijds om bedrijven te informeren over huidige en aankomende gemeentelijke beleidsmaatregelen die van invloed zijn op de inzet van LEVVsen anderzijds om gemeenten te motiveren via mobiliteitsbeleid in te spelen op de ontwikkelingenmet LEVVs. --- This report is part of the LEVV-LOGIC project (2016-2018) which exploresthe use of light electric freight vehicles (LEFV) for city logistics. An increasing number of organisations wantsto develop oruse LEFVs for freight distribution in cities. However, thisis associated with uncertainty, as there areno clear mobility policiesfor thesevehicles. The vehicles are not explicitly part of local or national cycle-, electric transport-or freight policies. The aim of this report is first, to inform companies about current and future policy measures that influence the use of LEFVs and second, to encourage policy makers to respond to the development of LEFVs.", "keywords": [ "Political science", "Management", "Business administration", "Business", "Economics" ], "cited_by_count": 0, "is_retracted": false, "is_paratext": false, "open_access_url": "https://hbo-kennisbank.nl/details/amsterdam_pure:oai:pure.hva.nl:publications%2F3a2fa66f-01bd-433a-8e8d-c8a818e78ddc" }, { "id": "https://openalex.org/W7163389104", "doi": "10.5281/zenodo.20527652", "title": "Dataset for Customer Preferences for Courier Services in Poland – Results of Survey Research", "year": 2026, "publication_date": "2026-06-03", "type": "dataset", "language": null, "authors": [ "Jakub Murawski", "Jan Paszkowski" ], "first_author": "Jakub Murawski", "venue": "Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research)", "publisher": "European Organization for Nuclear Research", "abstract": "The purpose of this dataset is to enable the replication of the research results presented in the article: Murawski, J., Paszkowski, J. (2026). Customer Preferences for Courier Services in Poland – Results of Survey Research. In: Sierpiński, G., Naumann, S., Macioszek, E. (eds) Transport Systems Development – Methods and Solutions. TSTP 2025. Lecture Notes in Networks and Systems, vol 1789. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-032-14826-1_10 The dataset was created as part of the E-Laas project (Energy optimal urban logistics As A Service).Project implemented as part of the call ERA-NET Cofund Urban Accessibility and Connectivity (ENUAC China Call) organized by JPI Urban Europe and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC). This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 875022. E-Laas project is carried out in an international consortium. Project coordinator in Europe: Chalmers University of Technology (Sweden), project coordinator in China: Shanghai University (China), consortium members: Tsinghua University (China), Warsaw University of Technology (Poland), cooperation partners: Stockholms stad, Trafikkontoret (Sweden), ParkUnload (Spain), Metropolis GZM (Poland), Shanghai Urban-Rural Construction and Transportation Department (China), Volvo Group Trucks Technology and Operations (Sweden).- The Chinese part of the project is funded by National Natural Science Foundation of China.- The Swedish part of the project is funded by Swedish Energy Agency.- The Polish part of the project is funded by the National Science Centre, Poland (project no. 2022/04/Y/ST8/00134). The value of the co-financing is PLN 878,107.00. Project duration 27/04/2023 - 26/04/2026 (36 months).", "keywords": [ "China", "Truck", "Duration (music)", "Survey research", "Research program", "Technical university" ], "cited_by_count": 0, "is_retracted": false, "is_paratext": false, "open_access_url": "https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.20527652" }, { "id": "https://openalex.org/W7126958402", "doi": null, "title": "The State of Zero-Emissions Delivery in the U.S.", "year": 2025, "publication_date": "2025-05-25", "type": "article", "language": null, "authors": [ "Kelly Rula", "Lynn Schnaiberg", "Thomas Maxner", "Hesam Shafiei Nia", "Anne Goodchild" ], "first_author": "Kelly Rula", "venue": "ResearchWorks at the University of Washington (University of Washington)", "publisher": "University of Washington", "abstract": "We have seen major changes in the last few years as cities and companies in the United States transition to more environmentally sustainable urban delivery. But progress still remains piecemeal and slow. In both policy and practice on city streets, Europe and parts of Asia are far ahead of the U.S. in advancing electrification, shifting away from traditional trucks to smaller forms like e-bikes, and managing city space to induce or support zero emission delivery (ZED). This paper captures the state of policy and practice of zero emission delivery in the U.S. as of January 2025. It offers a baseline for future work and surfaces levers U.S. cities can consider using to advance ZED. In this report, researchers from the Urban Freight Lab at the University of Washington created a policy and practice framework based on their expertise, review and synthesis of academic literature, current technology and private sector achievements. Via the framework, the research team identifies a three-legged stool of approaches needed to achieve or advance zero emission delivery in the United States. These three vital areas for progress on ZED are: Electrification Mode Shift and Behavior Change, and Real Estate and Space Management For some, these three key building blocks and the myriad elements discussed in this report may not have been linked as levers to catalyze ZED. The report is divided into three sections, one for each of the key areas above. Each area has an overview of the current state of practice and associated trends, followed by both public sector-led and private-sector-led examples of the approach under discussion. All examples focus on real-world implementation (both domestic and international), showcasing ZED and/or providing a realistic pathway to advance ZED. And all examples focus a lens squarely on cities. In the process of compiling this summary of the state of practice of ZED, the research team synthesized key takeaways for cities to consider in Electrification, Mode Shift and Behavior Change, and Real Estate and Space Management.", "keywords": [ "Electrification", "Work (physics)", "Real estate", "Baseline (sea)", "Space (punctuation)", "Private sector", "State (computer science)", "Estate" ], "cited_by_count": 0, "is_retracted": false, "is_paratext": false, "open_access_url": "https://hdl.handle.net/1773/54468" }, { "id": "https://openalex.org/W4407414850", "doi": "10.1111/deci.12662", "title": "IN THIS ISSUE", "year": 2025, "publication_date": "2025-02-01", "type": "article", "language": "en", "authors": [], "first_author": null, "venue": "Decision Sciences", "publisher": "Wiley", "abstract": "This research, motivated by collaboration with a leading manufacturer and distributor of building products, introduces two distribution network design models considering federally mandated hours of service restrictions on truck drivers and drop-and-swap trailer operations. A key feature of the drop-and-swap transport mode is the decoupling of linehaul and last-mile delivery operations, which enables geographic extension of last-mile delivery routes while complying with hours of service driver regulations and providing next-day delivery service. The models simultaneously determine the profit-maximizing size, number, and location of order fulfillment facilities and satellite drop-and-swap terminals, and systemwide transportation flows. A case study of the firm's distribution network reveals that the new location models improve profitability by approximately 5% when compared with traditional network design approaches. An experimental study of five marketing and operational characteristics shows when the models are most advantageously applied. Overall, profit improvements range from 2.32% to 10.97% on a set of 288 test problems. The research provides new insights for integrated facility location and transportation strategic design. The potential application of the models in a variety of e-commerce scenarios is promising. Realizing the role of their consumers in mitigating environmental problems, companies have started leveraging gamification technology with persuasive interventions to induce consumers’ behavioral changes. Ant Forest—a gamified initiative launched by a prominent Chinese fintech company—empowers users to manage their ecological footprint and promote ethical behavior. However, the research community has primarily focused on Ant Forest's adoption and continuation intention, paying limited attention to how gamification promotes users’ environmentally responsible behavior (ERB) in the postadoption stage. This study contributes to this domain by developing a model based on persuasion and motivation theories and the “affordances–psychological outcomes–behavioral outcomes” framework. This model highlights the impact of gamification on consumers’ ERB through psychological need satisfaction and belief or attitude persuasion. A total of 1869 survey responses regarding the use of Ant Forest were collected from nine cities in China. The results demonstrate that, from gamification experiences with Ant Forest, users perceive psychological need satisfaction (i.e., perceived autonomy, competence, and relatedness), which significantly explains their green beliefs and attitudes (i.e., green task performance, green belief confirmation, and green self-identity), leading to increased ERB. Additionally, users with a higher green absorptive capacity demonstrate a stronger link between green beliefs or attitudes and ERB. This research shifts the focus from adoption and continuation intention to postadoption behavioral modification and offers insights into creating effective gamification systems for fostering ethical behavior and addressing environmental concerns. During the last decade, several retailers have started to combine traditional store deliveries with the fulfillment of online sales to consumers from omnichannel warehouses, which are increasingly being automated. A popular option is to use autonomous mobile robots (AMRs) in collaboration with human pickers. In this approach, the pickers’ unproductive walking time can be reduced even further by zoning the storage system, where the pickers stay within their zone periphery and robots transport order totes between the zones. However, the robotic systems’ optimal zoning strategy is unclear: few zones are particularly good for large store orders, while many zones are particularly good for small online orders. We study the effect of no zoning (NZ) and progressive zoning strategies on throughput capacity for balanced zone configurations with both fixed and dynamic order profiles. We first develop queuing network models to estimate pick throughput capacity that correspond to a given number of AMRs and picking with a fixed number of zones. We demonstrate that the throughput capacity is dependent on the chosen zoning strategy. However, the magnitude of the gains achieved is influenced by the size of the orders being processed. We also show that using a dynamic switching strategy has little effect on throughput performance. In contrast, a fixed switching strategy benefiting from changes in the order profile has the potential to increase throughput performance by 17% compared to the NZ strategy, albeit at a higher robot cost. In many countries, healthcare systems encounter the issue of imbalance between supply and demand in a hierarchical structure. The comprehensive hospitals, which possess more high-quality resources, are often overwhelmed, while their counterparts, community hospitals, are often idle. To address this imbalance issue, certain payment schemes are generally considered effective in motivating comprehensive hospitals to divert patients downstream via resource transfer. In addition to two particular payment schemes, namely, patient payment (PP) and fee-for-capacity (FFC), this study also considers two hospital alliance models, the government-led (GL-type) and the hospital-forged (HF-type) alliance, for effectively overcoming the imbalance issue. Compared to the HF-type alliance, in which each community hospital determines the price paid to the comprehensive hospital for transferring resources, the GL-type alliance requires the payment price to be set by the regulator. Methodologically, this study devises a three-stage sequential game to characterize the dynamics among the various entities, such as the regulator, the comprehensive hospital, the community hospitals, and the patients. Equilibrium results, in terms of the capacity sinking rate and patient transfer rate, are derived, and scheme and alliance performances are evaluated using vari", "keywords": [ "Computer science" ], "cited_by_count": 0, "is_retracted": false, "is_paratext": false, "open_access_url": "https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdfdirect/10.1111/deci.12662" }, { "id": "https://openalex.org/W2903541743", "doi": null, "title": "Post car mobility: A perspective of transport system evolution", "year": 2018, "publication_date": "2018-06-13", "type": "conference-paper", "language": "en", "authors": [ "Stephan S. W. Müller", "Christian Rudolph" ], "first_author": "Stephan S. W. Müller", "venue": "elib (German Aerospace Center)", "publisher": "Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt e. V. (DLR)", "abstract": "With growth rates of approx. 10% per year e-commerce is thriving the parcel market year after year and makes it the fastest-growing logistics submarket (BIEK, 2017; HDE, 2017). The online market is determined by an intense competition between online retailers battling for customers and market shares. Apart from price and quality retailers bait their potential customers by offering multiple delivery options: on-time delivery, choice of handover location and person on the day of delivery, same-day delivery climaxing in speed deliveries within 60 minutes are new requirements for courier, express, and parcel (CEP) service providers (Allen et al., 2017). Increasing transport driven by new business models and general market growth challenge the classic transport system ‘road’ in last mile logistics – currently using mainly light duty vehicles (LDV). Especially in urban context the increasing number of tours per vehicle and increasing obstructions by congestion, construction sites and parking restrictions are examples of growing challenges for parcel service providers (Allen et al., 2017; Voccia et al., 2017). Even access restrictions for vehicles with combustion engines not complying with EURO6 standard may be implemented by cities in the near future. In rural context, long travel times between customers make CEP services extremely expensive. Due to these challenges one might believe that they could be systemic limits of future growth for classic last mile logistics. Thus, CEP service providers are urged to innovate since established technology won’t meet future requirements. The latest developments are twofold: on the one hand, online retailers themselves are looking for alternative solutions. On the other hand, CEP service providers are piloting innovation projects themselves. Automated (electric) vehicles, electric cargo cycles, and air- or groundborne drones are currently considered as the major alternative key technologies (Visser et al., 2014; Stolaroff, 2014). Amazon, Alphabet or, more recently, 7Eleven are one step ahead to the major CEP integrators such as DHL, UPS, or DPD when it comes to deploy airborne drones (Bamburry, 2015). 7Eleven was the first company which carried out a commercial drone delivery in the US in July 2017 (Businessinsider, 2016) while Amazon has received a lot of media attention in 2017 filing patents on a new distribution concept with a dirigible (Zeppelin) as a flying warehouse in combination with drones as last mile distributors. Thus, airborne drones seem to be an interesting technology option for future last mile deliveries to overcome ‘road transport’ limits (Goodchild, Toy, 2017; Rao et al., 2016; Tavana et al., 2017)). However, literature shows that currently drones are too expensive and lack in payload, robustness, and compatibility with existing delivery procedures. From expert interviews and project result a drone delivery has approx. twice the price as LDV delivery (Liedtke, 2016). Economic feasible applications may only be specialized operations such as time-critical deliveries (e.g. vaccines), deliveries in disaster areas or of luxury goods (Haidari et al., 2016). Cost-benefit analyses show that the cost for implementation can be lower than its benefit – the key is new speed delivery services for which costumes (e.g. Amazon Prime members) are willing to pay more for (Welch, 2015). Thus, from literature the assessment of the drone-concept and characteristics induces that it is not yet a competitive (economic AND technological) alternative to traditional distribution concepts in the last mile delivery mass market. Is it therefore not worth for policy makers to consider airborne drones as part of the solution for future last mile logistics. Against this background, the research question of this paper is: Can airborne drones be a competitive alternative to traditional delivery procedures in the CEP market? This article discusses the competitiveness of airborne drones from an evolutionary economic point of view and aims to introduce a different perspective for a societal discourse of future solutions for last mile logistics. The analytical approach is based on the concept of transport system evolution by Müller and Liedtke (2017). The concept highlights four phases of transport system evolution with respective theories for explaining systematic phenomena: 1) stabilization phase (searching for a lock-in into a technical/organizational configuration), 2) technology transition phase (exploiting the Attacker's Advantage), 3) growth phase (being the Innovator's dilemma) and 4) degeneration phase (resting in a Stalemate of Technology). These four phases of a transport system’s evolution are mutual interdependent to evolutionary phases for alternatively existing transport systems. Thus, the evolution of a transport system and its specific evolutionary phase’ status creates the framework conditions for alternative’s evolution and vice versa (see the Figure 1 in the appendix). According to the scheme of Müller and Liedtke (2017), the CEP logistics mass market is in the phase of growth (3). As a consequence, the so-called innovator's dilemma is emerging. This innovator's dilemma is characterized by two aspects: a) intensifying the optimization of established technologies (vehicle technology, delivery concepts and business models) by an innovation competition on quality and convenience and, b) an active exclusion of alternative technologies as they threat the established technology path and with it patents, market power, and profit margins (in latent market equilibrium). At the end of the development of the innovator's dilemma, the ‘attacker's advantage’ of an alternative technology becomes likely. This advantage is given by the fact that the alternative technology is only at the beginning of a further refinement of performance and operational capability, while established technologies can be described as ‘throughout optimized’. Most likely, the performance of the ", "keywords": [ "Perspective (graphical)", "Computer science", "Artificial intelligence" ], "cited_by_count": 0, "is_retracted": false, "is_paratext": false, "open_access_url": "https://elib.dlr.de/133167/2/1-s2.0-S2352146519304284-main%5B1%5D.pdf" }, { "id": "https://openalex.org/W2974897427", "doi": null, "title": "Sustainable road freight in port cities: Aberdeen and Civitas Portis.", "year": 2019, "publication_date": "2019-05-22", "type": "conference-paper", "language": "en", "authors": [ "Caroline Hood", "Richard Laing", "David Gray", "Neale Burrows", "Rab Dickson", "Amye Robinson" ], "first_author": "Caroline Hood", "venue": "Open Access Institutional Repository at Robert Gordon University (Robert Gordon University)", "publisher": "Robert Gordon University", "abstract": "The CIVITAS PORTIS (PORT-cities: Innovation for Sustainability) Project is a Horizon 2020 initiative concerned with the design, demonstration and evaluation of integrated packages of sustainable mobility measures in five major port cities in Europe. The intended purpose of the project is to demonstrate that both function and social cohesion between city centres and ports can be increased through sustainable mobility. Within the context of the PORTIS project, Aberdeen City Council (“ACC”) in partnership with Aberdeen Harbour Board, Aberdeenshire Council and Nestrans (the Regional Transport Partnership) will seek to implement a number of measures designed to improve the