Ethics of Human Resources Management in the Cameroonian Health System, Medical Nomadism and the Ineffectiveness of the Fight against High Blood Pressure

Context/objectives: The fight against Chronic Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs) is a long-term undertaking, which requires available, motivated and well-managed human resources (HR). The administrative management of skills on both qualitative and quantitative levels is one of the essential functions of a health system. To better implement policies of fight against High Blood Pressure (HBP) and other chronic diseases, it is important to establish strategies to retain health personnel. This loyalty requires favorable working conditions and consideration of the contribution-reward couple. Good working conditions are likely to reduce the phenomenon of medical nomadism;conversely, poor HR management can contribute to their exodus towards exotic “green pastures”, thus leading to an additional crisis in the Cameroonian health system. The fight against HBP is a complex, multifaceted and multifactorial reality that requires appropriate management model for all types of resources mainly HR. The main objective of this research is to show the impact of poor management of human resources in Cameroon health system on medical nomadism and the ineffectiveness of the fight against High Blood Pressure. Method: A cross-sectional descriptive survey among five hundred (500) health facilities in the center region of Cameroon has been conducted. A stratified probabilistic technique has been used, and the number of health facilities to be surveyed has been determined using the “sample size estimation table” of Depelteau. The physical questionnaires have been printed and then distributed to data collectors. After data collection, the latter were grouped during processing in Excel sheets. The Chi-square test was used for data with a qualitative value and that of Kolmogorov-Sminorf for data with a quantitative value to assess the normality and reliability of data. The Crochach’s Alpha reliability test allowed us to have a summary of the means and variances and then to search for intragroup correlations between variables. Descriptive analysis was possible with the XLSTAT 2016 software. Results: 43.60% of Health Facilities (HF) managers were unqualified. 82.20% of HF managers have staff in a situation of professional insecurity. They are mainly contractual (49.00), decision-making agents (24.40%), casual agents (08.80). The proportion of unstable personnel is average of 22.00% and very unstable, 12.00%.

Mapping and resource evaluation of deep high-temperature geothermal resources in the Jiyang Depression,China

In China,geothermal resource utilization has mainly focused on resources at shallow and medium depths.Yet,the exploration of deep,high-temperature geothermal resources holds significant importance for achieving the“dual carbon”goals and the transition of energy structure.The Jiyang Depression in the Bohai Bay Basin has vast potential for deep,high-temperature geothermal resources.By analyzing data from 2187 wells with temperature logs and 270 locations for temperature measurement in deep strata,we mapped the geothermal field of shallow to medium-deep layers in the Jiyang Depression using ArcGIS and predicted the temperatures of deep layers with a burial depth of 4000 m.Through stochastic modeling and numerical simulation,a reservoir attribute parameter database for favorable deep,high-temperature geothermal areas was developed,systematically characterizing the spatial distribution of geothermal resources within a play fairway of 139.5 km2 and estimating the exploitable deep geothermal resource potential by using the heat storage method and Monte Carlo data analysis.The study reveals that the Fan 54 well block in the Boxing-Jijia region is of prime significance to develop deep,high-temperature geothermal resources in the Jiyang Depression.Strata from the Cenozoic to the Upper Paleozoic are identified as effective cap layers for these deep geothermal resources.The Lower Paleozoic capable of effectively storing thermal energy and possessing an exploitable resource volume up to 127 million tons of standard coal,is identified as a target system for the development of deep high-temperature geothermal resources,providing significant insights for the efficient development of geothermal resources in the Jiyang Depression.

How University Athletics Can Impact Mental Health among Student Athletes at the University of Evansville

In recent years, the NCAA student athlete population in the United States has surpassed 500,000, and is continuing to rise each year [1]. These student athletes work their entire lives academically and athletically to reach the ultimate goal: competing in university athletics. However, when these athletes reach university, they are met with non-stop training, homework, exams, and evolving social lives. We have conducted a study at the University of Evansville evaluating how participation in university athletics may impact mental health status among these student athletes, as well as measuring players’ awareness of accessible mental health resources. Over fifty percent of participants reported experiencing at least one mental health condition while competing in their sport;eighty percent reported having knowledge of the mental health resources available to them on campus, however, nearly thirty percent of those knowledgeable reported not knowing how to access these resources. This has indicated a gap in awareness and utilization of mental health resources among student athletes at the University of Evansville.

