The dynamic vehicle allocation problem arises when a motor carrier must simultaneously and in real time coordinate the dispatching of vehicles from one region to the next all over the country. The decision to send a vehicle loaded or empty from one region to the next, arriving in the destination region at some point in the future, must anticipate the downstream impacts of the decision. The cons...

Introduction In recent years there have been major changes in the composition of cargo to the point where, in Europe, semi-finished products (e.g. car parts) and finished goods represent the greatest transport demand. This type of cargo is typically of lower density and higher value (LDHV) than previous goods and requires faster and more reliable transportation. Currently, LDHV goods are predom...

Residues of pesticide fumigants and toxic industrial chemicals in freight containers represent a health hazard to employees and consumers, especially since freight containers are sealed for transport and distributed widely throughout the importing countries before being opened for unloading. We investigated 2113 freight containers arriving at the second largest container terminal in Europe, Ham...

This paper presents a sequential approach for the assessment of a multi-layered distribution network from a cluster of collaborating suppliers to a large set of customers. The transportation network includes three segments: suppliers routes from suppliers to a consolidation and distribution center, full truckload routes toward regional distribution centers, and less-than-truckload distribution ...

In this article we estimate external costs for four representative types of freight trains. For each type of freight train, we estimate three general types of external costs and compare them with the private costs experienced by railroad companies. The general types of external costs include: accidents (fatalities, injuries, and property damage); emissions (air pollution and greenhouse gases); ...

Truckload routing has always been a challenge. The truckload routing problem (TRP) itself is hard, but the complexity of solving the problem increases due to the stochastic nature of truckload demand. It is traditionally approached through the use of single objective solution methodologies which range from linear programming to dynamic programming techniques. This paper presents a deterministic...

A specific terminal structure of preintegrative DNA is required for transposition of retroviruses and LTR-retrotransposons. We have used an anchored PCR technique to map the 3'ends of DNA intermediates synthesized inside yeast Ty1 and Ty3 retrotransposon virus-like particles. We find that, unlike retroviruses, Ty1 replicated DNA does not have two extra base pairs at its 3'ends. In contrast some...

Within the framework of the promotion of the environmental friendly modes, the European Commission has launched a number of research projects aiming at evaluating technical and organisational innovations that can improve the performance of the freight transport operations in the rail sector. The scope of this paper is to present a modelling approach focusing on the comparative evaluation of con...