efficiency of urban freight transport. A key aspect of the project regards the ways in which emerging digital technology can help cities realise efficiency gains and environmental benefits in relation to freight movement. The impact of smart city infrastructure is still to be felt in many respects (e.g. participatory democracy, digital planning, building condition monitoring), yet had already been implemented by both the public and private sectors in Aberdeen. The current use of sensor technology to extend the signal timings on key freight corridors has already seen a decrease in journey times for HGV traffic along routes but further consideration will be given to how best to assist with freight movements whilst the network is congested at peak times. That large freight vehicles are less compelled to stop and accelerate at controlled junctions also means that there are benefits in terms of air pollution, fuel efficiency and emissions. Local authority-led freight routeing and support are proven to be effective, as evidenced by previous work undertaken in the city. The extent to which the planned initiatives will contribute to the goals of PORTIS will require monitoring, evaluation, and an ability to demonstrate a genuine connection between plans and action within the city and wider region.", "keywords": [ "Port (circuit theory)", "General partnership", "Context (archaeology)", "Sustainability", "Sustainable transport", "Traffic management", "Train", "Transport engineering", "Business", "Engineering", "Finance" ], "cited_by_count": 0, "is_retracted": false, "is_paratext": false, "open_access_url": "https://rgu-repository.worktribe.com/output/451527" }, { "id": "https://openalex.org/W7165574624", "doi": "10.5281/zenodo.20795321", "title": "Dataset for Multi-level parcel distribution system based on rail transport, BDF swap bodies, and zero-emission last-mile logistics", "year": 2026, "publication_date": "2026-06-22", "type": "dataset", "language": "en", "authors": [ "Roland Jachimowski", "Emilian Szczepański", "Jūratė Liebuvienė", "Vida Jokubynienė", "Ewa Kardas-Cinal", "Mariusz Izdebski" ], "first_author": "Roland Jachimowski", "venue": "Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research)", "publisher": "European Organization for Nuclear Research", "abstract": "The purpose of this dataset is to enable the replication of the research results presented in the article: Jachimowski R, Szczepański E, Liebuvienė J, Jokubynienė V, Kardas-Cinal E, Izdebski M.: Multi-level parcel distribution system based on rail transport, BDF swap bodies, and zero-emission last-mile logistics. The dataset contains Excel files with input data, assumptions, and results used to reproduce the two case studies presented in the manuscript on a multi-level parcel distribution system based on rail transport, BDF swap bodies, and zero-emission last-mile logistics. The dataset was created as part of the E-Laas project (Energy optimal urban logistics As A Service).Project implemented as part of the call ERA-NET Cofund Urban Accessibility and Connectivity (ENUAC China Call) organized by JPI Urban Europe and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC). This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 875022. E-Laas project is carried out in an international consortium. Project coordinator in Europe: Chalmers University of Technology (Sweden), project coordinator in China: Shanghai University (China), consortium members: Tsinghua University (China), Warsaw University of Technology (Poland), cooperation partners: Stockholms stad, Trafikkontoret (Sweden), ParkUnload (Spain), Metropolis GZM (Poland), Shanghai Urban-Rural Construction and Transportation Department (China), Volvo Group Trucks Technology and Operations (Sweden).- The Chinese part of the project is funded by National Natural Science Foundation of China.- The Swedish part of the project is funded by Swedish Energy Agency.- The Polish part of the project is funded by the National Science Centre, Poland (project no. 2022/04/Y/ST8/00134). The value of the co-financing is PLN 878,107.00. Project duration 27/04/2023 - 26/04/2026 (36 months).", "keywords": [ "Swap (finance)", "Truck", "China", "Distribution (mathematics)", "City logistics" ], "cited_by_count": 0, "is_retracted": false, "is_paratext": false, "open_access_url": "https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.20795321" }, { "id": "https://openalex.org/W4416978011", "doi": "10.1016/j.progress.2025.101021", "title": "Climate-friendly mobility in cities. Planning for carbon reduction in the long term in four European cities", "year": 2025, "publication_date": "2025-12-01", "type": "article", "language": "en", "authors": [ "Ekki Kreutzberger", "Arjan J. van Binsbergen", "Arkadiusz Drabicki", "Fabian Reitemeyer", "Fatemeh Torabi Kachousangi", "Niels van Oort" ], "first_author": "Ekki Kreutzberger", "venue": "Progress in Planning", "publisher": "Elsevier BV", "abstract": "Many cities have ambitious climate targets, like becoming climate-neutral by 2050, 2040 or 2030, but are uncertain about how mobility and land use should change in order to reduce GHG emissions to levels consistent with the cities’ aims. Finding answers on this, and also on the question of how to strike an effective balance between desired fundamental transformation and realistic expectations, was at the heart of the Interreg Europe project 2050 CliMobCity (2050 Climate-friendly Mobility in Cities). The project partners were four medium-sized but otherwise quite different cities (Bydgoszcz, Plymouth, Thessaloniki and Leipzig), along with the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) and TU Delft. Each partner city conducted a so-called demonstration study, which required defining ambitious packages of measures (mobility, land use, electrification) and forecasting changes in mobility by macroscopic transport modelling. PIK then analysed GHG emissions using its carbon model. This paper extends the demonstration studies into a case-study approach. This is preceded by an exercise in consistently structuring types of GHG and mobility performances and corresponding measures. The case-study approach is supplemented by a review of the literature on shared and micromobility. A conclusion drawn from the case study is that none of the partner cities is in fact sufficiently reducing GHG emissions. Even if electricity production was completely green, the remaining gap between GHG reduction aims and analysed GHG delivery lies between 30–81 %, dependent on the scenario and city. Shared and micromobility seem not to lead to strongly deviating conclusions. We discuss policies to close the gap. One major option discussed is tackling GHG emissions from urban freight, in forms such as organising public-private cooperation designed to accelerate the electrification of freight vehicles.", "keywords": [ "Greenhouse gas", "Order (exchange)", "Climate change", "Electricity", "Consumption (sociology)", "Land use", "Term (time)", "Production (economics)" ], "cited_by_count": 0, "is_retracted": false, "is_paratext": false, "open_access_url": "https://doi.org/10.1016/j.progress.2025.101021" }, { "id": "https://openalex.org/W3037789573", "doi": null, "title": "Selective and co-modal transport : models and algorithms", "year": 2019, "publication_date": "2019-12-02", "type": "dissertation", "language": "en", "authors": [ "Youcef Amarouche" ], "first_author": "Youcef Amarouche", "venue": "HAL (Le Centre pour la Communication Scientifique Directe)", "publisher": "Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique", "abstract": "The notion of \"co-modality\" was introduced by the European Commission in 2006 as part of its new transport policy. It refers to the \"efficient use of different modes on their own and in combination\" for the purpose of achieving \"an optimal and sustainable utilisation of resources\" [55]. Unlike previous European transport policies, co-modality does not seek to oppose road transportation to its alternatives, but rather seeks to take advantage of the domains of relevance of different transportation modes and of their combinations to optimize services. In this thesis, we focus on developing new solution algorithms for variants of vehicle routing problems for city logistics systems arising in the wake of comodality. We were particularly interested in developing effective solution methods for selective variants of the vehicle routing problem and two-echelon variants. First, we address the Team Orienteering Problem with Time Windows (TOPTW), a selective variant of routing problems that takes into account customer availability. We propose an effective algorithm based on a neighborhood search that alternates between two different search spaces, and uses a long term memory mechanism to benefit from information gathered while exploring the search space, to solve the TOPTW. In the se cond part of this work, we deal with the Two-Echelon Vehicle Routing Problem (2E-VRP), a variant of the problem that introduces intermediate facilities, refered to as « satellites ». In a two echelon system, freight is first moved from the depot to the satellites using large trucks, and then delivered from the satellites to the customers using smaller vehicles. To solve the 2E-VRP, we introduce a novel algorithm that combines heuristic methods with mathematical programming techniques. Finally, we consider the Orienteering Problem with Hotel Selection (OPHS), another selective variant that shares similarities with the 2E-VRP, namely, the use of intermediate facilities called hotels. For this problem, we propose a new integer linear programming model, valid inequalities and a Branch-&-Cut solution method. Extensive experimentation on benchmark instances available in the literature demonstrate the competitiveness of our solution methods.", "keywords": [ "Vehicle routing problem", "Truck", "Computer science", "Operations research", "Relevance (law)", "Benchmark (surveying)", "Routing (electronic design automation)", "Modal", "Scope (computer science)", "Transport engineering", "Engineering", "Geography" ], "cited_by_count": 0, "is_retracted": false, "is_paratext": false, "open_access_url": "https://theses.hal.science/tel-02884343v1/document" }, { "id": "https://openalex.org/W2822106869", "doi": "10.24355/dbbs.084-201801101209", "title": "Incorporating Traffic Management Information into Logistics Planning", "year": 2018, "publication_date": "2018-01-10", "type": "dissertation", "language": "en", "authors": [ "Felix Köster" ], "first_author": "Felix Köster", "venue": "Digitale Bibliothek Braunschweig (Verbundzentrale Göttingen (VZG))", "publisher": "Verbundzentrale des GBV", "abstract": "Today, logistics and traffic management are two important elements for the urban population. Logistic service providers enable the availability of consumer goods to city residents and the traffic management optimizes traffic flows of the city by operating the traffic infrastructure (i.e. traffic signals). This dissertation investigates if logistics and traffic management can achieve a mutual benefit through an information sharing cooperation. The main motivation for a logistics company, which operates in the high cost pressure delivery industry, is a possible reduction of operational costs for their delivery fleet. The motivation of the traffic management to enter a cooperation is a possible reduction of the high traffic burden induced by freight vehicles. In such a cooperation the traffic management could transfer information about the state of the operable traffic infrastructure, and therefore their related current travel time impact, to the logistics company. With this information the logistics company can optimize their delivery tours. This dissertation assesses the benefits of cooperation by analyzing how the delivery tours can be improved and how the freight traffic burden can be reduced. This question is investigated in a case study of an environmental-sensitive traffic management system in the city of Braunschweig, Germany and a city logistics service provider. The air pollution in Braunschweig does not comply with the EU air pollution limit. If the air pollution is high in a hot-spot area, the traffic management changes the traffic infrastructure to reduce the traffic flow into the hot-spot areas, which affects the surrounding traffic situation. In the case study, the degree of information from the traffic management and the tasks of the logistics company are varied and formulated in different dynamic Vehicle Routing Problems. The evaluation of the case study shows that a mutual benefit of the cooperation can be discovered over all variations of the experiments.", "keywords": [ "Traffic management", "Transport engineering", "Business", "Service (business)", "Service provider", "Engineering", "Marketing" ], "cited_by_count": 0, "is_retracted": false, "is_paratext": false, "open_access_url": "https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:gbv:084-2018011012113" }, { "id": "https://openalex.org/W4247401743", "doi": "10.1108/s2044-994120140000006017", "title": "Index", "year": 2014, "publication_date": "2014-12-03", "type": "paratext", "language": "en", "authors": [], "first_author": null, "venue": null, "publisher": null, "abstract": "Citation (2014), \"Index\", Sustainable Logistics (Transport and Sustainability, Vol. 6), Emerald Group Publishing Limited, Bingley, pp. 317-324. https://doi.org/10.1108/S2044-994120140000006017 Publisher: Emerald Group Publishing Limited Copyright © 2014 Emerald Group Publishing Limited INDEX Acting and shifting see Four As of sustainable logistics Aerodynamics rail transport, 48 road transport, 8–9, 47, 48, 55 Alternative fuels, 9, 33, 50–3 biofuels, 4, 9, 12, 50–1, 52, 53 compressed NG (CNG), 51, 52 dimethyl ether (DME), 51 dual fuel vehicles, 9, 51, 52 electricity see Electric vehicles; Electricity hybrid engines, 52 hydrogen, 4, 9, 51 liquid petroleum gas (LPG), 51 natural gas (NG), 5, 9, 51, 52 passenger transport, 4 use in logistics, 51–3 Amazon, 66 Anticipation see Four As of sustainable logistics ArcGIS Network Analysis, 63, 70, 71, 73–5 Austria rail transport, 37, 39 Avoidance see Four As of sustainable logistics Awareness see Four As of sustainable logistics Backloads, 41–2, 43–4 see also Collaboration Barges break-even distances, xxi, 231–4, 235, 236, 237 load factor, 237 vehicle technology, 49–50 see also Inland waterways Belgium inland waterways, 231–4 LAMBIT, 228, 231–4 rail transport, 37 urban light rail, Brussels, xxi, 255–60 Berlin intermodal shift, 167 bestLog programme, 38, 58 BESTUFS, 58 Biofuels, 4, 9, 12, 50–1, 52 biodiesel, 9, 50, 52 Greenenergy, 51–2 mixtures, 53 rail transport, 53 rapeseed, 52 Renewable Transport Fuels Obligation, 51 second-generation, 50–1, 52 sustainability, 50, 52, 53 Biogas, 9 Break-even distances cost analyses, 222, 236–8 cost modelling, 224–5, 227 defining, 220, 223 inland waterways, xxi, 231–4, 235, 236, 237 intermodal transport, xxi, 217–41 literature, 219–27 lowering, 234–40 measurement for distance, 222–3 rail transport, xxi, 227–31 reported break-even distances, 223–7 theory on break-even analysis, 219–23 Brussels urban light rail, xxi, 255–60 Bulgaria road transport, 37 Bundling, xix, 10, 52, 281, 283 city logistics, 267 EFVs, 279 Twin Hub project, 227–31 Business models (BM), 196–200 challenges, 200–1 complete transport company model, 198 Coop, 201–12 customer interface, 203–5 defining, 196–7 financial aspects, 207 four pillars, 197, 202–7 infrastructure management, 205–7 intermodal transport, xx–xxi, 193–214 local cooperation model, 198 nine building blocks, 197 Osterwalder's model, 193, 197, 198–207, 208–9 own–account transport model, xxi, 129, 193, 195, 198–9, 201–14 product, 202–3 subcontractor model, 198 Volvo, 201, 202–12 Canals see Inland waterways Cap & trade system, 23–4 Carbon footprint, 18, 19–20, 21, 90 Cargo Domizil, 38 Cargo trams, xxi, 245–61 Amsterdam, 249–51 Brussels, xxi, 255–60 Dresden, 249–51 literature, 248–55 Paris, 249–51 Vienna, 249–51 Zurich, 249–51 see also Electric freight vehicles Cargohopper, 277, 282–4 Cellulosic crops, 51 rapeseed, 52 City logistics, xxi, 57, 59, 266–7 bundling and, 267 CO2 emissions reduction, 9–10 EFVs and, xxiii, 266–9 European Union, 267, 268 SEVs and, xxiii, 295–313 traffic disturbance, 299, 300, 312 Clean air programme, xvii CLECAT, 48, 55–6 Climate change, xxii, 166 fossil fuels and, 4, 5 mode shift and, 10–11 CNG (Compressed natural gas), 51, 52 CO2 emissions, xvi, xvii, 1–27 biofuels and, 4, 9, 12, 50–1, 52 carbon footprint, 18, 19–20, 21 city logistics, 9–10 delivery services and, 63–80 economic growth and, 4–5, 14, 25–6 environmental reporting, 54–5 EU-ETS, 24 European Union, 3–4, 9–10, 12, 14, 19, 26, 218, 271 Lean and Green programme, xvi, 16 levers for reducing, 5–7 mitigation see Mitigation measures objective and reliable information, 19–20 passenger transport, 4, 66 policy instruments, 14, 20–4 reduction, xvi, xvii, 1–27 retail chains, 90–1 supply chain management, 6–7, 10–11 taxation, 22–3 VMT and, 63–80 warehouse location, 66, 67, 71, 73 Coastal freight, xx, 167 accessibility/load size, xx Coca-Cola, 282 Cold ironing, 50 Collaboration, 41–2 backloads, 41–2, 43–4 horizontal, xix, 115–16, 121 longitudinal, 115 Company reports, 54–5 Compressed natural gas (CNG), 51, 52 Consolidation of goods, 45–6 Containerisation, 37 swap bodies, 37, 39, 49 Contract logistics, 46 Contracts green logistics contracts, 85, 92–3, 97–8, 99, 100, 106 intermodal transport, 206–7 Coop intermodal transport, 201–12 Corporate social responsibility (CSR) reporting green retail chains, 84, 85, 87, 88, 89, 93, 94, 96, 100, 102, 103 Czech Republic road transport, 37 DB Schenker, 52, 53, 205, 206 Delivery services, xvii-xviii, 46 ArcGIS Network Analysis, 63, 70, 71, 73–5 depot locations, 71–3 e-commerce, 57, 66 emissions factors, 70–1 environmental effects, 63–80 greenhouse gas emissions, 63–80 household data, 73 large companies, 46 last-mile passenger vehicles, xvii-xviii, 68, 69, 73–4, 75–80 literature review, 66–7 local depot truck delivery, 68, 69, 75–80 network data set, 68–70 reductions in externalities, 66–7 regional warehouse truck delivery, 68, 69, 75–80 vehicle travel, 73–5 VMT and pollutants, 63–80 warehouse location, 66, 67, 71, 73 Depot location, 45, 71, 73 see also Warehouse location Diesel, xxii, 33, 51, 53, 246 biodiesel, 9, 50, 52 locomotives, 48 Dimethyl ether (DME), 51 Double-decker trailers, 42–3 Dresden cargo trams, xxi, 249–51 Driver feedback, 6, 9, 54 Driver training, 42, 53–4 fuel efficient driving, 6, 9, 53–4, 55 Dual fuel vehicles, 9, 51, 52 conversion kit, 52 e-commerce, 57, 66 Eco-driving, 53–4 see also Fuel efficiency Eco-efficiency definition, 140 packaging, 139, 140–1 supply chain integration, 140–1 Economic growth CO2 emissions reduction and, 4–5, 14, 25–6 green growth and, 14 ECOSTARS, xvii, 58 EFVs see Electric freight vehicles ELAbestLog programme, 38, 58 Electric freight vehicles (EFVs), xxiii, 33, 265–94 adding value, 279 architecture, 279 batteries, 268, 273, 274, 276 bundling, 279 cargo trams, xxi, 245–61 in city logistics, 266–9 compared to ICE vehicles, 273, 274, 276 definition, 268 economical performance, 273, 274 environmental performance, 273, 274–5 government ", "keywords": [ "Sustainable transport", "Index (typography)", "Sustainability", "Biofuel", "Business", "Engineering", "Environmental science", "Transport engineering", "Waste management" ], "cited_by_count": 0, "is_retracted": false, "is_paratext": true, "open_access_url": "https://doi.org/10.1108/s2044-994120140000006017" }, { "id": "https://openalex.org/W7165522321", "doi": "10.5281/zenodo.20795322", "title": "Dataset for Multi-level parcel distribution system based on rail transport, BDF swap bodies, and zero-emission last-mile logistics", "year": 2026, "publication_date": "2026-06-22", "type": "dataset", "language": "en", "authors": [ "Roland Jachimowski", "Emilian Szczepański", "Jūratė Liebuvienė", "Vida Jokubynienė", "Ewa Kardas-Cinal", "Mariusz Izdebski" ], "first_author": "Roland Jachimowski", "venue": "Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research)", "publisher": "European Organization for Nuclear Research", "abstract": "The purpose of this dataset is to enable the replication of the research results presented in the article: Jachimowski R, Szczepański E, Liebuvienė J, Jokubynienė V, Kardas-Cinal E, Izdebski M.: Multi-level parcel distribution system based on rail transport, BDF swap bodies, and zero-emission last-mile logistics. The dataset contains Excel files with input data, assumptions, and results used to reproduce the two case studies presented in the manuscript on a multi-level parcel distribution system based on rail transport, BDF swap bodies, and zero-emission last-mile logistics. The dataset was created as part of the E-Laas project (Energy optimal urban logistics As A Service).Project implemented as part of the call ERA-NET Cofund Urban Accessibility and Connectivity (ENUAC China Call) organized by JPI Urban Europe and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC). This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 875022. E-Laas project is carried out in an international consortium. Project coordinator in Europe: Chalmers University of Technology (Sweden), project coordinator in China: Shanghai University (China), consortium members: Tsinghua University (China), Warsaw University of Technology (Poland), cooperation partners: Stockholms stad, Trafikkontoret (Sweden), ParkUnload (Spain), Metropolis GZM (Poland), Shanghai Urban-Rural Construction and Transportation Department (China), Volvo Group Trucks Technology and Operations (Sweden).