Promoting or Inhibiting?Influence of Railway Container Transportation on Regional Economic Development

In the context of building a country with a strong transportation network,railway container transportation(RCT)is an import-ant means of reducing costs,increasing efficiency,and adjusting transportation structures.Thus,its impact on regional economic devel-opment is important.Based on data from railway container-handling stations and spatial econometric models,this study discusses the differences in the development of RCT and their impact on regional economic development at different leves.This study has three main findings:first,there are significant regional differences in the development of the RCT.The intra-regional differences between the east-ern and central regions of China(which do not include Hong Kong,Macao and Taiwan)are gradually narrowing,while the regional dif-ferences in the western region are widening.Meanwhile,the intra-regional differences in important economic zones such as Pearl River Delta Economic Zone(PRDEZ),Chengdu-Chongqing Economic Zone(CYEZ),Bohai Rim Economic Zone(BHEZ),and Yangtze River Delta Economic Zone(YRDEZ)are narrowing daily.Second,the development differences of RCT in regional level and import-ant economic regions level show different trends.The unbalanced features of large regions are increasingly evident,whereas the differ-ences in economic regions are decreasing.However,the problem of overlapping RCT remains prominent.Third,the transformation of RCT development mode and fierce competition among transportation modes cause RCT to have a restraining effect on the regional eco-nomy at three levels.Rational allocation of resources and other means must be used to guide the transformation from inhibition to pro-motion,and by formulating targeted policies that will promote the development of RCT,which will improve the transportation structure and help construct a country with a strong transportation system.

Structural Characteristics and Evolution of a Weighted Sino-US Container Shipping Network

This study selected the Sino-US route data from the top 30 global container liner companies between December 1,2019,and December 29,2019,as the data source utilizing the complex network research methodology.It constructs a Sino-US container shipping network through voyage weighting and analyzes the essential structural characteristics to explore the network’s complex structural fea-tures.The network’s evolution is examined from three perspectives,namely,time,space,and event influence,aiming to comprehens-ively explore the network’s evolution mechanism.The results revealed that:1)the weighted Sino-US container shipping network exhib-its small-world and scale-free properties.Key hub ports in the United States include NEW YORK NY,SAVANNAH GA,LOS ANGELES CA,and OAKLAND CA,whereas SHANGHAI serving as the hub port in China.The geographical distribution of these hub ports is uneven.2)Concerning the evolution of the weighted Sino-US container shipping network,from a temporal perspective,the evolution of the regional structure of the entire Sino-US region and the Inland United States is in a stage of radiative expansion and de-velopment,with a need for further enhancement in competitiveness and development speed.The evolution of the regional structure of southern China and Europe is transitioning from the stage of radiative expansion and development to an advanced equilibrium stage.The shipping development in Northern China,the Western and Eastern United States,and Asia is undergoing significant changes but faces challenges of fierce competition and imbalances.From a spatial perspective,the rationality and effectiveness of the improved weighted Barrat-Barthelemy-Vespignani(BBV)model are confirmed through theoretical derivation.The applicability of the improved evolution model is verified by simulating the evolution of the weighted Sino-US container shipping network.From an event impact per-spective,the Corona Virus Disease 2019(COVID-19)pandemic has not fundamentally affected the spatial pattern of the weighted Sino-US container shipping network but has significantly impacted the network’s connectivity.The network lacks sufficient resilience and stability in emergency situations.3)Based on the analysis of the structural characteristics and evolution of the weighted Sino-US con-tainer shipping network,recommendations for network development are proposed from three aspects:emphasizing the development of hub ports,focusing on the balanced development of the network,and optimizing the layout of Chinese ports.