Dynamical Artificial Bee Colony for Energy-Efficient Unrelated Parallel Machine Scheduling with Additional Resources and Maintenance

Unrelated parallel machine scheduling problem(UPMSP)is a typical scheduling one and UPMSP with various reallife constraints such as additional resources has been widely studied;however,UPMSP with additional resources,maintenance,and energy-related objectives is seldom investigated.The Artificial Bee Colony(ABC)algorithm has been successfully applied to various production scheduling problems and demonstrates potential search advantages in solving UPMSP with additional resources,among other factors.In this study,an energy-efficient UPMSP with additional resources and maintenance is considered.A dynamical artificial bee colony(DABC)algorithm is presented to minimize makespan and total energy consumption simultaneously.Three heuristics are applied to produce the initial population.Employed bee swarm and onlooker bee swarm are constructed.Computing resources are shifted from the dominated solutions to non-dominated solutions in each swarm when the given condition is met.Dynamical employed bee phase is implemented by computing resource shifting and solution migration.Computing resource shifting and feedback are used to construct dynamical onlooker bee phase.Computational experiments are conducted on 300 instances from the literature and three comparative algorithms and ABC are compared after parameter settings of all algorithms are given.The computational results demonstrate that the new strategies of DABC are effective and that DABC has promising advantages in solving the considered UPMSP.

Knowledge mapping of research on sustainable utilization of landscape resources:a case study of Guilin National Innovation Demonstration Zone for sustainable development in China

Worldwide interest has increasingly focused on the sustainable utilization of landscape as a resource in urban areas,emphasizing its ecological,cultural and social significance.This study examines Guilin City,China,as a representative case study due to its rich landscape resources and status as a national innovation demonstration zone for implementing the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.This study uses bibliometric visualization tools like CiteSpace and VOSviewer to analyze research trends from 1980 to 2021 in the Chinese Academic Journal Network Publishing Database(CNKI).The results show increasing academic interest over three stages:initiation(1982-1997),exploration(1998-2004),and diversified development(2005-2021).Contributions are predominantly from local academic and tourism sectors,indicating a strong regional influence;however,relatively weak interinstitutional collaboration occurs,suggesting potential for more integrated research efforts.Primary research is also concentrated within economic disciplines,particularly tourism-related ones.The evolution of research frontiers reveals three main paths:urban development strategies,industrial economic theories and empirical validation,and ecosystem analysis and evaluation.A multidisciplinary approach and stronger collaborative efforts are crucial to enhance research on ecological values and empirical models while supporting evidence-based urban development strategies in Guilin City and comparable cities globally.

Joint Allocation of Computing and Connectivity Resources in Survivable Inter-Datacenter Elastic Optical Networks

Inter-datacenter elastic optical networks(EON)need to provide the service for the requests of cloud computing that require not only connectivity and computing resources but also network survivability.In this paper,to realize joint allocation of computing and connectivity resources in survivable inter-datacenter EONs,a survivable routing,modulation level,spectrum,and computing resource allocation algorithm(SRMLSCRA)algorithm and three datacenter selection strategies,i.e.Computing Resource First(CRF),Shortest Path First(SPF)and Random Destination(RD),are proposed for different scenarios.Unicast and manycast are applied to the communication of computing requests,and the routing strategies are calculated respectively.Simulation results show that SRMLCRA-CRF can serve the largest amount of protected computing tasks,and the requested calculation blocking probability is reduced by 29.2%,28.3%and 30.5%compared with SRMLSCRA-SPF,SRMLSCRA-RD and the benchmark EPS-RMSA algorithms respectively.Therefore,it is more applicable to the networks with huge calculations.Besides,SRMLSCRA-SPF consumes the least spectrum,thereby exhibiting its suitability for scenarios where the amount of calculation is small and communication resources are scarce.The results demonstrate that the proposed methods realize the joint allocation of computing and connectivity resources,and could provide efficient protection for services under single-link failure and occupy less spectrum.

Healthcare Worker-Related Factors Contributing to Tuberculosis Treatment Non-Adherence among Patients in Kisumu East Sub-County