- The Chinese part of the project is funded by National Natural Science Foundation of China.- The Swedish part of the project is funded by Swedish Energy Agency.- The Polish part of the project is funded by the National Science Centre, Poland (project no. 2022/04/Y/ST8/00134). The value of the co-financing is PLN 878,107.00. Project duration 27/04/2023 - 26/04/2026 (36 months).", "keywords": [ "Swap (finance)", "Truck", "China", "Distribution (mathematics)", "City logistics" ], "cited_by_count": 0, "is_retracted": false, "is_paratext": false, "open_access_url": "https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.20795322" }, { "id": "https://openalex.org/W7160428250", "doi": "10.29119/1641-3466.2025.238.12", "title": "Modelling the dispersion of pollutants from road transport in street canyons on the example of Szczecin and Oslo", "year": 2025, "publication_date": "2025-01-01", "type": "article", "language": null, "authors": [ "Kinga Kijewska", "Milena Bojanowska", "Karolina Nadolska", "Wojciech Konicki" ], "first_author": "Kinga Kijewska", "venue": "Scientific Papers of Silesian University of Technology Organization and Management Series", "publisher": "Silesian University of Technology", "abstract": "Purpose: Emissions of nitrogen dioxide (NO2) and carbon monoxide (CO) from road transport have a notable impact on everyday life of city dwellers, where traffic congestion is one of the major problems. These emissions have an adverse effect on air quality, human health, and climate change. The aim of this study is to present the possibility of applying the analytical Gaussian Plume Dispersion Model (GPDM) to determine the dispersion of air pollutants from freight transport in an urban area with the use of real data obtained from road traffic detectors. Design/methodology/approach: The pollutant dispersion was modelled for nitrogen dioxide NO2 and carbon monoxide CO. The study covered the streets of urban agglomerations located near two city centers: in Oslo (Norway) and in Szczecin (Poland). The chemical reactions between NO2/CO and oxygen were included in the model. Pollutant dispersion was modelled for a height of 2 meters. Findings: In terms of traffic intensity, the type of vehicles and their speed are the main factors influencing the maximum value of pollutants concentration, occurring along the traffic axis. Both the increase in the share of trucks and the reduction in speed have a negative impact, as they contribute to an increase in local pollution concentrations. It was found that higher wind speeds generally have a positive effect on the faster dispersion of undesirable gas compounds in the air. Practical implications: The proposed model may be used as a supporting tool when deciding on potential locations for further air quality monitoring stations managed by the city and environmental protection authorities. Social implications: The proposed modified Gaussian Plume Dispersion Model can be used as a fast-response system for identifying exceedances of permissible pollution standards in urban agglomeration areas which are highly exposed to transport pollution. Originality/value: In most similar publications, pollutant distribution is modelled at lower heights (reflecting to the emitter heights). Our study results aim to visualize the distribution of pollutants not in the critical plane parallel to the road, but in the “exposure” plane, particularly in relation to residents of those road segments, as well as pedestrians and workers. Keywords: Gaussian Plume Dispersion Model, pollution, dispersion, air quality, traffic, urban freight transport, sustainable development. Category of the paper: Research paper.", "keywords": [ "Pollutant", "Air pollution", "Air quality index", "Dispersion (optics)", "Plume", "Nitrogen dioxide", "AERMOD", "Atmospheric dispersion modeling", "Street canyon" ], "cited_by_count": 0, "is_retracted": false, "is_paratext": false, "open_access_url": "https://doi.org/10.29119/1641-3466.2025.238.12" }, { "id": "https://openalex.org/W7005153745", "doi": null, "title": "Problème de transport long-courrier de colis : modèles orientés chemins et algorithmes diviser-pour-régner", "year": 2021, "publication_date": "2021-10-14", "type": "dissertation", "language": "en", "authors": [ "Camille Gras" ], "first_author": "Camille Gras", "venue": "HAL (Le Centre pour la Communication Scientifique Directe)", "publisher": "Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique", "abstract": "With the advent of e-commerce, many studies have been carried out on urban logistics and last-mile delivery.In this work, we optimize another stage of parcel delivery, the long-haul parcel transportation.The long-haul transportation is from the collection sorting centers to delivery depots. We do not consider how the parcels are brought from their departure post office to their collection sorting center, neither how they are transported to the post offices and then to individuals.The Long-Haul Parcel Transportation Problem (LHPTP), which we formally define, is a Service Network Design with Asset Management problem which integrates the sorting operation allowing a better consolidation of parcels in containers.The LHPTP is a tactical design optimization problem which consists in defining an annual transportation plan composed of fixed links, based on mid-term volume forecasts, while minimizing the total cost. This cost is composed of the logistics cost and the transportation cost. The parcel transportation is made with two types of vehicles (trucks with one or two containers) which are balanced over the network on a daily basis with the management of empty containers.The transportation is optimized over a two-level hybrid hub-and-spoke network at the scale of a country. Indeed, this industrial problem originates from a postal company and their datasets permit to address realistic size data (around 225 sites with 2500 demands).The complexity is increased by the fact that a single demand (origin, destination, number of parcels) can be routed over multiple paths simultaneously. Thus the number of possible transportation plans explodes.We propose a path-based Mixed Integer Linear Program (MILP) for the LHPTP and two divide-and-conquer algorithms exploiting this model to create better transportation plans.The first algorithm, the k-Clusters Algorithm, optimizes the LHPTP over a set of sites which are clustered beforehand. We test classical clustering techniques (spectral clustering, hierarchical clustering, k-means and random) using appropriate similarity functions (demand-based and distance-based) in order to see if it impacts the results. The original problem is divided into intercluster and intracluster subproblems which are solved with the MILP. Then the solutions of the subproblems are merged. The results obtained are compared to those obtained with a direct use of the MILP without clustering. It shows that certain properties of the clustering, such as obeying the hierarchy of the sites in the current postal network, have the most impact on the results.Thus we design a second algorithm, the Hierarchical Algorithm with Aggregation of Demands which exploits the two-level structure of the network. Its performance is related to the value of a truck filling rate threshold. The demands above this threshold can be routed directly while the ones below this threshold have to follow the hierarchical structure of the network.The routing of the two types of demands is optimized, first separately and then together in a multi-step process in which the subproblems are solved with the MILP.Various threshold values are tested to find out which one is the best, in terms of solution quality obtained and computational time.These tests show that the better filling rate do not result in the cheaper transportation plan in our case study. Moreover, the Hierarchical Algorithm allows to have clearly better transportation plans than the ones applied on the ground, the ones obtained via a direct use of the MILP and even the ones obtained with the k-Clusters Algorithm.Finally we implement these algorithms and present computational results.This shows that the divide-and-conquer paradigm is effective on service network design when addressing a large-scale industrial problem.", "keywords": [ "Flow network", "Sorting", "Transportation planning", "Transportation theory", "Plan (archaeology)", "Service (business)", "Integer programming", "Economies of scale", "Network planning and design" ], "cited_by_count": 0, "is_retracted": false, "is_paratext": false, "open_access_url": "https://theses.hal.science/tel-03462717v1/document" }, { "id": "https://openalex.org/W2946466407", "doi": null, "title": "Cleaning the Diesel Engine Emissions: The case of Danish automotive exhaust emission suppliers", "year": 2007, "publication_date": "2007-01-01", "type": "conference-paper", "language": "en", "authors": [ "Thomas Budde Christensen" ], "first_author": "Thomas Budde Christensen", "venue": "RUCforsk (Roskilde University)", "publisher": "Roskilde University", "abstract": "This paper examines how technologies for cleaning of diesel emission from road vehicles can be supported by facilitating a technology push in the Danish automotive emission control industry. The European commission is at present preparing legislation for the euro 5 emission standard (to be enforced in 2010). The standard is expected to include an 80% reduction of the maximum particulate emissions from diesel cars. The fulfillment of this requirement entails development and production of particulate filters for diesel cars and trucks. Theoretically the paper suggests a rethinking of public industry policy based on Michael Porters cluster theory. The paper however suggest that the narrow focus on productivity and economic growth in Porters theory should be qualified and integrated with a broader scope of societal policy aims including social and environmental issues. This suggestion also necessitates a rethinking of public governance that involve multilevel governance and integrating technology push and pull strategies. The agenda requires a re-conceptualisation of the innovation concept with special emphasis on value chain dynamics. The paper includes an analysis of the Danish innovation and industry policy and an analysis of the Danish automotive emission control industry based on case studies of four emission control system manufacturers.The paper concludes that an innovative cluster strategy should be launched in order to enhance innovation to the benefit of economic development in the Danish manufacturing industry and to the benefit of the environment. The implementation of the strategy calls for a multilevel governance where the public authorities integrate initiatives at different levels of governance and thereby creates a technology push of exhaust emission technology. The innovation strategy suggested in the paper combines and integrate different initiatives on four levels of governance: enforcement of strict emission limits that includes limits for emissions of particulates European level), funding for university research in strategic important areas of emission control technology, creating public-private innovation partnerships (national initiative), building regional innovation and competence centres for emission control technology, and creation of local environmental zones (in line with the Odense experiment and the Copenhagen City Logistics experiment) that will enable manufacturers to test new technology and develop prototypes (local level).", "keywords": [ "Automotive industry", "Automotive engineering", "Exhaust gas recirculation", "Diesel particulate filter", "Diesel fuel", "Diesel engine", "Diesel exhaust", "Environmental science", "Danish", "Automotive engine", "Business", "Waste management" ], "cited_by_count": 0, "is_retracted": false, "is_paratext": false, "open_access_url": "https://forskning.ruc.dk/da/publications/5d524500-c752-11db-bd5f-000ea68e967b" }, { "id": "https://openalex.org/W7133586084", "doi": null, "title": "Cooperation and Competition in Last Mile and Freight Consolidation", "year": 2026, "publication_date": "2026-03-02", "type": "other", "language": "en", "authors": [ "Fabio Mercurio" ], "first_author": "Fabio Mercurio", "venue": "TU/e Research Portal", "publisher": null, "abstract": "The rapid growth of e-commerce has transformed the nature of delivery logistics. Orders have become smaller, more frequent, and are sent to a greater number of dispersed destinations, often with tight delivery windows and high time sensitivity. This fragmented and dynamic delivery environment makes consolidation, i.e., grouping shipments, routes, or operations to reduce inefficiencies, increasingly difficult for delivery companies. As a result, trucks often run underutilized, routes overlap, and congestion in urban areas worsens. Emerging strategies, such as (shared) collection points networks and joint delivery models, show promise in this context but also raise new challenges, particularly around competition and collaboration between delivery companies. Our manuscript explores these challenges in both last-mile and freight delivery by investigating strategic interactions between companies using game theory. The first emerging strategy we study in this context relates to the deployment of collection points in city centers, locations where customers can collect their packages at a time that suits them best. While these collection points can significantly boost consolidation and delivery efficiency, their strategic placement by competing delivery companies may lead to overlap or clustering in the same areas. This, in turn, reduces their overall effectiveness from a societal perspective. In the first study of this thesis, we use a game-theoretic framework to analyze these competitive placement decisions and the role of public authorities (e.g., a municipality of a city) in influencing them. More precisely, we propose a competitive location model where collection points are placed within a network of districts and a multinomial logit framework is used to model customer choices. In this competitive setting, we analyze the Nash equilibria and measure potential inefficiencies using the price of stability. The analysis includes a theoretical two-district setting, where we find a significant mismatch between competitive and optimal public placement, leading to potential efficiency losses of up to 33%. In contrast, a case study based on a Dutch city shows a narrower difference between public and strategic placements. At the same time, the case study illustrates that it is not easy for authorities to close the gap between public and strategic placements, for example, by promoting the attractiveness of all collection points or those of particular interest to a public authority.In the second study, we remain inspired by the positioning of collection points, but shift our focus to the perspective of delivery companies collaboratively opening and subsequently operating a shared collection point network, another emerging strategy applied in practice. For such a strategy to be sustainable, the costs of opening collection points and the revenues generated from the shared network must be allocated in a reasonable way among the participants. To identify such reasonable allocations, we first introduce a stylized model in which a group of carriers can decide to position parcel lockers collectively. In this model, opening a locker comes at a cost, while serving a customer via close-by lockers generates a customer-specific profit. We then introduce and study the associated cooperative game to investigate whether carriers can allocate the joint profit in a stable (i.e., reasonable) way. We prove that a stable allocation always exists for particular configurations of locker locations and customers, but also provide a counterexample, demonstrating that stable allocations do not exist in the general sense. Generating a large set of instances, we introduce three possible allocation rules, and conduct several numerical experiments, showing that stable profit allocations exist in most situations. In the final study of the thesis, we turn our attention to the emerging strategy of freight consolidation, allowing delivery companies to group shipments on overlapping shipping routes. Typically, such collaborative initiatives require substantial investments in data-sharing infrastructure to facilitate effective cooperation. Similar to the second study, we use cooperative game theory to analyse how to allocate the costs related to investments and transport in a stable way. More precisely, we propose a game where a group of delivery companies may lower transportation costs through freight consolidation and shared vehicle capacity, while also considering the costs originated by transfer and transport processes, including investments in technology and infrastructure. Although stable cost allocations do not exist in general, we provide three conditions, related to capacity and fixed costs, under which stable allocations exist. Numerical experiments indicate, moreover, that existence of stable allocations is also likely outside of these conditions. As a whole, this thesis thus contributes to both the study of novel consolidation practices in last-mile delivery and freight logistics, as well as the development of tailored game theoretical models that allow us to gain both theoretical and practical insights in this area.", "keywords": [ "Consolidation (business)", "Software deployment", "Truck", "Context (archaeology)", "Competition (biology)", "Last mile (transportation)", "Delivery Performance", "Competitor analysis", "Multinomial logistic regression" ], "cited_by_count": 0, "is_retracted": false, "is_paratext": false, "open_access_url": "https://research.tue.nl/en/publications/d0ca7c20-49c8-452b-902b-ac82d74c8894" }, { "id": "https://openalex.org/W7163372612", "doi": "10.5281/zenodo.20490963", "title": "Dataset for Predictive Models of Energy Expenditure of Electric Delivery Vehicles in Urban Service Enterprises", "year": 2026, "publication_date": "2026-06-01", "type": "dataset", "language": "en", "authors": [ "Mariusz Izdebski", "Marianna Jacyna" ], "first_author": "Mariusz Izdebski", "venue": "Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research)", "publisher": "European Organization for Nuclear Research", "abstract": "The purpose of this dataset is to enable the replication of the research results presented in the article: Izdebski Mariusz, Jacyna Marianna: Predictive Models of Energy Expenditure of Electric Delivery Vehicles in Urban Service Enterprises, Proceedings of the 14th Asia-Pacific Conference on Transportation and the Environment (APTE 2025) / Xiaobo Qu [i in.] (red.), 2025, Atlantis Press, s.199-211, ISBN 978-94-6463-972-8. DOI:10.2991/978-94-6463-972-8_19 - published online: 29 December 2025, which discusses the development of models designed to forecast the energy consumption of electric vehicles used in urban service enterprises. The aim of the study was to identify the most suitable type of predictive model for estimating the energy demand of electric delivery vehicles. Dataset contains: Readme.txt: description of the dataset InputData.xlsx: contains the input data used in the model Multi_regresion_model.xlsx: contains the output data from the multiple regression model neural_network.xlsx: contains the output data from the neural network The dataset was created as part of the E-Laas project (Energy optimal urban logistics As A Service).Project implemented as part of the call ERA-NET Cofund Urban Accessibility and Connectivity (ENUAC China Call) organized by JPI Urban Europe and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC). This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 875022. E-Laas project is carried out in an international consortium. Project coordinator in Europe: Chalmers University of Technology (Sweden), project coordinator in China: Shanghai University (China), consortium members: Tsinghua University (China), Warsaw University of Technology (Poland), cooperation partners: Stockholms stad, Trafikkontoret (Sweden), ParkUnload (Spain), Metropolis GZM (Poland), Shanghai Urban-Rural Construction and Transportation Department (China), Volvo Group Trucks Technology and Operations (Sweden).