Improved STNModels and Heuristic Rules for Cooperative Scheduling in Automated Container Terminals

Improving the cooperative scheduling efficiency of equipment is the key for automated container terminals to copewith the development trend of large-scale ships. In order to improve the solution efficiency of the existing spacetimenetwork (STN) model for the cooperative scheduling problem of yard cranes (YCs) and automated guidedvehicles (AGVs) and extend its application scenarios, two improved STN models are proposed. The flow balanceconstraints in the original model are decomposed, and the trajectory constraints of YCs and AGVs are added toacquire the model STN_A. The coupling constraint in STN_A is updated, and buffer constraints are added toSTN_A so that themodel STN_B is built.As the size of the problem increases, the solution speed of CPLEX becomesthe bottleneck. So a heuristic method containing three groups of heuristic rules is designed to obtain a near-optimalsolution quickly. Experimental results showthat the computation time of STN_A is shortened by 49.47% on averageand the gap is reduced by 1.69% on average compared with the original model. The gap between the solution ofthe heuristic rules and the solution of CPLEX is less than 3.50%, and the solution time of the heuristic rules is onaverage 99.85% less than the solution time of CPLEX. Compared with STN_A, the computation time for solvingSTN_B increases by 58.93% on average.

Impact of Hinterland Manufacturing on the Development of Container Ports: Evidence from the Pearl River Delta, China

Container ports and hinterland manufacturing are two important forces of the local participation in economic globalization.This study,taking the Pearl River Delta(PRD),China with an export-oriented economy as an example,applies Huff and panel regres-sion models to evaluate the impact of hinterland manufacturing on the development of container ports during the period of 1993–2019.The results show that 1)the spatial patterns of hinterlands for hub ports help to determine the distribution range and scale of economic variables that affect port throughput;2)the hinterland’s gross manufacturing output has universally positive influence on port through-put,wherein export-oriented processing and the entire manufacturing industry have significantly positive impact on port throughput in 1993–2011 and 2001–2019,respectively;3)the two internal structural factors related to an export-oriented economy,labor-intensive sectors and foreign-funded terminals,have positively moderate the direct influence of hinterland manufacturing on port throughput.Our results highlight the importance of local context in understanding port-manufacturing relationship in developing economies.Based on our findings,policy implications are further proposed to enhance port network organization in PRD.

A Pre-Selection-Based Ant Colony System for Integrated Resources Scheduling Problem at Marine Container Terminal

Marine container terminal(MCT)plays a key role in the marine intelligent transportation system and international logistics system.However,the efficiency of resource scheduling significantly influences the operation performance of MCT.To solve the practical resource scheduling problem(RSP)in MCT efficiently,this paper has contributions to both the problem model and the algorithm design.Firstly,in the problem model,different from most of the existing studies that only consider scheduling part of the resources in MCT,we propose a unified mathematical model for formulating an integrated RSP.The new integrated RSP model allocates and schedules multiple MCT resources simultaneously by taking the total cost minimization as the objective.Secondly,in the algorithm design,a pre-selection-based ant colony system(PACS)approach is proposed based on graphic structure solution representation and a pre-selection strategy.On the one hand,as the RSP can be formulated as the shortest path problem on the directed complete graph,the graphic structure is proposed to represent the solution encoding to consider multiple constraints and multiple factors of the RSP,which effectively avoids the generation of infeasible solutions.On the other hand,the pre-selection strategy aims to reduce the computational burden of PACS and to fast obtain a higher-quality solution.To evaluate the performance of the proposed novel PACS in solving the new integrated RSP model,a set of test cases with different sizes is conducted.Experimental results and comparisons show the effectiveness and efficiency of the PACS algorithm,which can significantly outperform other state-of-the-art algorithms.