Background: Treatment non-adherence poses significant risks to health outcomes and impedes the health system’s efficiency, hence curtailing progress towards the end Tuberculosis (TB) strategy under SDG 3.3. Despite interventions to address TB treatment non-adherence, Kenya still reports high TB treatment non-adherence rates of 35% and consequently poor treatment outcome rates. Health Care Workers (HCWs) play a critical role in linking the population to health services, yet little is known of their influence on patients’ TB treatment non-adherence in Kenya. Objective: To analyze HCW-related factors associated with TB treatment non-adherence among patients in Kisumu East Sub-County. Methods: Health facility-based analytical cross-sectional mixed-method study. A Semi-structured questionnaire on treatment adherence and patients’ perceptions of HCWs during the clinic visit was administered to 102 consenting adult (out of a total census of 107 adults) drug-susceptible TB patients. 12 purposively selected HCWs by rank from 6 health facilities participated in Key Informant Interview sessions. Medication adherence was measured using the Morisky Medication Adherence Scale and then expressed as a dichotomous variable. Quantitative analysis utilized STATA version 15.1 while qualitative deductive thematic analysis was done using NVIVO version 14. Results: TB treatment non-adherence rate of 26% (CI: 18% - 36%) was recorded. Overall, patients who felt supported in dealing with the illness were 8 times more likely to adhere to treatment compared to those who were not (aOR = 7.947, 95% CI: 2.214 - 28.527, p = 0.001). Key HCW related factors influencing adherence to treatment included: friendliness (cOR = 4.31, 95% CI: 1.514 - 12.284, p = 0.006), respect (cOR = 6.679, 95% CI: 2.239 - 19.923, p = 0.001) and non-discriminatory service (cOR = 0.1478, 95% CI: 0.047 - 0.464, p = 0.001), communication [adequacy of consultation time (cOR = 6.563, 95% CI: 2.467 - 17.458, p = 0.001) and patients’ involvement in their health decisions (cOR = 3.02 95% CI: 1.061 - 8.592, p = 0.038)] and education and counselling (cOR = 4.371, 95% CI: 1.725 - 11.075, p = 0.002). Conclusion: The study results underline importance of patient-centered consultation for TB patients and targeted education and counselling for improved treatment adherence.

Spatial and Temporal Distribution Characteristics of Solar Energy Resources in Tibet

The Tibet Plateau is one of the regions with the richest solar energy resources in the world.In the process of achieving carbon neutrality in China,the development and utilization of solar energy resources in the region will play an important role.In this study,the gridded solar resource data with 1km resolution in Tibet were obtained by spatial correction and downscaling of SMARTS model.On this basis,the spatial and temporal distribution characteristics of solar energy resources in the region in the past 30 years(1991–2020)are finely evaluated,and the annual global horizontal radiation resource is calculated.The results show that:1)The average annual global horizontal radiation amount in Tibet is 1816 kWh/m^(2).More than 60%of the area belongs to the“Most abundant”(GHI≥1750 kWh/m^(2))area of China’s solar energy resources category A,and nearly 40%belongs to the“Quite abundant”(1400≤GHI<1750)area of China’s solar energy resource category B.2)In space,the solar energy resources in Tibet increased gradually from north to south and from east to west.Lhasa,Central and Eastern Shigatse,Shannan,and Southwestern Ali are the most abundant cities,with a maximum annual radiation level of 2189 kWh/m2.3)In terms of time,the total horizontal radiation in Tibet was the highest in May and the lowest in December.74%of the total area belongs to the“Very stable”(R_(w)≥0.47)area of solar resource stability category A,and 26%belongs to the“stable”(0.36≤R_(w)<0.47)area of solar resource stability category B.Solar energy resources in the region show the characteristics of both strong and stable.Average solar energy resources in the region have shown a fluctuating downward trend over the past 30 years,with an average decline of about 12.86(kWh/m2)per decade.4)In terms of solar radiation resources reaching the earth’s surface,the theoretical total amount of annual horizontal radiation in Tibet is about 240.07 billion tons of standard coal or 222.91 billion kilowatts on average.

Conditions for the enrichment of karst hydrothermal resources in Bohai Bay Basin

Drilling for karst hydrothermal resources in eastern China has posed challenges,including disparities between the temperature and yield of geothermal water.It is evident that relying solely on geothermal anomalies or indications of karst reservoirs is inadequate for the exploration of karst hydrothermal resources.This study seeks to elucidate the cause of geothermal sweet spots by analyzing the interplay between geothermal anomalies and karst reservoirs and the underlying geological conditions for karst hydrothermal enrichment.Key findings include:(1)the Bohai Bay Basin has been geologically favorable for the development of karst hydrothermal resources since the Mesozoic era;(2)the karst hydrothermal enrichment varies significantly between the basin’s margin and its interior.On the basin margin,the enrichment is largely driven by groundwater activity and faults,particularly where faults facilitate the upwelling of geothermal water.In contrast,within the basin’s interior,karst hydrothermal resources are predominantly influenced by buried hills and are especially enriched in areas facilitating the discharge of deep geothermal waters.

Progress in research on the exploration and evaluation of deep geothermal resources in the Fujian-Guangdong-Hainan region,China

Deep geothermal resources in the Fujian-Guangdong-Hainan region,China,offer significant potential for sustainable energy.The diverse igneous rock formations along the southeast coast present intricate geological challenges that impede exploration and evaluation efforts.In this study,we address critical concerns related to the Fujian-Guangdong-Hainan region's deep geothermal resources,encompassing heat source composition,formation conditions,strategic favorable areas,and exploration directions.Our methods involve the analysis of regional geothermal reservoirs and cap rocks.Major findings include:the primary heat sources in the Fujian-Guangdong-Hainan region consist of the radioactive heat generation from granites in the crust,heat conduction in the mantle,and,in specific areas like Yangjiang and Shantou,melts within the middle and lower crust;the deep,high-temperature geothermal resources in the region predominantly reside in basins'depressed areas.These areas are characterized by the confluence of triple heat sources:heat from the Earth's crust,mantle,and other supplementary sources;our analysis led to the identification of three strategic areas favorable for deep geothermal resources in the Fujian-Guangdong-Hainan region.These are the Beibu Gulf Basin's continental area,the Yuezhong Depression,and the Fuzhou-Zhangzhou area.