- The Chinese part of the project is funded by National Natural Science Foundation of China.- The Swedish part of the project is funded by Swedish Energy Agency.- The Polish part of the project is funded by the National Science Centre, Poland (project no. 2022/04/Y/ST8/00134). The value of the co-financing is PLN 878,107.00. Project duration 27/04/2023 - 26/04/2026 (36 months).", "keywords": [ "Service (business)", "Consumption (sociology)", "Energy consumption", "China", "Electric energy consumption", "Predictive modelling", "Urban area" ], "cited_by_count": 0, "is_retracted": false, "is_paratext": false, "open_access_url": "https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.20490963" }, { "id": "https://openalex.org/W7163430823", "doi": "10.5281/zenodo.20491777", "title": "Dataset for The use of UAVs in Last-Mile Logistics: opportunities, constraints and potential benefits of Autonomous Drone Delivery Systems (ADDS)", "year": 2026, "publication_date": "2026-06-01", "type": "dataset", "language": "en", "authors": [ "Michał Kłodawski" ], "first_author": "Michał Kłodawski", "venue": "Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research)", "publisher": "European Organization for Nuclear Research", "abstract": "The purpose of this dataset is to enable the replication and interpretation of the simulation research results presented in the articleMichał Kłodawski, The use of UAVs in Last-Mile Logistics: opportunities, constraints and potential benefits of Autonomous Drone Delivery Systems (ADDS). The dataset supports the analysis of last-mile parcel delivery systems with the use of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), with particular attention to demand distribution, parcel-locker locations, wind conditions, UAV speed changes, energy consumption and CO2 emissions. The dataset includes:- spatial data describing network nodes and links,- residential building locations,- parcel-locker locations,- parcel demand assigned to buildings and parcel lockers,- model parameters used in the simulation study,- wind data used to analyse the influence of wind conditions on UAV operations,- simulation results for UAV speed under no-wind and wind conditions,- aggregated comparison of energy consumption and CO2 emissions for different delivery modes. The dataset was created as part of the E-Laas project (Energy optimal urban logistics As A Service).Project implemented as part of the call ERA-NET Cofund Urban Accessibility and Connectivity (ENUAC China Call) organized by JPI Urban Europe and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC). This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 875022. E-Laas project is carried out in an international consortium. Project coordinator in Europe: Chalmers University of Technology (Sweden), project coordinator in China: Shanghai University (China), consortium members: Tsinghua University (China), Warsaw University of Technology (Poland), cooperation partners: Stockholms stad, Trafikkontoret (Sweden), ParkUnload (Spain), Metropolis GZM (Poland), Shanghai Urban-Rural Construction and Transportation Department (China), Volvo Group Trucks Technology and Operations (Sweden).- The Chinese part of the project is funded by National Natural Science Foundation of China.- The Swedish part of the project is funded by Swedish Energy Agency.- The Polish part of the project is funded by the National Science Centre, Poland (project no. 2022/04/Y/ST8/00134). The value of the co-financing is PLN 878,107.00. Project duration 27/04/2023 - 26/04/2026 (36 months).", "keywords": [ "Drone", "Energy consumption", "Wind power", "China", "Consumption (sociology)", "Time horizon" ], "cited_by_count": 0, "is_retracted": false, "is_paratext": false, "open_access_url": "https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.20491777" }, { "id": "https://openalex.org/W7163395172", "doi": "10.5281/zenodo.20491776", "title": "Dataset for The use of UAVs in Last-Mile Logistics: opportunities, constraints and potential benefits of Autonomous Drone Delivery Systems (ADDS)", "year": 2026, "publication_date": "2026-06-01", "type": "dataset", "language": "en", "authors": [ "Michał Kłodawski" ], "first_author": "Michał Kłodawski", "venue": "Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research)", "publisher": "European Organization for Nuclear Research", "abstract": "The purpose of this dataset is to enable the replication and interpretation of the simulation research results presented in the articleMichał Kłodawski, The use of UAVs in Last-Mile Logistics: opportunities, constraints and potential benefits of Autonomous Drone Delivery Systems (ADDS). The dataset supports the analysis of last-mile parcel delivery systems with the use of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), with particular attention to demand distribution, parcel-locker locations, wind conditions, UAV speed changes, energy consumption and CO2 emissions. The dataset includes:- spatial data describing network nodes and links,- residential building locations,- parcel-locker locations,- parcel demand assigned to buildings and parcel lockers,- model parameters used in the simulation study,- wind data used to analyse the influence of wind conditions on UAV operations,- simulation results for UAV speed under no-wind and wind conditions,- aggregated comparison of energy consumption and CO2 emissions for different delivery modes. The dataset was created as part of the E-Laas project (Energy optimal urban logistics As A Service).Project implemented as part of the call ERA-NET Cofund Urban Accessibility and Connectivity (ENUAC China Call) organized by JPI Urban Europe and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC). This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 875022. E-Laas project is carried out in an international consortium. Project coordinator in Europe: Chalmers University of Technology (Sweden), project coordinator in China: Shanghai University (China), consortium members: Tsinghua University (China), Warsaw University of Technology (Poland), cooperation partners: Stockholms stad, Trafikkontoret (Sweden), ParkUnload (Spain), Metropolis GZM (Poland), Shanghai Urban-Rural Construction and Transportation Department (China), Volvo Group Trucks Technology and Operations (Sweden).- The Chinese part of the project is funded by National Natural Science Foundation of China.- The Swedish part of the project is funded by Swedish Energy Agency.- The Polish part of the project is funded by the National Science Centre, Poland (project no. 2022/04/Y/ST8/00134). The value of the co-financing is PLN 878,107.00. Project duration 27/04/2023 - 26/04/2026 (36 months).", "keywords": [ "Drone", "Energy consumption", "Wind power", "China", "Consumption (sociology)", "Time horizon" ], "cited_by_count": 0, "is_retracted": false, "is_paratext": false, "open_access_url": "https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.20491776" }, { "id": "https://openalex.org/W2892274290", "doi": null, "title": "Design and Management of Networked Energy and Logistics Systems", "year": 2015, "publication_date": "2015-01-01", "type": "dissertation", "language": "en", "authors": [ "Wei Min Qi" ], "first_author": "Wei Min Qi", "venue": "eScholarship (California Digital Library)", "publisher": "California Digital Library", "abstract": "Key to a sustainable future is the transformative human use of energy and transportation--from a fossil-fuel dominant to a renewables-mixed portfolio of energy production, from a supply-follow-demand to a demand-responsive pattern of power consumption, and from capacity-oriented to usage-based allocation of logistics mobility. Motivated by these trends, my dissertation presents three essays to address the challenges that governments and businesses worldwide face in, respectively, 1) planning infrastructure for wind energy production, 2) designing coordination strategies for large-scale charging of plug-in electric vehicles, and 3) evaluating the economic and environmental viability of using shared mobility for retail e-commerce. Two common threads underlying my dissertation research are 1) strategic decision-making with insights into the operational level and 2) network optimization that takes into account the interdependencies both within and out of system boundaries. Solving these network optimization problems invokes the techniques of mixed-integer conic programming, decomposition algorithms, and continuous approximation modeling. Specifically, the three essays are organized as three chapters of the dissertation:Chapter 1 studies the problem of jointly planning energy storage (ES) and transmission for wind energy generation. Regions with abundant wind resources usually have no ready access to the existing electric grid. However, building transmission lines that instantaneously deliver all geographically distributed wind energy can be costly. Energy storage systems can help reduce the cost of bridging wind farms and grids, and can mitigate the intermittency of wind outputs. We propose models of transmission network planning with colocation of ES systems. Our models determine the sizes and sites of ES systems as well as the associated topology and capacity of the transmission network under the feed-in-tariff policy instrument. We first formulate a location model as a mixed-integer second-order-conic program to solve for the ES-transmission network design with uncapacitated storage. Then we propose a method to choose ES sizes by deriving a closed-form upper bound. The major insight is that, in most cases, using even small-sized ES systems can significantly reduce the total expected cost, but their marginal values diminish faster than those of the transmission lines as their capacities expand. Despite uncertainties in climate, technologies, and construction costs, the cost-efficient infrastructure layout is remarkably robust. We also identify the major bottleneck cost factors for different forms of ES technologies.Chapter 2 presents a hierarchical optimal control framework to coordinate the charging of plug-in electric vehicles in multifamily dwellings. A particular scenario is considered where distributed urban residential communities access electric power supplies through a common primary distribution transformer. We first formulate a centralized finite-horizon control problem. The proposed multistage mixed integer program seeks to maximize the total utility of the charging service provider while satisfying customers' charge demands and transformer capacity constraints. By exploiting the structure of the centralized model, we decompose the centralized problem with respect to each parking deck, based on the Lagrangian relaxation method; we design an effective heuristic method to find feasible solutions to speed up convergence. Case studies on operations of five parking decks following different charging strategies are carried out. Simulation results demonstrate that the proposed distributed hierarchical charging strategy outperforms the centralized charging strategy from the perspective of computational requirements. System reliability and customer privacy protection are also discussed.Chapter 3 studies an integrated logistics system with shared mobility for retail e-commerce. Two socioeconomic transformations, namely, the booms in sharing economy and retail e-commerce, lead to the prospect where shared mobility of passenger cars prevails throughout urban areas for home delivery services. Local governments and logistics services providers are in need of evaluating the potentially substantial impacts of this mode shift, given their societal and environmental concerns and economic objectives. We addresses this need by providing a logistics planning framework: 1) Part one presents logistics planning models. These models characterize optimal routes of short-haul trucks and passenger cars, and generate the optimal density of service zones within which passenger vehicles pick up goods and fulfill the last-mile delivery. 2) Part two, based on empirical estimates, analyzes operating costs and greenhouse gas emissions implications of this sharing logistics paradigm. The findings suggest that a transition to this paradigm has the potential for creating considerable economic and environmental benefits, although immediate savings are not as achievable as one may conjecture. If being in this paradigm, even exclusively minimizing operating costs does not significantly increase emissions relative to the minimum level of emissions. A non-linear payment scheme can be used to efficiently induce shared mobility into passenger car home delivery services.", "keywords": [ "Wind power", "Computer science", "Grid", "Operations research", "Environmental economics", "Engineering", "Economics" ], "cited_by_count": 0, "is_retracted": false, "is_paratext": false, "open_access_url": "https://escholarship.org/uc/item/6z63s3w4" }, { "id": "https://openalex.org/W7163324446", "doi": "10.5281/zenodo.20490962", "title": "Dataset for Predictive Models of Energy Expenditure of Electric Delivery Vehicles in Urban Service Enterprises", "year": 2026, "publication_date": "2026-06-01", "type": "dataset", "language": "en", "authors": [ "Mariusz Izdebski", "Marianna Jacyna" ], "first_author": "Mariusz Izdebski", "venue": "Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research)", "publisher": "European Organization for Nuclear Research", "abstract": "The purpose of this dataset is to enable the replication of the research results presented in the article: Izdebski Mariusz, Jacyna Marianna: Predictive Models of Energy Expenditure of Electric Delivery Vehicles in Urban Service Enterprises, Proceedings of the 14th Asia-Pacific Conference on Transportation and the Environment (APTE 2025) / Xiaobo Qu [i in.] (red.), 2025, Atlantis Press, s.199-211, ISBN 978-94-6463-972-8. DOI:10.2991/978-94-6463-972-8_19 - published online: 29 December 2025, which discusses the development of models designed to forecast the energy consumption of electric vehicles used in urban service enterprises. The aim of the study was to identify the most suitable type of predictive model for estimating the energy demand of electric delivery vehicles. Dataset contains: Readme.txt: description of the dataset InputData.xlsx: contains the input data used in the model Multi_regresion_model.xlsx: contains the output data from the multiple regression model neural_network.xlsx: contains the output data from the neural network The dataset was created as part of the E-Laas project (Energy optimal urban logistics As A Service).Project implemented as part of the call ERA-NET Cofund Urban Accessibility and Connectivity (ENUAC China Call) organized by JPI Urban Europe and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC). This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 875022. E-Laas project is carried out in an international consortium. Project coordinator in Europe: Chalmers University of Technology (Sweden), project coordinator in China: Shanghai University (China), consortium members: Tsinghua University (China), Warsaw University of Technology (Poland), cooperation partners: Stockholms stad, Trafikkontoret (Sweden), ParkUnload (Spain), Metropolis GZM (Poland), Shanghai Urban-Rural Construction and Transportation Department (China), Volvo Group Trucks Technology and Operations (Sweden).- The Chinese part of the project is funded by National Natural Science Foundation of China.- The Swedish part of the project is funded by Swedish Energy Agency.- The Polish part of the project is funded by the National Science Centre, Poland (project no. 2022/04/Y/ST8/00134). The value of the co-financing is PLN 878,107.00. Project duration 27/04/2023 - 26/04/2026 (36 months).", "keywords": [ "Service (business)", "Consumption (sociology)", "Energy consumption", "China", "Electric energy consumption", "Predictive modelling", "Urban area" ], "cited_by_count": 0, "is_retracted": false, "is_paratext": false, "open_access_url": "https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.20490962" }, { "id": "https://openalex.org/W7204972689", "doi": null, "title": "ダカールにおける都市貨物配送向けLNG導入の経済的・環境的最適化", "year": null, "publication_date": null, "type": "dissertation", "language": "en", "authors": [ "Marieme Male" ], "first_author": "Marieme Male", "venue": "Institutional Repositories DataBase (IRDB)", "publisher": "National Institute of Informatics", "abstract": "Urban freight transportation is a critical yet emission-intensive component of urban energy supply chains, particularly in rapidly developing cities.In Senegal's Dakar metropolitan region, the distribution of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) is nearly entirely dependent on diesel-powered heavy-duty vehicles, raising concerns regarding fuel price volatility and environmental performance.This thesis evaluates the economic and environmental implications of introducing liquefied natural gas (LNG) trucks into Dakar's urban LPG distribution system using a novel multi-objective optimization framework.A system-level monthly freight distribution model is developed to represent deliveries from a centralized storage facility to eight urban depots using heavy-duty rigid trucks.Depot demand is estimated via population-weighted allocation, and representative delivery routes are geospatially determined.Five operational scenarios are analyzed, ranging from a baseline Euro VI diesel fleet to full LNG adoption under Euro VI standards.The methodology incorporates three key innovations: (1) payload-sensitive fuel consumption modeling based on vehicle dynamics; (2) probabilistic methane emission modeling accounting for upstream and combustion methane slip across Low, Medium, and High scenarios; and (3) a biobjective linear optimization model solved via the ε-constraint method to explicitly capture trade-offs between operating cost minimization and greenhouse gas emission reduction.Results indicate that LNG adoption can reduce operating costs by 30-65% depending on LNG penetration and price assumptions.However, under Medium and High methane emission scenarios, LNG-dominant configurations increase total well-to-wheel greenhouse gas emissions by 5-12% compared to modern diesel alternatives, despite lower tailpipe CO₂ emissions.The optimization reveals a clear Pareto frontier with distinct trade-offs: dieseldominated fleets minimize emissions but maximize costs, while LNG-dominated fleets minimize costs but increase emissions under conservative methane assumptions.Mixed fleets offer balanced but non-dominant solutions.These findings challenge the assumption that LNG universally offers climate benefits for urban freight.The study contributes a decision-support framework for evaluating fuel transitions in data-scarce urban contexts and provides evidence that LNG adoption in Dakar's LPG distribution requires stringent methane monitoring and mitigation to avoid unintended climate consequences.The methodology and insights are transferable to other developing cities considering natural gas as a transitional freight fuel.", "keywords": [ "Greenhouse gas", "Liquefied natural gas", "Diesel fuel", "Truck", "Natural gas", "Methane", "Fuel efficiency", "Gasoline", "Liquefied petroleum gas" ], "cited_by_count": 0, "is_retracted": false, "is_paratext": false, "open_access_url": "https://oacis.repo.nii.ac.jp/record/2001099/files/kam4907.pdf" }, { "id": "https://openalex.org/W573720399", "doi": null, "title": "Transnational Institutional Governance to tackle Global Climate Change : Lessons from European Emissions Standards for Commercial Transport Vehicles", "year": 2015, "publication_date": "2015-01-01", "type": "article", "language": "en", "authors": [ "Behbood Borghei" ], "first_author": "Behbood Borghei", "venue": null, "publisher": null, "abstract": "With the increasing trends in trade of goods and services as well as the expansion of road infrastructure and networks, commercial road transport has dominated a significant share of inland and urban logistics in the world and particularly in Europe. This includes not only the basic supply of citizens’ needs through long-haul traffic and short-distance city trucks but also by providing urban services such as courier delivery, household waste pickup and refuse collection as well as passengers movements by public bus transport and inter-city coach transit.Meanwhile, concerns over air quality problems and environmental sustainability of road transportation have soared up as more and more vehicles travelled on fossil fuels resulting in more pollution, particularly in dense urban areas. The problem is not only limited to the air