Security Risk Assessment in Container Terminals:Empirical Evidence from Greece

The most prominent risk assessment techniques are founded on the values of measuring and controlling the frequency and the consequences of risks in order to assure an“acceptable level”of“safeness”mainly in the lines of environmental,health and hygiene and port product issues.This paper examines security risk assessment approaches within the emerging role of ports.This paper contributes to the current literature by considering the ports of Greece as a case in point and by measuring the degree of its security risk orientation based on certain valid risk factors drawn from the current literature.Moreover,it presents a security risk assessment methodology into the domain of port container terminals.Their potential for ports were quantitatively and qualitatively assessed by discussing issues of security approaches within the maritime industry,in order to facilitate improvement strategies.A two-dimension empirical study was conducted,in a time range of ten years(2010-2020)in order to provide evidence regarding security risk assessment in the port container terminal of Thessaloniki,in Greece.The findings of this study have significant strategic policy implications and shed more light on the role of security risks in the overall risk orientation of container terminals in practice.Finally,further research directions in security risk in ports are proposed.

“Smart”micro/nano container-based self-healing coatings on magnesium alloys:A review

Coating technologies are a commonly used way to protect metals against corrosion.However,with more and more severe service environments of materials,many protective coating systems often are not environmentally friendly or toxic as in the case of chromates.Based on the world’s abundant ideal magnesium(Mg)and its alloy,the smart self-healing anticorrosive coating can autonomously restore the damaged part of the coating according to the environmental changes,strengthen the corrosion protection ability,and prolong its service life.This paper reviews the research progress of smart self-healing coatings on Mg alloys.These coatings mostly contain suitable corrosion inhibitors encapsulated into micro/nano containers.Moreover,the different self-healing mechanisms and functionalities of micro/nano containers are discussed.The micro/nano containers range from inorganic nanocontainers such as mesoporous nanoparticles(silica(SiO_(2)),titanium dioxide(TiO_(2)),etc.),over inorganic clays(halloysite,hydrotalcite-like,zeolite),to organic nanocontainers such as polymer microcapsules,nanofibers,chitosan(CS)and cyclodextrin(CD),as well as,carbon materials such as graphene and carbon nanotubes and hybrids such as metal organic frameworks.The functioning of micro/nano containers can be divided in two principal groups:autonomous(based on defect filling and corrosion inhibition)and non-autonomous(based on dynamic bonds and shape memory polymers).Moreover,multi functionalities and composite applications of various micro/nano containers are summarized.At present,significant progress has been made in the preparation methods and technologies of micro/nano containers.Achieving long-term self-healing properties of coatings sensing of coating failure and early warning after self-healing function failure can be expected as the main development direction of self-healing corrosion protection coatings in the future.

Container-Based Internet of Vehicles Edge Application Migration Mechanism

Internet of Vehicles(IoV)applications integrating with edge com-puting will significantly drive the growth of IoV.However,the contradiction between the high-speed mobility of vehicles,the delay sensitivity of corre-sponding IoV applications and the limited coverage and resource capacity of distributed edge servers will pose challenges to the service continuity and stability of IoV applications.IoV application migration is a promising solution that can be supported by application containerization,a technology for seamless cross-edge-server application migration without user perception.Therefore,this paper proposes the container-based IoV edge application migration mechanism,consisting of three parts.The first is the migration trigger determination algorithm for cross-border migration and service degra-dation migration,respectively,based on trajectory prediction and traffic awareness to improve the determination accuracy.The second is the migration target decision calculation model for minimizing the average migration time and maximizing the average service time to reduce migration times and improve the stability and adaptability of migration decisions.The third is the migration decision algorithm based on the improved artificial bee colony algorithm to avoid local optimal migration decisions.Simulation results show that the proposed migration mechanism can reduce migration times,reduce average migration time,improve average service time and enhance the stability and adaptability of IoV application services.

Adaptive resource allocation for workflow containerization on Kubernetes

In a cloud-native era,the Kubernetes-based workflow engine enables workflow containerized execution through the inherent abilities of Kubernetes.However,when encountering continuous workflow requests and unexpected resource request spikes,the engine is limited to the current workflow load information for resource allocation,which lacks the agility and predictability of resource allocation,resulting in over and underprovisioning resources.This mechanism seriously hinders workflow execution efficiency and leads to high resource waste.To overcome these drawbacks,we propose an adaptive resource allocation scheme named adaptive resource allocation scheme(ARAS)for the Kubernetes-based workflow engines.Considering potential future workflow task requests within the current task pod’s lifecycle,the ARAS uses a resource scaling strategy to allocate resources in response to high-concurrency workflow scenarios.The ARAS offers resource discovery,resource evaluation,and allocation functionalities and serves as a key component for our tailored workflow engine(KubeAdaptor).By integrating the ARAS into KubeAdaptor for workflow containerized execution,we demonstrate the practical abilities of KubeAdaptor and the advantages of our ARAS.Compared with the baseline algorithm,experimental evaluation under three distinct workflow arrival patterns shows that ARAS gains time-saving of 9.8% to 40.92% in the average total duration of all workflows,time-saving of 26.4% to 79.86% in the average duration of individual workflow,and an increase of 1% to 16% in centrol processing unit(CPU)and memory resource usage rate.

Nonlinear semi-analytical modeling of liquid sloshing in rectangular container with horizontal baffles

A nonlinear semi-analytical scheme is proposed for investigating the finiteamplitude nonlinear sloshing in a horizontally baffled rectangular liquid container under the seismic excitation.The sub-domain method is developed to analytically derive the modal behaviors of the baffled linear sloshing.The viscosity dissipation effects from the interior liquid and boundary layers are considered.With the introduction of the generalized time-dependent coordinates,the surface wave elevation and velocity potential are represented by a series of linear modal eigenfunctions.The infinite-dimensional modal system of the nonlinear sloshing is formulated based on the Bateman-Luke variational principle,which is further reduced to the finite-dimensional modal system by using the NarimanovMoiseev asymptotic ordering.The base force and overturning moment induced by the nonlinear sloshing are derived as the functions of the generalized time-dependent coordinates.The present results match well with the available analytical,numerical,and experimental results.The paper examines the surface wave elevation,base force,and overturning moment versus the baffle parameters and excitation amplitude in detail.

Vertical Pod Autoscaling in Kubernetes for Elastic Container Collaborative Framework

Kubernetes is an open-source container management tool which automates container deployment,container load balancing and container(de)scaling,including Horizontal Pod Autoscaler(HPA),Vertical Pod Autoscaler(VPA).HPA enables flawless operation,interactively scaling the number of resource units,or pods,without downtime.Default Resource Metrics,such as CPU and memory use of host machines and pods,are monitored by Kubernetes.Cloud Computing has emerged as a platform for individuals beside the corporate sector.It provides cost-effective infrastructure,platform and software services in a shared environment.On the other hand,the emergence of industry 4.0 brought new challenges for the adaptability and infusion of cloud computing.As the global work environment is adapting constituents of industry 4.0 in terms of robotics,artificial intelligence and IoT devices,it is becoming eminent that one emerging challenge is collaborative schematics.Provision of such autonomous mechanism that can develop,manage and operationalize digital resources like CoBots to perform tasks in a distributed and collaborative cloud environment for optimized utilization of resources,ensuring schedule completion.Collaborative schematics are also linked with Bigdata management produced by large scale industry 4.0 setups.Different use cases and simulation results showed a significant improvement in Pod CPU utilization,latency,and throughput over Kubernetes environment.