pollution and adverse health effects caused by exhaust gas emissions, but also dependency on fossil fuels as non-renewable sources of energy and as a major contributor to global warming and climate change over the long time.Having said that, the purpose of this thesis is to provide an understanding that could be helpful in envisioning sustainability transitions in an established industry setting which is dominated by a very few number of incumbent firms who retain majority of the market share as well as current technological paradigm which mainly determines the choice of technological solutions in this field.Study results suggest that sustainability transitions can be envisaged through evolutionary processes that include both technological and institutional change at the same time. Regarding technological change, the role of incumbent firms must be considered as important sources of knowledge, skills, experience as well as R&D investment capital and the pool of critical human expertise that would otherwise remain unexploited if their competences were not effectively absorbed in synergies for sustainability transitions. This is termed as regime-driven transformation in this study.Meanwhile, continuous landscape pressure have to be maintained through effective regulatory frameworks that govern further reductions in the greenhouse gas emissions and to engage incumbents in a collectively shared envisioning of sustainability transitions. This can be enabled by bringing back the role of institutions as an alternative (complementary) entry point to the existing literature on sociotechnical transitions. In doing so, the predominant notion of institutions as the rigid and static structures that constrain innovation is questioned. Instead, it is suggested that institutions can provide resources and structures for actors to engage and for technologies to advance and thus to facilitate long-term sustainability transitions.", "keywords": [ "Sustainability", "Business", "Truck", "Climate change", "Natural resource economics", "Public transport", "Sustainable transport", "Greenhouse gas", "Corporate governance", "Global warming", "Air quality index", "Fossil fuel" ], "cited_by_count": 0, "is_retracted": false, "is_paratext": false, "open_access_url": "http://www.diva-portal.org/smash/record.jsf?pid=diva2:789768" }, { "id": "https://openalex.org/W2907632601", "doi": null, "title": "HEV TCP Task 27: Final report - Electrification of Transport Logistic Vehicles (eLogV)", "year": 2017, "publication_date": "2017-10-01", "type": "report", "language": "en", "authors": [ "Florian Kleiner", "Martin Beermann", "Eric Beers", "Bülent Çatay", "Huw Davies" ], "first_author": "Florian Kleiner", "venue": "elib (German Aerospace Center)", "publisher": "Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt e. V. (DLR)", "abstract": "The Hybrid and Electric Vehicle Technology Collaboration Programmes (HEV TCP) is an international membership group collaborating under the International Energy Agency (IEA) framework and aims to produce and disseminate balanced objective information about advanced electric, hybrid, and fuel cell vehicles for governments and local authorities. As one of its activities, Task 27 named ‘Electrification of transport logistics vehicles (eLogV)’ has the scope to investigate the potential and feasibility of electric freight vehicles (EFVs) for road freight transport and urban logistics with the objectives, to summarize the status of vehicle and infrastructure technologies, implementation and hurdles, to identify early niche markets and commercialization opportunities and to provide policy recommendations for further research and deployment activities. To manage the work the activity was split into three steps: (1) Investigate the status of EFVs, (2) Development opportunities of EFV transport logistics and (3) Engaging with policy in the area of EFV transport logistics. The project delivered four presentations at international events and three accompanying research papers targeted at key stakeholders in industry, R&D, academia, NGOs and government. In addition to the presentations and research papers, the activity also held four international workshops, the first in Stuttgart (DE), the second in Amsterdam (NL), the third in Vienna (AT) and the fourth in Coventry (UK). These workshops attracted key stakeholder involved with logistics, electric vehicle technology, policy, etc. The presentations at the international conferences, the discussions at the workshops and the continued engagement with stakeholders all focused around the support and dissemination of the desk based research activity. In addition, the activity resulted in a number of key deliverables: (1) Vehicle Database, which presents the key facts of EFVs available on the market or presented as prototypes, (2) Project Profiles, which present key facts of on-going or completed demonstration projects from the partner countries, (3) Workshop Presentations provided by stakeholders, and around which the discussion points noted were arrived at. The activities within the project reached a wide target audience and the results of these activities presents a valuable resource that collates activities regarding EFVs in transport logistics in the partner countries. All of the results remain accessible on the HEV TCP Task 27 website (http://www.ieahev.org/tasks/e-logistics-task-27/) to support stakeholders involved in the EFV transport logistics.", "keywords": [ "Electrification", "Commercialization", "Business", "Scope (computer science)", "Stakeholder", "Government (linguistics)", "General partnership", "Marketing", "Engineering management", "Transport engineering", "Public relations", "Engineering" ], "cited_by_count": 0, "is_retracted": false, "is_paratext": false, "open_access_url": "https://elib.dlr.de/118837/1/2017-10-16_HEV%20TCP_Task%2027_final%20report_upload.pdf" }, { "id": "https://openalex.org/W7148288629", "doi": "10.5281/zenodo.19387921", "title": "Why Drones Deliver Medicine But Not Pizza", "year": 2026, "publication_date": "2026-04-02", "type": "other", "language": "en", "authors": [ "Daniel Rosehill", "Gemini 3.1 (Flash)", "Chatterbox TTS" ], "first_author": "Daniel Rosehill", "venue": "Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research)", "publisher": "European Organization for Nuclear Research", "abstract": "Episode summary: Drone delivery is already a life-saving utility in parts of Africa, but in the US, it's hitting regulatory and economic turbulence. This episode explores why medical drones thrive in Rwanda while consumer pizza drops face a $63 cost problem. We unpack the \"observer\" bottleneck, the physics of battery weight, and the network slicing that keeps drones from falling out of the sky. Show Notes The Future of Delivery Is Here—Just Not Where You Think If you imagine drone delivery, you might picture a futuristic scene from a 90s sci-fi film: a flying vehicle pulling up to your window to drop off dinner. While that specific vision hasn't materialized in most Western cities, the technology of autonomous logistics has quietly revolutionized healthcare in parts of the world that skipped traditional infrastructure entirely. The central theme of modern drone delivery is a stark divergence between two parallel tracks: medical necessity and consumer convenience. In Rwanda, the company Zipline has moved far beyond \"pilot programs\" to become a national utility. Since launching in 2016, Zipline has built a network of distribution centers covering 80% of the Rwandan population. The operation is seamless: a doctor sends a request via WhatsApp, a technician packs a blood box onto a zip-rail launch system, and a drone autonomously flies 15 minutes to a remote clinic. The drone drops the package via parachute and returns home. There is no landing, no hand-off, and no paperwork at the site. This frictionless logistics chain is a lifeline in a country where mountainous terrain and washed-out roads can make a 20-mile truck trip take four hours. By leapfrogging roads, much like many African nations skipped landlines for mobile phones, Rwanda has created a regulatory framework that works because the value proposition is undeniable. In contrast, consumer drone delivery in the United States faces a much steeper climb. While Alphabet's Wing has found success in Australian suburbs like Logan—where large backyards and clear lines of sight make tether drops easy—the US regulatory environment is a different beast. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) operates under rules designed for Cessnas and Boeings, not quadcopters. The biggest bottleneck is the \"observer problem.\" For a long time, the FAA required a human pilot to maintain visual line of sight of the drone. Paying a human to stand on a roof and watch a drone deliver a bag of chips destroys the economics of the model. The math on this is brutal. Internal projections from Amazon suggested that, without massive efficiency gains, a single drone delivery could cost $63. This astronomical figure stems from high hardware costs, low utilization, and labor-intensive oversight. Traditional last-mile delivery via UPS or FedEx costs between $2 and $5 per stop. For drones to compete, they need to hit a similar price point, likely requiring a \"20-to-1\" ratio where one operator in a control center monitors twenty to thirty drones simultaneously. Currently, the FAA's trust in autonomous AI isn't high enough to grant those waivers at scale, keeping labor costs high. Even if regulation eases, the hardware presents its own challenges. Commercial delivery drones are not the $200 toys found at malls; they are complex machines costing tens of thousands of dollars. The Amazon MK30, for example, features redundant motors, advanced \"detect and avoid\" sensors (radar and lidar), and airframes capable of flying in light rain. Redundancy is non-negotiable because a drone dropping from the sky onto a pedestrian or pet is a liability nightmare. However, this safety adds weight, and weight is the enemy of flight. The \"Achilles' heel\" of drone delivery is the battery. Lithium-ion batteries are heavy, and the more weight dedicated to power, the less is available for payload. Most commercial drones are capped at carrying five pounds, which covers 85% of Amazon's inventory but excludes larger items like microwaves. Furthermore, weather remains a significant constraint. While drones can handle light rain, thunderstorms and high winds ground the fleet, introducing reliability issues that ground-based vans simply don't face. Connectivity is another critical layer. Urban drones rely on \"network slicing\"—dedicated lanes of 5G bandwidth prioritized for drone command and control—ensuring that a drone's signal isn't throttled by crowds streaming video at a stadium. In rural areas, drones rely on high-frequency radio or satellite links like Starlink. However, the most important safety feature isn't just the connection; it's \"edge intelligence.\" Drones are increasingly edge-heavy, meaning they possess enough on-board processing to make decisions without the cloud. If a connection drops, the drone executes a \"lost link\" protocol: it climbs to a safe altitude, checks GPS, and returns to base or autonomously finds a safe landing zone like an empty field. Ultimately, the future of drone delivery is unevenly distributed. In Rwanda, it is a solved problem saving lives daily. In the US, it remains an expensive, regulatory-heavy experiment slowly finding its footing in specific suburbs. The technology works; the challenge now is integrating it into a complex airspace and an even more complex economic model. Listen online: https://myweirdprompts.com/episode/drone-delivery-medicine-pizza-reality", "keywords": [ "Drone", "Guard (computer science)", "Theme (computing)", "Terrain", "Face (sociological concept)", "Technician", "Marketing buzz", "Hollywood" ], "cited_by_count": 0, "is_retracted": false, "is_paratext": false, "open_access_url": "https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.19387921" }, { "id": "https://openalex.org/W7151615504", "doi": "10.15488/18631", "title": "Information systems and decision support for sustainable urban transport, energy systems, and emerging methods in research and practice", "year": 2025, "publication_date": "2025-01-01", "type": "dissertation", "language": "en", "authors": [ "Maximilian Heumann" ], "first_author": "Maximilian Heumann", "venue": "Institutional Repository of Leibniz Universität Hannover (Leibniz Universität Hannover)", "publisher": "Leibniz University Hannover", "abstract": "The dissertation follows a multi-level research approach based on design science principles and integrates different methods to generate insights and develop decision support functions to promote sustainable urban development in the fields of mobility, energy and logistics. The approaches include spatial data analysis, optimization modelling, machine learning, text mining and the development of decision support systems (DSS). Some of the methods used are: Spatial data analysis and geographic information systems (GIS): These methods are used to analyze e-scooter usage patterns, determine the optimal placement of wind turbines, and study the factors that influence the adoption of residential solar systems. Optimization modeling: The dissertation presents optimization models to support strategic and operational decisions in different contexts. For example, optimization models are used to optimize the logistics chain for urban deliveries, support decision making for operators of aging wind turbines, and optimize a smart logistics concept for e-food operations. Data mining and supervised and unsupervised learning: Machine learning and data mining techniques are used to gain insights from unstructured data. For example, web content mining, natural language preocessing, and topic modeling is used to analyze causes of escooter accidents. Semantic analysis and topic modeling is applied to social media data and scientific articles to understand the perception and discourse on large language models such as ChatGPT. Also clustering and regression methods are applied on spatial data and taxonomy-based data. Delphi study: A Delphi study is conducted to gain expert knowledge and validate simulation results in the context of sustainable logistics scenarios. The core findings can be divided into three main thematic areas: Sustainable urban transportation and mobility: in the field of urban logistics, a decision support system (DSS) is developed to help decision makers evaluate and compare different urban logistics scenarios to enable informed and environmentally conscious decisions in the design of urban and rural logistics networks. This DSS quantifies the trade-offs between cost efficiency and sustainability, helping practitioners to manage the complexity of green logistics in urban and rural environments. • Evidence shows that establishing shared freight consolidation centers outside city centers with micro-depots near city cores can reduce truck traffic and fuel consumption. • Shared micromobility research shows spatiotemporal e-scooter usage patterns, accident causes, and factors affecting shared e-scooter, bicycle, and e-moped usage. Sustainable energy systems: The dissertation focuses on the management of wind turbines and residential solar systems. • GIS frameworks are created to support decision making for aging wind turbines, analyze economic viability and regulatory challenges. The results provide important insights for the end-of-funding analysis of wind power plants, whereby a prompt repowering one to two years after the end of a subsidy can generally be suggested. The factors influencing the adoption and pricing of residential solar systems in Germany are examined, revealing significant spatial solar system price differences in Germany and a significant positive relationship is between green voters and plug-in solar system adoption. Emerging technologies and methods in the IS domain: The dissertation also examines the applications of advanced methods and technologies in IS research and practice. • Taxonomy-based data clustering methods are investigated to gain insights providing guidelines for their application. • The social and scientific perception of large language models, especially generative, pre-trained, transformer-based chatbots, is analyzed uncovering potential areas for improvement providing guidance for future research and development in the field of conversational artificial intelligence. Encountered limitations highlight the importance of transparency in the assumptions, scalability, integration with existing IT infrastructures, and evaluation of DSS.", "keywords": [ "Decision support system", "Delphi method", "Geographic information system", "Cluster analysis", "Context (archaeology)", "Information system", "Sustainable development", "Big data", "Intelligent decision support system" ], "cited_by_count": 0, "is_retracted": false, "is_paratext": false, "open_access_url": "https://repo.uni-hannover.de/handle/123456789/18775" }, { "id": "https://openalex.org/W7148458961", "doi": "10.5281/zenodo.19387922", "title": "Why Drones Deliver Medicine But Not Pizza", "year": 2026, "publication_date": "2026-04-02", "type": "other", "language": "en", "authors": [ "Daniel Rosehill", "Gemini 3.1 (Flash)", "Chatterbox TTS" ], "first_author": "Daniel Rosehill", "venue": "Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research)", "publisher": "European Organization for Nuclear Research", "abstract": "Episode summary: Drone delivery is already a life-saving utility in parts of Africa, but in the US, it's hitting regulatory and economic turbulence. This episode explores why medical drones thrive in Rwanda while consumer pizza drops face a $63 cost problem. We unpack the \"observer\" bottleneck, the physics of battery weight, and the network slicing that keeps drones from falling out of the sky. Show Notes The Future of Delivery Is Here—Just Not Where You Think If you imagine drone delivery, you might picture a futuristic scene from a 90s sci-fi film: a flying vehicle pulling up to your window to drop off dinner. While that specific vision hasn't materialized in most Western cities, the technology of autonomous logistics has quietly revolutionized healthcare in parts of the world that skipped traditional infrastructure entirely. The central theme of modern drone delivery is a stark divergence between two parallel tracks: medical necessity and consumer convenience. In Rwanda, the company Zipline has moved far beyond \"pilot programs\" to become a national utility. Since launching in 2016, Zipline has built a network of distribution centers covering 80% of the Rwandan population. The operation is seamless: a doctor sends a request via WhatsApp, a technician packs a blood box onto a zip-rail launch system, and a drone autonomously flies 15 minutes to a remote clinic. The drone drops the package via parachute and returns home. There is no landing, no hand-off, and no paperwork at the site. This frictionless logistics chain is a lifeline in a country where mountainous terrain and washed-out roads can make a 20-mile truck trip take four hours. By leapfrogging roads, much like many African nations skipped landlines for mobile phones, Rwanda has created a regulatory framework that works because the value proposition is undeniable. In contrast, consumer drone delivery in the United States faces a much steeper climb. While Alphabet's Wing has found success in Australian suburbs like Logan—where large backyards and clear lines of sight make tether drops easy—the US regulatory environment is a different beast. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) operates under rules designed for Cessnas and Boeings, not quadcopters. The biggest bottleneck is the \"observer problem.