Container Instrumentation and Enforcement System for Runtime Security of Kubernetes Platform with eBPF

Containerization is a fundamental component of modern cloud-native infrastructure,and Kubernetes is a prominent platform of container orchestration systems.However,containerization raises significant security concerns due to the nature of sharing a kernel among multiple containers,which can lead to container breakout or privilege escalation.Kubernetes cannot avoid it as well.While various tools,such as container image scanning and configuration checking,can mitigate container workload vulnerabilities,these are not foolproof and cannot guarantee perfect isolation or prevent every active threat in runtime.As such,a policy enforcement solution is required to tackle the problem,and existing solutions based on LSM(Linux Security Module)frameworks may not be adequate for some situations.To address this,we propose an enforcement system based on BPF-LSM,which leverages eBPF(extended Berkeley Packet Filter)technology to provide fine-grained control and dynamic adoption of security policies.In this paper,we compare different LSM implementations to highlight the challenges of current enforcement solutions before detailing the design of our eBPF-based Kubernetes Runtime Instrumentation and Enforcement System(KRSIE).Finally,we evaluate the effectiveness of our system using a real-world scenario,as measuring the performance of a policy enforcement system is a complex task.Our results show that KRSIE can successfully control containers’behaviors using LSM hooks at container runtime,offering improved container security for cloud-native infrastructure.

Container Based Nomadic Vehicular Cloud Using Cell Transmission Model

Nomadic Vehicular Cloud(NVC)is envisaged in this work.The predo-minant aspects of NVC is,it moves along with the vehicle that initiates it and functions only with the resources of moving vehicles on the heavy traffic road without relying on any of the static infrastructure and NVC decides the initiation time of container migration using cell transmission model(CTM).Containers are used in the place of Virtual Machines(VM),as containers’features are very apt to NVC’s dynamic environment.The specifications of 5G NR V2X PC5 interface are applied to NVC,for the feature of not relying on the network coverage.Nowa-days,the peak traffic on the road and the bottlenecks due to it are inevitable,which are seen here as the benefits for VC in terms of resource availability and residual in-network time.The speed range of high-end vehicles poses the issue of dis-connectivity among VC participants,that results the container migration failure.As the entire VC participants are on the move,to maintain proximity of the containers hosted by them,estimating their movements plays a vital role.To infer the vehicle movements on the road stretch and initiate the container migration prior enough to avoid the migration failure due to vehicles dynamicity,this paper proposes to apply the CTM to the container based and 5G NR V2X enabled NVC.The simulation results show that there is a significant increase in the success rate of vehicular cloud in terms of successful container migrations.

Scale Breeding and Reproduction Technique of Ficus tikoua Bur.Container Seedlings

Based on the principle of asexual reproduction,a kind of scale breeding and reproduction technique of Ficus tikoua Bur.container seedlings was explored by using the characteristics of strong adaptability to the environment and fast growth and reproduction.Using non-woven bag as a breeding container for seedlings,the scale breeding and reproduction technique of F.tikoua container seedlings was summarized through the important links of seedling bed construction,seedling collection,soil configuration,container selection,cutting cultivation,field management,and disease and pest control.This technique can achieve differential,massive and sustainable efficient breeding and reproduction of F.tikoua seedlings in a short time.

Selection of Media for Hardwood Cuttings Container Seedling-raising of Triploid Clones of Populus tomentosa

[Objective] The experiment was aimed to select effective and economical media for container seedling of triploid clones of Populus tomentosa that was carried out. [Method] The sandy loam, peat, perlite, vermiculite, riversand, sludge were taken as media of hardwood cutting and survival rate, seedling height were taken as indexes to select media for container seedling of triploid clones of Populus tomentosa. [Result] Different mixedmedia had great influence on survival rates of container seedlings. Taking peat and vermiculite with the proportion of 5∶2 (M10) or peat ,vermiculite with the proportion of 7∶2 (M11) or sandy loam (M1) as media would generate higher cutting survival rate that was higher than 90.0%. There were significant differece in height increments of container seedlings. Taking sandy loam, peat and vermiculite with the proportion of 6∶2∶2(M5)or sandy loam (M1), seedling height of 60-days the seedling was over 37.0 cm. [Conclusion] According to cost analysis of nursery medium, the optimum medium for hardwood cuttings container seedling-raising of triploid clones of Populus tomentosa was sandy loam.