\" For a long time, the FAA required a human pilot to maintain visual line of sight of the drone. Paying a human to stand on a roof and watch a drone deliver a bag of chips destroys the economics of the model. The math on this is brutal. Internal projections from Amazon suggested that, without massive efficiency gains, a single drone delivery could cost $63. This astronomical figure stems from high hardware costs, low utilization, and labor-intensive oversight. Traditional last-mile delivery via UPS or FedEx costs between $2 and $5 per stop. For drones to compete, they need to hit a similar price point, likely requiring a \"20-to-1\" ratio where one operator in a control center monitors twenty to thirty drones simultaneously. Currently, the FAA's trust in autonomous AI isn't high enough to grant those waivers at scale, keeping labor costs high. Even if regulation eases, the hardware presents its own challenges. Commercial delivery drones are not the $200 toys found at malls; they are complex machines costing tens of thousands of dollars. The Amazon MK30, for example, features redundant motors, advanced \"detect and avoid\" sensors (radar and lidar), and airframes capable of flying in light rain. Redundancy is non-negotiable because a drone dropping from the sky onto a pedestrian or pet is a liability nightmare. However, this safety adds weight, and weight is the enemy of flight. The \"Achilles' heel\" of drone delivery is the battery. Lithium-ion batteries are heavy, and the more weight dedicated to power, the less is available for payload. Most commercial drones are capped at carrying five pounds, which covers 85% of Amazon's inventory but excludes larger items like microwaves. Furthermore, weather remains a significant constraint. While drones can handle light rain, thunderstorms and high winds ground the fleet, introducing reliability issues that ground-based vans simply don't face. Connectivity is another critical layer. Urban drones rely on \"network slicing\"—dedicated lanes of 5G bandwidth prioritized for drone command and control—ensuring that a drone's signal isn't throttled by crowds streaming video at a stadium. In rural areas, drones rely on high-frequency radio or satellite links like Starlink. However, the most important safety feature isn't just the connection; it's \"edge intelligence.\" Drones are increasingly edge-heavy, meaning they possess enough on-board processing to make decisions without the cloud. If a connection drops, the drone executes a \"lost link\" protocol: it climbs to a safe altitude, checks GPS, and returns to base or autonomously finds a safe landing zone like an empty field. Ultimately, the future of drone delivery is unevenly distributed. In Rwanda, it is a solved problem saving lives daily. In the US, it remains an expensive, regulatory-heavy experiment slowly finding its footing in specific suburbs. The technology works; the challenge now is integrating it into a complex airspace and an even more complex economic model. Listen online: https://myweirdprompts.com/episode/drone-delivery-medicine-pizza-reality", "keywords": [ "Drone", "Guard (computer science)", "Theme (computing)", "Terrain", "Face (sociological concept)", "Technician", "Marketing buzz", "Hollywood" ], "cited_by_count": 0, "is_retracted": false, "is_paratext": false, "open_access_url": "https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.19387922" }, { "id": "https://openalex.org/W2766529854", "doi": null, "title": "Steering Towards Low-Carbon Road Freight Transport Through Policies - The Case of Oslo", "year": 2017, "publication_date": "2017-01-01", "type": "other", "language": "en", "authors": [ "Torstein Clausen Jystad" ], "first_author": "Torstein Clausen Jystad", "venue": "Lund University Publications Student Papers (Lund University)", "publisher": "Lund University", "abstract": "The primary purpose of this thesis is to assess policy measures promoting the uptake and use of low-carbon technologies in urban road freight transport (URFT) in Oslo, Norway. This sector has historically received little attention compared to passenger and public transport, but contribute to significant greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, noise, and other negative health effects. Low-carbon vehicles in this research are referred to as electric and hydrogen vehicles, which could help mitigate these effects. To promote their uptake and use, policy measures must be implemented and synchronized with expectations from various stakeholders directly and indirectly impacting URFT. This is important to ensure effective results. Findings were collected through a literature review and semi-structured interviews with, among others, authorities, freight operators, original equipment manufacturers (OEM’s), and research organisations. Findings suggest several policy measures are needed to promote the uptake and use of low-carbon freight vehicles, most urgently in the category of fiscal measures, and facilitation of low-carbon infrastructure. Also, toll roads, fuel taxes and various subsidy schemes were stressed as necessary to reduce high costs for low-carbon URFT vehicles, while zero/low-emission zones received overall high encouragement. Furthermore, green public procurements were generally considered positively among all interviewees to help create an early market. Stricter demands and prolonged tendering processes should be considered in these processes. In assessing individual policy measures towards the criteria of effort, effectiveness, and acceptability, areas for improvement were identified. For facilitation of low-carbon infrastructure, effectiveness was found to likely improve if financial contributions exceed current mandates, targeting early adopters in urban areas, and offering operational support. Other challenges in Oslo’s URFT were linked to the need for authorities to clearly communicate what fuel propulsions are prioritised. Also, authorities should sometimes disregard the principle of technology neutrality, particularly relevant when supporting low-carbon technologies in an early phase. Further, the lack of delegating responsibility of URFT to a specific authority were identified as a drawback. Various levels and overlapping powers within political institutions ultimately begged the question of what specific body feel responsible for URFT. As such, creating a city logistics plan for Oslo should be the primary step, delegated to a specific agency or ministry both locally and nationally. Future research should focus on approaches between cities and best practices as to managing URFT. The sector is still in its infancy for what concerns political attention, on the backdrop of higher demand, emissions of GHG’s, other harmful pollutants, and negative side-effects such as noise.", "keywords": [ "Greenhouse gas", "Procurement", "Subsidy", "Business", "Public transport", "Scope (computer science)", "Transport engineering", "Environmental economics", "Marketing", "Engineering", "Economics" ], "cited_by_count": 0, "is_retracted": false, "is_paratext": false, "open_access_url": "http://lup.lub.lu.se/student-papers/record/8927322" }, { "id": "https://openalex.org/W7204014878", "doi": null, "title": ": COMMEATOR Express Delivery & POST-CARBON CITY", "year": 2011, "publication_date": "2011-10-01", "type": "report", "language": "fr", "authors": [ "Patrice Salini", "Sandrine Vanel", "Antoine Artous" ], "first_author": "Patrice Salini", "venue": "HAL (Le Centre pour la Communication Scientifique Directe)", "publisher": "Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique", "abstract": "Parcel Services and Urban LogisticsOur research deals with the future of parcel services (at a large extent) within the green urban logistics and related to scenarios resting upon “post-carbone cities”.The parcel services design first of all activities of freight collection, groupage and distribution of parcels and / or pallets in a quick timeframe even express.This operating system may be found (at least partially) within other urban distribution models resting upon a network structuration based upon the implementation of depots ; especially within the pharmaceutic distribution model or with the networks of pallets distribution developed next to the “pure” parcel services.Our approach focusses on the French parcel service market (parcel services, express) including however the mail delivery service (Coliposte), which is the major operator for the parcel distribution and owning on the one hand a wide network of specialized platforms and on the other hand, within the cities, a specific distribution model. This operating model based upon networks structures largely the business related to parcel services and distribution, favouring indeed oligopolistic situations and conditioning the efficiency of the collection and distribution haulages.The own account represents 55% of the freight urban transportation and commercial transportation 45%. LET (Freturb simulation) estimates that parcel services (at the large extent) reach 38% of the urban freight transport flows.Our hypothesis is to consider the sector structuration to reflect concretely onto the organization of the collection and distribution tours and, at long term, onto the evolution of this crucial element of the urban freight transportation enabling only to few major operators to serve the French agglomerations, the more since some large networks are still developing politics of green urban distribution, of which ELU (Urban Logistics Area) experimentations.Transport tours, conditions of urban mobility and productivityOur analysis confirms this state of the art but the relative weight of the parcel service flows within the economic schemes of the cities does not impact significantly the conditions of the urban mobility. It is in fact basically secondary and depends generally of global mobility restrictions. The stakes in number of transport tours are indeed weak.According to INSEE, the urban poles account 60,2% of the French population, of which 27,7% are located within the “city centers” and 32,5% within the suburbs.Daily, according to our estimates (c.f. research report), the urban tours for parcel (pallets) services account 7.500, of which 5.800 (292.000 km) for the sole “city centers”. As regards the express and the parcel services, these figures are respectively 12.600 and 6.300 (126.000 km).Furthermore, despite difficult mobility and parking conditions, the urban tours, thanks to the density of the delivery / collection points have not weaker productivities than in suburb and ever less than in rural areas (except within historical city centers particularly difficultly accessible).The authorized gauge of vehicles and the delivery timeframes are actually more structuring than other factors. It appears that the transport tours are globally optimized and a weak productivity reserve, except by multiplication of massive delivery points (e.g. Point Relais) and thus enhancing even more the sector oligopolistic situation.Our feeling is that the diversities of the conditions of areas servicing between cities and intra-agglomerations result from a high factors’ combination, impacting sometimes on the converse of the expected situation.We notice for instance productivities (in number of delivered points per tour) in the city centers servicing which can double as those indeed of the suburb servicing. The efficiency levels vary obviously according to the customer profiles, the services and the diversity of the parcel number treated per point ; largely influenced by the B-to-C compared to B-to-B.However, globally, the parcel service model appears basically homogeneous, structured by operating ratios comparable to the « global » model of a given business.ELU, unloadings and green distributionWithin this context, it is important to distinguish different levels of discussions. An important part of the present problems rests upon the management and the rationalization of the urban transport flows of passengers as well goods, with an under-estimate of the position to give to the freight problematic ; e.g. a city located in the middle France having implemented a tramway network to serve its major streets “forgetting” to preserve parking places for delivery operations.Even if these practices get a decisive dimension, they are not the central subject of our research which deals with the “zero-carbone” emission distribution and at first glance, in the present conditions, with the development of electrical vehicles. Lot of literature is indeed available on this subject as related to the development of the ELU generating additional unloadings.And that is clearly the state of the art for the servicing of Paris intra-muros because step-by-step the Parisian platforms have been exported to the suburbs, hence the obligation to organize one, and even two, unloadings in order to enable a final servicing with electrical vehicles, using sometimes specialized sub-contractors. Within this framework, the distribution network is rationalized enabling sometimes to generate productivity gains resting upon, at least for BtoC, structures as “point relais”.However, this operating system may only be duplicated in few large metropolis, especially taking into account the different urban geography. Generally, based upon the present energetic autonomy of the electric vehicles, an unloading is necessary when servicing a urban diameter exceeding 30 km.But the green delivery may be direct. In this case the ELU models appears more as rationalization tools to serve areas with difficul", "keywords": [ "Distribution (mathematics)", "Pallet", "Service (business)", "Postal service", "Transport network", "Operator (biology)", "Transportation planning" ], "cited_by_count": 0, "is_retracted": false, "is_paratext": false, "open_access_url": "https://hal.science/hal-05676572" }, { "id": "https://openalex.org/W7159916036", "doi": null, "title": "Intelligent Electric Vehicle Routing for Goods Delivery under Real-Time Traffic Conditions: A Comparative Framework for Modular Battery Swapping and Dynamic Wireless Charging", "year": 2026, "publication_date": "2026-01-01", "type": "article", "language": "en", "authors": [ "Ranjit Jakharabhai Odedra" ], "first_author": "Ranjit Jakharabhai Odedra", "venue": "Scholars Commons (Wilfrid Laurier University)", "publisher": "Wilfrid Laurier University", "abstract": "Electric vehicles (EVs) are becoming central to sustainable and intelligent transportation systems, particularly in urban logistics, where reducing emissions, congestion, and operating inefficiencies is increasingly important. Despite their environmental advantages, the large-scale deployment of EVs in delivery operations remains constrained by limited driving range, time-consuming energy replenishment, and the difficulty of making routing decisions under dynamic traffic and load-dependent energy consumption. Addressing these challenges is essential for improving the practicality and reliability of EV-based freight transportation. This thesis investigates optimization frameworks for EV routing in urban delivery systems by studying two complementary energy replenishment strategies: modular battery segment swapping and the joint use of charging stations (CS) and electric road systems. In the first part, the thesis introduces an Electric Vehicle Routing Problem with Battery Segment Swapping (EVRP-BSS), where a single electric delivery truck dynamically adapts its route using real-time traffic information while deciding when, where, and how many battery modules to swap. In the second part, the thesis studies EV routing in networks equipped with conventional charging stations and dynamic wireless charging (DWC) through electric road systems (ERS), where the vehicle must determine efficient delivery sequences, route choices, and charging modality decisions under battery and traffic constraints. In both problems, vehicle energy consumption is modeled as load-aware, reflecting the fact that battery depletion changes as payload decreases during deliveries. To solve these two problems, this thesis formulates problem-specific Mixed-Integer Linear Programming (MILP) models and investigates multiple scalable solution approaches. The MILP models are used to obtain optimal solutions for small-scale instances and to provide rigorous benchmark baselines. To address larger instances, where exact optimization becomes computationally prohibitive, the thesis develops and evaluates several heuristic and metaheuristic methods. For the modular battery segment swapping problem, these include the proposed heuristic called Minimizing Travel Time and Energy Swapping Cost (MT2EWC), a Genetic Algorithm (GA), Clarke and Wright Savings (CW) Algorithm, and Ant Colony Optimization (ACO). For the electric-road-integrated routing problem, the thesis similarly examines GA, CW, and ACO as scalable alternatives to the optimization model. Computational results demonstrate that the proposed methods effectively balance solution quality and scalability. The battery-swapping framework achieves strong real-time performance while maintaining near-optimal behavior on small instances and robust operation on large-scale and real-world road networks. The electric-road routing framework shows that strategically exploiting electrified road segments can reduce total delivery time compared with relying only on stationary charging infrastructure. Overall, this thesis provides a complementary contribution to intelligent EV logistics by advancing real-time, energy-aware routing models that improve operational efficiency, enhance vehicle utilization, and support the development of more sustainable urban transportation systems.", "keywords": [ "Battery (electricity)", "Modular design", "Routing (electronic design automation)", "Electric vehicle", "Payload (computing)", "Energy consumption", "Battery pack", "Software deployment", "Truck" ], "cited_by_count": 0, "is_retracted": false, "is_paratext": false, "open_access_url": "https://scholars.wlu.ca/etd/2915" }, { "id": "https://openalex.org/W2576385697", "doi": "10.25560/39127", "title": "Dry port strategies for congested port cities: a study of Lagos, Nigeria", "year": 2012, "publication_date": "2012-10-01", "type": "article", "language": "en", "authors": [ "Precious Nene Ikem" ], "first_author": "Precious Nene Ikem", "venue": null, "publisher": null, "abstract": "The issue of congestion along key arteries to maritime terminals, although common around the world, poses a greater problem in Africa, where growth in freight traffic coupled with poor physical and institutional infrastructure affects logistical efficiency and may be detrimental to economic development. As maritime trade increases in such cities, the problem of congestion on arteries to the port becomes a growing issue and research that supports the effective implementation of congestion mitigation measures in the context of the developing countries become crucial. The use of an inland container terminal connected by rail to a port, termed a “dry port”, is one of the measures employed to reduce congestion in developed port cities such as New York/New Jersey, Los Angeles and Sydney. This solution is vital to developing cities as it, by alleviating congestion on roads, improves freight logistics which can help facilitate economic development. Dry port solutions have previously been classified under three main types - close, mid-range and distant - based on the distance of the inland terminal from the port. This thesis aims to quantify the potential road network benefits of diverting containers to a close dry port located at the rim of a developing port city. It does this by exploring the impact of a single close dry port with varying operational characteristics. These operational characteristics (variables) relate to the container allocation patterns employed and the provision of an Empty Depot Service (EDS) and a Freight Distribution Service (FDS) within the facility. The case of Lagos, Nigeria, is selected for study as it is a developing port city where an increase in freight volume, the location of ports within close proximity to major GDP generators, coupled with poor physical and institutional infrastructure affect logistical efficiency. The research involves developing a container freight traffic model for Nigeria to simulate the current patterns of containerised cargo traffic flows (the reference scenario) as well as that which arises from the introduction of the close dry port solutions (test scenarios). Within this model, the World Bank’s HDM IV vehicle operation cost functions are integrated to capture factors that influence freight routing choice in developing countries like Nigeria. The network impact of the containerised cargo traffic patterns derived from the reference and test case scenarios is the output of this model and is measured as the total container-related freight vehicle-km and vehicle-hrs in the road network. This impact is measured for routes to and from the seaports, routes to and from zones in the port city and for the whole system. The output of the test scenario cases are compared to those from the reference case to obtain the relative network benefit of each test scenario. The relative benefits of the dry port with varying characteristics are then compared to obtain results from which the main conclusion are drawn. It is found that a dry port solution with an FDS can provide a container-related freight vehicle-km and vehicle-hrs savings of up to 52% more that a dry port solution without an FDS. On the other hand, the benefit of a dry port solution is found to be significantly less sensitive to the empty depot service variable. Furthermore, the network benefit of a dry port solution is found to be sensitive to the container allocation patterns employed. The close dry port is found to present up to 40% higher benefits by serving only zones closer to the dry port than the seaport. However, the results show that the benefit of the dry port varies depending on the part of the network being accessed. For example, the dry ports with an FDS are shown to provide savings of up to 20% to the system (routes to and from all zones in the country) and up to 39% on routes to and from the port city. However, much higher benefits of up to 78% are observed on routes to and from the seaport. In general, it is found that the network benefit of the close dry port increases almost linearly with increase in dry port usage by up to 80% depending on the services provided within the facility, the container allocation methods employed and the parts of the road network being accessed. The findings contribute to the literature on the impact of dry port characteristics on the efficiency of road networks in developing port cities and can be used to formulate transport policies that address issues of traffic congestion. They present policy makers with insight into the requirements for a dry port solution located at the rim of a port city to reduce congestion and improve the efficiency of the road network. Furthermore, the research highlights some factors which influence freight routing decisions in developing countries that are not normally taken into account in urban freight models and discusses ways of dealing with them. The modelling framework employed shows how it is possible to integrate freight supply chain modelling into urban transport models. The model developed in the thesis can form part of a cost-benefit analysis of individual dry port solutions centred on mitigating congestion in port cities.", "keywords": [ "Port (circuit theory)", "Transport engineering", "Geography", "Engineering", "Electrical engineering" ], "cited_by_count": 0, "is_retracted": false, "is_paratext": false, "open_access_url": "https://doi.org/10.25560/39127" }, { "id": "https://openalex.org/W4296420103", "doi": "10.1016/j.admp.2022.03.001", "title": "Expositions professionnelles et santé des conducteurs professionnels, quelles spécificités pour les chauffeurs de bus urbains ?", "year": 2022, "publication_date": "2022-09-07", "type": "article", "language": "fr", "authors": [ "K. Wei", "Emmanuel Fort", "L. Rollin", "Ariane Leroyer", "Barbara Charbotel" ], "first_author": "K. Wei", "venue": "Archives des maladies professionnelles et de médecine du travail/Archives des maladies professionnelles et de l'environnement", "publisher": "Elsevier BV", "abstract": null, "keywords": [ "Humanities", "Political science", "Art" ], "cited_by_count": 0, "is_retracted": false, "is_paratext": false, "open_access_url": "https://doi.org/10.1016/j.admp.2022.03.001" }, { "id": "https://openalex.org/W7161160311", "doi": "10.5281/zenodo.20181746", "title": "Ep. 2599: Home 3D Printing in 2025: Keycaps, Cables & Real Costs", "year": 2026, "publication_date": "2026-05-02", "type": "other", "language": "en", "authors": [ "Daniel Rosehill", "Gemini 3.1 (Flash)", "Chatterbox TTS" ], "first_author": "Daniel Rosehill", "venue": "Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research)", "publisher": "European Organization for Nuclear Research", "abstract": "Episode summary: Can a regular person print custom keycaps, USB cable housings, or replacement parts at home without insane effort? We break down the entry ticket — starting with the $200 Bambu Lab A1 Mini — and what you can actually make with it. We cover stem tolerances for Cherry MX keycaps, the environmental tradeoffs of home printing vs. AliExpress shipping, material options from PLA to carbon fiber, Linux-friendly software like FreeCAD and OrcaSlicer, and why you still can't print a circuit board at home. The answer: for $200 and an afternoon, you can produce functional, good-looking parts. For the truly excellent stuff, expect weeks of tweaking. Show Notes ## What $200 Gets You in Home 3D Printing (2025 Edition) The entry-level 3D printing landscape has shifted dramatically in the last eighteen months. The era of spending a weekend building a printer before you can fail at your first print is over. Today, for $200, you can buy a machine that arrives pre-assembled, runs a twenty-minute calibration, and starts printing immediately. ### The Machine: Bambu Lab A1 Mini The Bambu Lab A1 Mini is the obvious entry point right now. It costs $200 (sometimes less on sale) and delivers genuine print quality out of the box. Layer heights down to about 0.08mm are achievable, which is totally adequate for keycaps. You won't match injection-molded doubleshot keycaps in surface finish, but you can absolutely print a functional, good-looking keycap from your desk. For multicolor printing, Bambu Lab sells the AMS Lite add-on for about $150, bringing the total to $350 for a setup that can print with up to four colors automatically. The floor is $200 for the printer alone, plus about $20 for a spool of PLA filament that will print dozens of keycaps. ### Keycaps: The Tricky Part is Stem Tolerance A Cherry MX stem has a tolerance of about ±0.05mm. Most consumer printers, including the A1 Mini, can hold about ±0.1mm out of the box. That puts you right at the edge of what's mechanically viable — some keycaps will be loose, some tight. The community has solved this. Parametric keycap models on Printables and Thingiverse let you adjust stem dimensions by a tenth of a millimeter at a time. You print a test stem, check the fit, tweak the model, and reprint. Three or four iterations dial it in for your specific printer and filament. After that, you have a reusable profile. For legends on keycaps, the simplest approach is a filament swap mid-print. Most modern printers support pausing at a specific layer to swap from black to white filament, laying down raised or recessed text in a different color. It's not doubleshot, but it's permanent because the color difference is the material itself, not a surface coating. ### USB Cables: Customization, Not Replacement For USB cable housings and adapters, the distinction between structural parts and functional electronics matters. You can print the housing, strain relief, and connector shell — all the mechanical parts. You cannot print the actual conductive bits: pins, contacts, copper traces require metal. Home 3D printing for electronics is about customization rather than replacement. Custom enclosures, mounting brackets, cable organizers, and broken plastic clips are perfect use cases. You're not replacing the electronics supply chain; you're replacing the plastic parts supply chain. ### The Environmental Math A typical spool of PLA filament is one kilogram and costs about $20. A small USB cable housing might use three grams of plastic — about six cents of material. The printer draws about 100 watts for the fifteen minutes it takes to print that part, which at average US electricity prices is less than half a cent. Total material and energy cost: under seven cents. Compare that to ordering a $1.50 adapter from AliExpress. The injection-molded factory part has much better energy efficiency per unit than your desktop printer. The real environmental win isn't manufacturing energy — it's shipping. Home printing eliminates the trans-Pacific journey, last-mile delivery truck, cardboard box, and bubble wrap. PLA itself is industrially compostable, made from corn starch or sugarcane rather than petroleum. ### Materials Beyond PLA PLA is the default for good reason: easy printing, low temperature, no warping, no toxic off-gassing. But it's brittle and softens around 60°C. PETG is tougher, more heat-resistant, and still prints without major difficulty — it's what most people use for functional parts. TPU works for flexible parts like phone cases. ABS is stronger and more heat-resistant but off-gasses styrene and requires an enclosure. ASA is like ABS with UV resistance. Nylon is incredibly strong but absorbs moisture from the air. Filled filaments (carbon fiber, wood, metal powder) are mostly aesthetic and wear down brass nozzles quickly — a hardened steel nozzle costs about $15 and takes two minutes to swap. ### Software on Linux The 3D printing software ecosystem is surprisingly Linux-friendly. The workflow has three steps: modeling, slicing, and printing. For modeling, FreeCAD is the most capable — a full parametric CAD program with a steep learning curve but well-suited for systematic thinkers. Blender is better for organic shapes but overkill for mechanical parts. OpenSCAD is a programming language for 3D models, ideal for parametric designs where you adjust one variable and recompile. For slicing, PrusaSlicer and OrcaSlicer are both open-source and run natively on Linux. Bambu Studio is a fork of PrusaSlicer and also runs on Linux. All are mature, well-documented, and free. ### Can You Print a PCB at Home? Not with a standard FDM printer. A printed circuit board requires conductive traces (usually copper) bonded to a non-conductive substrate (usually fiberglass). An FDM printer lays down melted plastic, which is not conductive. You can print a substrate with channels for wires, then manually insert conductive wire or conductive filament into those channels. Conductive PLA ", "keywords": [ "USB", "Point (geometry)", "Cover (algebra)", "Carton", "Quality (philosophy)", "Ticket", "Software" ], "cited_by_count": 0, "is_retracted": false, "is_paratext": false, "open_access_url": "https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.20181746" }, { "id": "https://openalex.org/W7161110676", "doi": "10.5281/zenodo.20181747", "title": "Ep. 2599: Home 3D Printing in 2025: Keycaps, Cables & Real Costs", "year": 2026, "publication_date": "2026-05-02", "type": "other", "language": "en", "authors": [ "Daniel Rosehill", "Gemini 3.1 (Flash)", "Chatterbox TTS" ], "first_author": "Daniel Rosehill", "venue": "Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research)", "publisher": "European Organization for Nuclear Research", "abstract": "Episode summary: Can a regular person print custom keycaps, USB cable housings, or replacement parts at home without insane effort? We break down the entry ticket — starting with the $200 Bambu Lab A1 Mini — and what you can actually make with it. We cover stem tolerances for Cherry MX keycaps, the environmental tradeoffs of home printing vs. AliExpress shipping, material options from PLA to carbon fiber, Linux-friendly software like FreeCAD and OrcaSlicer, and why you still can't print a circuit board at home. The answer: for $200 and an afternoon, you can produce functional, good-looking parts. For the truly excellent stuff, expect weeks of tweaking. Show Notes ## What $200 Gets You in Home 3D Printing (2025 Edition) The entry-level 3D printing landscape has shifted dramatically in the last eighteen months. The era of spending a weekend building a printer before you can fail at your first print is over. Today, for $200, you can buy a machine that arrives pre-assembled, runs a twenty-minute calibration, and starts printing immediately. ### The Machine: Bambu Lab A1 Mini The Bambu Lab A1 Mini is the obvious entry point right now. It costs $200 (sometimes less on sale) and delivers genuine print quality out of the box. Layer heights down to about 0.08mm are achievable, which is totally adequate for keycaps. You won't match injection-molded doubleshot keycaps in surface finish, but you can absolutely print a functional, good-looking keycap from your desk. For multicolor printing, Bambu Lab sells the AMS Lite add-on for about $150, bringing the total to $350 for a setup that can print with up to four colors automatically. The floor is $200 for the printer alone, plus about $20 for a spool of PLA filament that will print dozens of keycaps. ### Keycaps: The Tricky Part is Stem Tolerance A Cherry MX stem has a tolerance of about ±0.05mm. Most consumer printers, including the A1 Mini, can hold about ±0.1mm out of the box. That puts you right at the edge of what's mechanically viable — some keycaps will be loose, some tight. The community has solved this. Parametric keycap models on Printables and Thingiverse let you adjust stem dimensions by a tenth of a millimeter at a time. You print a test stem, check the fit, tweak the model, and reprint. Three or four iterations dial it in for your specific printer and filament. After that, you have a reusable profile. For legends on keycaps, the simplest approach is a filament swap mid-print. Most modern printers support pausing at a specific layer to swap from black to white filament, laying down raised or recessed text in a different color. It's not doubleshot, but it's permanent because the color difference is the material itself, not a surface coating. ### USB Cables: Customization, Not Replacement For USB cable housings and adapters, the distinction between structural parts and functional electronics matters. You can print the housing, strain relief, and connector shell — all the mechanical parts. You cannot print the actual conductive bits: pins, contacts, copper traces require metal. Home 3D printing for electronics is about customization rather than replacement. Custom enclosures, mounting brackets, cable organizers, and broken plastic clips are perfect use cases. You're not replacing the electronics supply chain; you're replacing the plastic parts supply chain. ### The Environmental Math A typical spool of PLA filament is one kilogram and costs about $20. A small USB cable housing might use three grams of plastic — about six cents of material. The printer draws about 100 watts for the fifteen minutes it takes to print that part, which at average US electricity prices is less than half a cent. Total material and energy cost: under seven cents. Compare that to ordering a $1.50 adapter from AliExpress. The injection-molded factory part has much better energy efficiency per unit than your desktop printer. The real environmental win isn't manufacturing energy — it's shipping. Home printing eliminates the trans-Pacific journey, last-mile delivery truck, cardboard box, and bubble wrap. PLA itself is industrially compostable, made from corn starch or sugarcane rather than petroleum. ### Materials Beyond PLA PLA is the default for good reason: easy printing, low temperature, no warping, no toxic off-gassing. But it's brittle and softens around 60°C. PETG is tougher, more heat-resistant, and still prints without major difficulty — it's what most people use for functional parts. TPU works for flexible parts like phone cases. ABS is stronger and more heat-resistant but off-gasses styrene and requires an enclosure. ASA is like ABS with UV resistance. Nylon is incredibly strong but absorbs moisture from the air. Filled filaments (carbon fiber, wood, metal powder) are mostly aesthetic and wear down brass nozzles quickly — a hardened steel nozzle costs about $15 and takes two minutes to swap. ### Software on Linux The 3D printing software ecosystem is surprisingly Linux-friendly. The workflow has three steps: modeling, slicing, and printing. For modeling, FreeCAD is the most capable — a full parametric CAD program with a steep learning curve but well-suited for systematic thinkers. Blender is better for organic shapes but overkill for mechanical parts. OpenSCAD is a programming language for 3D models, ideal for parametric designs where you adjust one variable and recompile. For slicing, PrusaSlicer and OrcaSlicer are both open-source and run natively on Linux. Bambu Studio is a fork of PrusaSlicer and also runs on Linux. All are mature, well-documented, and free. ### Can You Print a PCB at Home? Not with a standard FDM printer. A printed circuit board requires conductive traces (usually copper) bonded to a non-conductive substrate (usually fiberglass). An FDM printer lays down melted plastic, which is not conductive. You can print a substrate with channels for wires, then manually insert conductive wire or conductive filament into those channels. Conductive PLA ", "keywords": [ "USB", "Point (geometry)", "Cover (algebra)", "Carton", "Quality (philosophy)", "Ticket", "Software" ], "cited_by_count": 0, "is_retracted": false, "is_paratext": false, "open_access_url": "https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.20181747" }, { "id": "https://openalex.org/W2741127011", "doi": null, "title": "Intermodal Transport Chain Structures and Competitiveness for Combined Transports", "year": 2012, "publication_date": "2012-01-01", "type": "article", "language": "en", "authors": [ "Behzad Kordnejad" ], "first_author": "Behzad Kordnejad", "venue": null, "publisher": null, "abstract": "The global trend of urbanization is evident and also valid in Sweden and for the Stockholm-Malaren region, also referred to as the Malaren valley, a region consisting of metropolitan Stockholm and areas around the lake of Malaren. In this context, efficient urban freight transportation has emerged as essential for sustainable development of urban areas. Geographic regions are being expanded due to the fact that rapid transport options have expanded the range of action of people and businesses. Metropolitan regions require freight transports that are often categorized by an inflow of consumables and an outflow of waste and recyclable material. Within urban areas there are ports, terminals and storage facilities that require incoming and outgoing transport. Altogether, these shipments have led to increased congestion on the road network within urban areas, which is a contributing factor to why a shift to intermodal land transports have been advocated both in Europe and in Sweden, thus encouraging more freight to be moved from road to rail. Another contributing factor is the relatively low impact on the environment generated by rail transportation. Efficient use of resources and low emissions of greenhouse gases are factors that are in favor of the train as a transport mode.Furthermore, conventional rail freight is commonly competitive on long distances and in end-point relations between two nodes. However, an intermodal liner train, as a transport system for freight differs from conventional rail freight transport systems, as it similar to a passenger train makes stops along the route for loading and unloading. Due to the stops made at intermediate stations it enables the coverage of a larger market area. For regional or inter-regional relations, the concept has the potential of reducing drayage by truck to and from intermodal terminals and to make rail freight competitive also over medium and short distances.The main aim of this thesis project has been to analyze under which conditions a combined transport system with the railway as a base can be implemented in the Stockholm-Malaren region. Based on a case study for a shipper distributing daily consumables in the region, the feasibility of creating a regional rail freight transport system has been evaluated.This study provides a methodology for evaluating the feasibility, regarding costs and emissions, of concepts and technologies within freight transportation chains. This has been accomplished by the development of a cost modal, Intermodal Transport Cost Model (ITCM). From the results of the case study one can conclude that a regional rail based intermodal transport system regarding costs is on the threshold of feasibility in the studied region. As for emissions, all evaluated intermodal transport chains contribute to a significant decrease in CO2 emissions compared to unimodal road haulage. The loading space utilization of the train and the transshipment cost are the most critical parameters. The latter restricting the competitiveness of intermodal services to long distances as it is not proportional to transported distance but rather to the utilization rate of resources. Hence, the concept of cost-efficient small scale (CESS) terminals is introduced in this study.A main prerequisite in order to make the intermodal liner train efficient is a stable and balanced flow of goods with optimized loading space utilization along the route. As the objective is to consolidate small flows, imbalances along the route will constitute an obstacle for the liner train to be competitive. Thus regarding loading space utilization it is necessary to consolidate other freight flows in the train in order to achieve high loading space utilization and a balanced flow along the route. The third parameter which is critical for the results are the fuel prices, where a sensitivity analysis of the results shows that if diesel prices would increase so would the feasibility of the intermodal option. The same is also valid for train length increase as long as the loading space utilization is maintained.The results of the feasibility study indicate that the evaluated transshipment technologies are closing the gap for intermodal transport to unimodal road haulage regarding transport cost over short- and medium distances and that they contribute to a substantial reduction