Study on Grading Standard for One-Year-Old Container Seedling Quality of Phoebe zhennan

In order to improve the survival rate of planting seedlings of Phoebe zhen-nan, the grading standard for one-year-old container seedlings of Phoebe zhennan was developed by using cluster analysis. The results showed that the quality of Phoebe zhennan container seedlings could be estimated from seedling height and ground diameter. The Phoebe zhennan container seedlings were divided into 3 grades： Grade 1 （seedling height ≥ 38 cm; ground diameter ≥ 0.65 cm）, Grade 2 （31.7 cm ≤ seedling height 〈 38 cm; 0.56 cm ≤ ground diameter 〈 0.65 cm） and Grade 3 （seedling height 〈 31.7 cm; ground diameter 〈 0.56 cm）.

Review of containership stowage plans for full routes

Containership stowage plans are a pivotal teaches in the system of container transportation.With the increasing containers shipping,planning containership stowage has become more and more complicated.So intelligent stowage planning for containerships is of great significance.An effective stowage plan may improve efficiency of transportation system.First,the progress of containership stowage plan at home and abroad is reviewed,including the latest developments,such as the application of various optimization methods and computer techniques to the problem.Then,the complexities of the problem are discussed and areas where investigations are still needed are pointed out.This will provide a reference for further research on the subject.

The RHSA Strategy for the Allocation of Outbound Containers Based on the Hybrid Genetic Algorithm

Secure storage yard is one of the optimal core goals of container transportation;thus,making the necessary storage arrangements has become the most crucial part of the container terminal management systems（CTMS）.This paper investigates a random hybrid stacking algorithm（RHSA） for outbound containers that randomly enter the yard.In the first stage of RHSA,the distribution among blocks was analyzed with respect to the utilization ratio.In the second stage,the optimization of bay configuration was carried out by using the hybrid genetic algorithm.Moreover,an experiment was performed to test the RHSA.The results show that the explored algorithm is useful to increase the efficiency.

Modeling of container terminal logistics system based on multi-agent

The similarities and differences between the container terminal logistics system(CTLS)and the Harvard-architecture computer system are compared in terms of organization and architecture.The mapping relation and the modeling framework of the CTLS are presented based on multi-agent,and the successful algorithms in the computer domain are applied to the modeling framework,such as the dynamic priority and multilevel feedback scheduling algorithm.In addition,a model and simulation on a certain quay at Shanghai harbor is built up on the AnyLogic platform to support the decision-making of terminal on service cost.It validates the feasibility and creditability of the above systematic methodology.

Optimization of Cultivation Medium for Container Seedling Raising of Camellia oleifera

[Objective] This study aimed to investigate the optimal component of culti- vation medium for container seedling raising of Camellia oleifera. [Method] In the application of container nursery technology of Camellia oleifera grafting in emergent stocks, yellow clay soil, surface soil of pine forest, decomposed edible fungus, peat soil, dung and dirt were mixed by different proportions into five formulae as nursery substrates, with garden soil as the control, in order to investigate the influences of various substrates on the growth of annual Camellia oleifera container seedlings by using randomized block design based on variance analysis and multiple comparisons, and to screen the optimal substrate formula for container nursery of Camellia oleifera. [Result] The influences of different substrates on the transplanting survival rate, seedling height, basal diameter, height-diameter ratio and lateral root length of Camellia oleifera container seedlings were significantly different. Various growth indi- cators of Camellia oleifera container seedlings cultivated in the substrate containing 40% of yellow clay soil ＋ 15% of surface soil of pine forest ＋ 20% of decomposed edible fungus ＋ 20% of peat soil ＋ 5% of dung and dirt exceeded that of the control and other substrate formulae, which could be used as the optimal substrate formula for the container nursery of Camellia oleifera. [Conclusion] This study screened the optimal substrate formula for the container nursery of Camellia oleifera, which provided technical reference for the cultivation of Camellia oleifera container seedlings.