of CO2 emissions. However, it is essential that also the transport quality is ensured, especially regarding reliability and punctuality. Thus a demonstration project is recommended as these aspects require operational testing. This is particularly crucial regarding novel transshipment technologies.", "keywords": [ "Metropolitan area", "Context (archaeology)", "Transport engineering", "Urbanization", "Sustainable transport", "Greenhouse gas", "Business", "Sustainability", "Geography", "Engineering" ], "cited_by_count": 0, "is_retracted": false, "is_paratext": false, "open_access_url": "http://kth.diva-portal.org/smash/record.jsf?pid=diva2%3A588631" }, { "id": "https://openalex.org/W1758057245", "doi": null, "title": "Assessing dynamic responses of freight operators to government policies: a latent curve modelling approach", "year": 2015, "publication_date": "2015-07-13", "type": "article", "language": "en", "authors": [ "Richard B. Elison", "Stephen P. Greaves", "David A. Hensher" ], "first_author": "Richard B. Elison", "venue": "IATBR 2015 - WINDSOR", "publisher": null, "abstract": "Governments have long attempted to minimise the negative effects of freight transport by introducing policies that attempt to restrict or change how freight firms operate. Despite this, freight transport still contributes disproportionately to emissions and congestion relative to its proportion of the vehicle fleet. A rapid expansion in the number of freight vehicles being used (in part due to a dramatic increase in internet shopping) in recent years has further necessitated policies that can reduce the negative effects whilst still allowing freight transport to provide its substantial benefit to the economy. Doing this effectively requires an understanding of how firms adapt to government policies as well as other measures not only at a particular point in time but over a longer period of time. Generally, behavioural models for freight have focused on parameterising attributes for a specific choice (e.g., mode) but have made the implicit assumption that these attributes do not change over time (Danielis and Marcucci, 2007; Fowkes et al., 2004). Although these models provide a reasonable basis for behavioural models for freight, the lack of a temporal component means they cannot be used to assess how the influence of each attribute on decisions changes over time. Furthermore, they are unable to be used to investigate how quickly firms adapt to changes in government policies. To address these limitations, this paper explores the dynamic (change over time) responses of freight operators to two government policies, a Low Emission Zone (LEZ) and a cordon-based congestion charge, in terms of the choice of number of routes, toll road use, vehicle class and emissions standard, and departure time. Using a unique dataset collected from Australian (urban) freight operators using an adaptive-dynamic simulation method (Ellison et al., 2012), firms’ dynamic responses are modelled using latent curve models to investigate firms’ adaptation strategies in response to new government policies. The data collected using the simulation include characteristics of the firms (e.g., size, fleet mix and primary business, etc.) and repeated choices for five (simulated) time periods as well as responses to some attitudinal questions. The latent curve models, a form of structural equation modelling (SEM), are used to identify if there is a change in each of the underlying choices captured by the survey as a result of the policies, the magnitude and timing of the changes as well as what factors influence the changes. The results of the models show that both an LEZ and a congestion charge result in significant changes in how freight firms say they will operate. In addition, the timing and magnitude of the resulting changes are shown to be a result of not only the policy itself (and its effects on the attributes) but also some of the characteristics of the firm and firms’ previous decisions. Among the firm characteristics that are important to how firms adapt to new policies are the size of the firm, their existing vehicle mix and their primary business. Crucially, it is the combination of these factors that lead to specific changes being made rather than only one of the characteristics or the policy acting alone. The use of latent curve models means that the influence of each of the attributes on the decisions made by firms can be evaluated not only at a specific point in time but also throughout the adaptation process. The models show that the influence of each of the attributes, including various measures of cost, differ depending on both the relevant decision and the time period. In addition, the influence of the attributes includes the past and future (forecast) values of the attributes as well as the value of the attributes in each time period. These results suggest that although the (changing) values of the attributes are important to the decisions that are made by freight operators, the influence of any particular attribute is not generally constant throughout the adaptation process. Furthermore, the importance of the values of the attributes are most important when decisions are made in the “base” period (i.e., before any new policies are announced) and in the time period immediately preceding the policy coming into effect. Interestingly, although when changes are made varies somewhat between the different decisions with some changes being made earlier (e.g., use of toll roads) and others being made later (e.g., number of routes), the importance of these two time periods is repeated in many of the decisions being modelled. The results presented in this paper have a number of important implications for policy makers. Paramount among these are that firms may respond to a policy before it comes into effect and that even substantial changes to the values of the attributes (e.g., costs) will not necessarily lead to as large a change as would otherwise be expected because of the importance of a firm’s previous decisions on its adaptation strategies. References Danielis, R. and Marcucci, E. (2007), “Attribute cut-offs in freight service selection”, Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Vol. 43 No. 5, pp. 506–515. Ellison, R.B., Greaves, S.P. and Hensher, D.A. (2012), “Capturing Freight Operators’ Behavioural Responses to Government Policies Using an Adaptive-Dynamic Simulation Method”, 13th International Conference on Travel Behaviour Research, Toronto, Canada. Fowkes, A.S., Firmin, P.E., Tweddle, G. and Whiteing, A.E. (2004), “How highly does the freight transport industry value journey time reliability—and for what reasons?”, International Journal of Logistics: Research and Applications, Vol. 7 No. 1, pp. 33–43.", "keywords": [ "Government (linguistics)", "Business", "Point (geometry)", "Transport engineering", "Economics", "Industrial organization", "Public economics", "Engineering" ], "cited_by_count": 0, "is_retracted": false, "is_paratext": false, "open_access_url": "https://ses.library.usyd.edu.au/handle/2123/19107" }, { "id": "https://openalex.org/W7128496619", "doi": "10.1108/ijpdlm-03-2026-563", "title": "Guest editorial: Towards decent work in the era of Logistics 4.0", "year": 2026, "publication_date": "2026-02-10", "type": "editorial", "language": "en", "authors": [ "Kum Fai Yuen", "Xue Li", "Xueqin Wang", "Xiwen Bai" ], "first_author": "Kum Fai Yuen", "venue": "International Journal of Physical Distribution & Logistics Management", "publisher": "Emerald Publishing Limited", "abstract": "Social sustainability holds an important position in logistics management, emphasizing the fulfillment of responsibilities pertaining to human rights, employment, equality, poverty, education, health and safety (Alghababsheh and Gallear, 2022). In the logistics industry, which encompasses the management of goods, services and information flow, the pursuit of social sustainability goals involves the effective management of logistics activities to generate positive impacts on employees, customers and society at large (Fernandes et al., 2023). Among the various social sustainability concerns, decent work is a critical aspect that requires meticulous attention. Decent work, as articulated by the International Labor Organization, encompasses “opportunities for work that is productive and delivers a fair income, security in the workplace and social protection for families, better prospects for personal development and social integration, freedom for people to express their concerns, organize and participate in the decisions that affect their lives and equality of opportunity and treatment for all women and men.” It aligns with the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goal 8, titled “Decent Work and Economic Growth,” which underscores the significance of ensuring fair employment practices and fostering economic development. This strategic alignment emphasizes the integral role of decent work in achieving broader sustainable development objectives.In the logistics sector, ensuring decent work for logistics workers remains an ongoing challenge. Based on data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, warehouse logistics in 2023 experienced frequent work disruptions, with 4.1 injury and illness cases per 100 full-time workers involving days away from work, job restriction or job transfer [1]. In maritime logistics, seafarers report a higher fatal accident rate than the general workforce (Neis et al., 2025). Beyond physical safety and objective indicators such as injury rates and income, emerging workplace well-being assessments increasingly incorporate subjective indicators, including job satisfaction and happiness. For instance, although the Seafarer Happiness Index in 2025 showed modest improvements, the results continued to reveal concerns related to limited two-way evaluation mechanisms, unfair perceived disrespectful treatment and inadequate organizational support systems [2].While diversity and inclusion can act as powerful drivers of workforce transformation, gender inequality remains a persistent issue in the logistics sector (Preet, 2025). Scott and Davis-Sramek (2023) noted that women drivers remain significantly underrepresented in private carrier, local and less-than-truckload segments. Similarly, a joint survey published by the International Maritime Organization and the Women's International Shipping and Trading Association reported that women constitute only a small proportion of the global seafaring workforce, underscoring the continued need for policies addressing sexual harassment and other forms of workplace discrimination (WTO and WISTA, 2024).Despite persistent social issues yet to be fully addressed, the logistics industry is currently undergoing transformative shifts driven by the fourth industrial revolution, transitioning into the era of Logistics 4.0. Logistics 4.0 can be defined as “the logistical system that enables the sustainable satisfaction of individualized customer demands without an increase in costs and supports this development in industry and trade using digital technologies”; it underscores the pivotal role of humans, particularly employees whose work will be both influenced and supported by advanced technologies (Winkelhaus and Grosse, 2020). Characterized by automation, artificial intelligence, robotics and digitalization, Logistics 4.0 has introduced various innovations in the logistics sector, including autonomous shipping, autonomous ports, delivery drones, delivery robots, autonomous trucks, augmented reality and the Internet of Things. In this era, logistics companies are compelled to adapt to ongoing transformations propelled by automation technologies to enhance social sustainability performance.The objective of this special issue is to enhance understanding of decent work and propose strategies that prioritize the humanization of work and address decent work challenges within the evolving technological landscape of logistics. The contributions selected for this special issue advance theory, measurement and practice related to decent work by offering an evidence-based perspective on how Logistics 4.0 technologies can be aligned with worker well-being and sustainable employment outcomes.This editorial is structured to situate decent work as a central pillar of social sustainability in the era of Logistics 4.0. It begins by introducing the concept of decent work and reviewing what technologies are being introduced into logistics sectors. The editorial then synthesizes existing research linking Logistics 4.0 technologies to decent work from economic, psychological and managerial perspectives, highlighting key conceptual and empirical gaps that motivated the call for papers. Building on this foundation, the editorial reviews and integrates the five papers included in the special issue, illustrating how each study advances understanding of decent work through novel theoretical lenses, methodological approaches and sector-specific insights. The editorial concludes by identifying remaining research challenges and outlining future research directions.The concept of decent work can be understood from multiple perspectives. As summarized by Saragih et al. (2024), decent work may be conceptualized at three levels. At the macroeconomic level, it refers to objective working conditions, such as employment opportunities, social security, social dialog and workplace equality. From a self-value or psychological perspective, decent work reflects individuals' subject", "keywords": [ "Work (physics)", "Sustainability", "Sustainable development", "Humanitarian Logistics", "Social sustainability", "Position (finance)", "Corporate social responsibility" ], "cited_by_count": 0, "is_retracted": false, "is_paratext": false, "open_access_url": "https://www.emerald.com/ijpdlm/article-pdf/56/2/93/11228513/ijpdlm-03-2026-563en.pdf" }, { "id": "https://openalex.org/W3212399486", "doi": "10.5281/zenodo.5105433", "title": "Report on findings on transportation and logistics of selected food value chains - Salmon to fillet case study", "year": 2019, "publication_date": "2019-09-06", "type": "report", "language": "en", "authors": [ "Paulus Teguh Aditjandra", "Arijit De", "Matthew Gorton", "Carmen Hubbard", "Gu Pang", "Shraddha Mehta", "Maitri Thakur", "Richardson, Roger", "Sigurdur Bogasson", "G. Ólafsdóttir" ], "first_author": "Paulus Teguh Aditjandra", "venue": "Research Explorer (The University of Manchester)", "publisher": "University of Manchester", "abstract": "• Transportation has significant impact on food costs and the environment. It is a major contributor to carbon emissions, accounting for almost a quarter of the CO2 emissions in the EU, of which 30% is attributed to the food sector. • This deliverable addresses the modelling of food chains’ transportation and logistics. It develops a robust model for policy support, which is applied to a specific case as a worked example. The approach can be used to model the transport and logistics of other food supply chains, given data availability. • The mathematical modelling aims to optimise the cost and effectiveness of logistics operations. It also allows for the integration and consideration of environmental aspects within transportation, processing and distribution operations. • Specifically, the deliverable focuses on the development of a logistics mathematical model using Atlantic salmon as an exemplary example of a globally integrated food supply chain. A Norwegian salmon exporter was engaged to supply data for validating the mathematical model. • The model follows a multi-objective optimization approach that captures the trade-off between total logistics cost and the environment. It has two objectives. Firstly, to minimize total costs associated with transportation, fuel consumption, inventory holding, processing and residuals/waste. Secondly, to reduce CO2 emissions incurred by production at plants, transportation from suppliers to plants, and transportation from plants to customers. • Constraints related to supply, processing capacity, storage capacity, demand, carbon emissions, inventory balancing, transportation capacity, and different modes of transportation between different types of plants and facilities are also consider within the model. • Model development, validation and policy recommendation occurred in four stages: (i) mapping supply chain linkages and product flows, (ii) designing the mathematical model, (iii) data collection for parameters of the model and (iv) model validation and deriving policy recommendation. • Before modeling, consultation with salmon supply chain actors occurred as a first step to map the supply chain linkages. This involved expert interviews with VALUMICS partners. • Based on the mapping of the supply chain, a mathematical model was developed. However, given the complexity of the supply chain and the limited information that can be drawn from a single company which completely covers both the supply and the demand ends of the value chains, the model was divided into two stages (Model N1 and N2) • First it optimises the supply chain network from salmon farms, abattoirs, primary processing plants, secondary processing plants and wholesalers so to meet the demand of the Secondary Processing Plants and Wholesalers for Fresh HOG (Head-on-Gutted) product (Model N1) (farm to wholesaler). • Second, it addresses the supply chain from the secondary processing plants and wholesalers to retailers. The secondary processing plants process HOG into whole fillet, salmon by-products and some residual amount so to meet the demand of retailers (Model N2) (wholesaler to retailer). • An additional model (Model M) allows for the optimisation of the overall supply chain network where, for example, a Company X tries to meet the demand of retailers in different time periods (farm to retailer). • A transportation scenario analysis was also conducted by considering options for various maritime transportation routes from primary processing plant to secondary processing and primary processing plant to various wholesalers. • The results from the three models highlight that it is essential for any company to optimise the overall supply chain network system (from salmon farms to retailers), as the total cost for model M is relatively much lower than the combined total cost of N1 and N2. • Each model also shows that the supply chain network is sensitive to fuel cost and consequently, fuel consumption and distances between actors across the supply chain. • Environmental impact is generally measured by fuel consumption during operations and in the case of food chain, transportation and distribution are important contributors via the use of fuel-based vehicles, sea vessels and/or airplanes. • The scenarios analysis highlights the importance of adopting maritime transportation routes in terms of significantly reducing the total cost, fuel cost and overall carbon emission. Hence shifting certain logistics operations from road to maritime transportation from the perspective of economic and environmental benefits are advocated. • For short to medium distances (vans, trucks, rails and sea vessels) that covers transportation trips to reach airport hubs and big cities, lowering CO2 emissions depends on the emissions ratio (the relative emissions impact of delivery vehicle when compared to personal vehicle – mostly applied in urban logistics) and customer density. • For long distance transport (air), environmental improvement can be mainly achieved through technological development and this has been well supported by research dedicated specifically to address EU aviation industry challenges. • The models are developed for a planning horizon consisting of discrete time periods, aiding the possibility of studying demand and supply uncertainty and its consequences in supply chain decision making. Hence, they help decision makers to identify the changes in a supply chain network when different transportation routes are adopted (for example whether maritime routes can be adopted or not in place of road/rail transportation, to address environmental concerns related to fuel consumption and carbon emissions). • The models are valuable for policy makers in terms of understanding the costs and emissions associated with different food supply chains, as well as the effects of particular policy interventions and market developments (e.g. variation in demand, fuel costs, emission and waste constraints). • They", "keywords": [ "Fillet (mechanics)", "Business", "Value (mathematics)", "Fishery", "Supply chain", "Fish fillet", "Food chain", "Marketing", "Fish ", "Engineering", "Mathematics", "Statistics" ], "cited_by_count": 0, "is_retracted": false, "is_paratext": false, "open_access_url": "https://pure.manchester.ac.uk/ws/files/277417107/FINAL_FOR_WEB.pdf" } ]