Enhancing transboundary natural tourism resources governance:unveiling the spatial pattern and its influencing factors

Tourism resources that span provincial boundaries in China play a pivotal role in regional development,yet effective governance poses persistent challenges.This study addresses this issue by constructing a comprehensive database of transboundary natural tourism resources(TNTR)through amalgamation of diverse data sources.Utilizing the Getis-Ord Gi^(*),kernel density estimation,and geographical detectors,we scrutinize the spatial patterns of TNTR,focusing on both named and unnamed entities,while exploring the influencing factors.Our findings reveal 7883 identified TNTR in China,with mountain tourism resources emerging as the predominant type.Among provinces,Hunan boasts the highest count,while Shanghai exhibits the lowest.Southern China demonstrates a pronounced clustering trend in TNTR distribution,with the spatial arrangement of biological landscapes appearing more random compared to geological and water landscapes.Western China,characterized by intricate terrain,exhibits fewer TNTR,concurrently unveiling a significant presence of unnamed natural tourism resources.Crucially,administrative segmentation influences TNTR development,generating disparities in regional goals,developmental stages and intensities,and management approaches.In response to these variations,we advocate for strengthening the naming of the unnamed transboundary tourism resources,constructing a geographic database of TNTR for government and establishing a collaborative management mechanism based on TNTR database.Our research contributes to elucidating the intricate landscape of TNTR,offering insights for tailored governance strategies in the realm of cross-provincial tourism resource management.

Investigation and analysis of vascular plant resources and diversity in Wuyi Mountain,Fujian Province

Wuyi Mountain,located in the north of Fujian Province,China,is renowned for its abundant medicinal plant resources.In July 2014,the 8th(second team)of Shenyang Pharmaceutical University’s Chinese Medicine Resources Scientific Expedition Team conducted field investigation in the area.Through specimen collection and extensive literature review,the team identified and analyzed 223 vascular plant species from 175 genera and 85 families.The most dominant families were Compositae and Rosaceae,and perennial herbs were the predominant species,accounting for 44.39%of the total species identified.Notably,we documented five precious and rare medicinal plants unique to Wuyi Mountain.This study updates the database of plant resources and diversity in the region,providing a valuable reference for future studies.Finally,we put forward some suggestions to enhance the conservation and sustainable utilization of Wuyi Mountain’s plant resources.

Carrying Capacity and Coupling Coordination of Water and Land Resources Systems in Arid and Semi-arid Areas: A Case Study of Yulin City, China

Quantitatively assessing the carrying capacity of water and land resources systems in arid and semi-arid areas is crucial for achieving the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals.In this work,taking Yulin City in China as a case study and employing the Criteria Importance Through Intercriteria Correlation(CRITIC)method,a modified model of coupling degree was developed to evaluate the car-rying capacity of water and land resources systems endowment and utilization,as well as their coupling coordination degree from 2013 to 2020.Our findings indicate that the water and land resources of Yulin are diminishing due to declines in agriculture,higher industrial water use,and wetland shrinkage.However,reallocating domestic water for ecological sustainability and reducing sloping farmland can mitigate this trend of decline.Temporally,as the coupling coordination between water and land resources system endowment in Yulin continuously improved,the coupling coordination between water and land resources system utilization first decreased and then in-creased with 2016 as the turning point.Spatially,the carrying capacity of water and land resources systems,the coupling coordination degree between water and land resources system endowment,and the coupling coordination degree between water and land resources system utilization in Yulin exhibited the same pattern of being higher in the six northern counties than in the six southern counties.Improving the water resources endowment is vital for the highly efficient use of water and land resources.

A Brief Analysis of Ranunculaceae Family Resources Based on Yu Tuo Ben Cao

[Objectives]To facilitate the rational use and timely protection of the Tibetan medicinal plant resources to count and reorganize Tibetan medicines recorded in Yu Tuo Ben Cao.[Methods]Based on literature research and data analysis,this paper analyzed the plant genera,and their habitat characteristics and the main types of diseases.[Results]Yu Tuo Ben Cao contains 191 kinds of botanicals,of which Ranunculaceae has the largest number of 11 genera and 25 species,with a wide distribution of habitats and 5 categories,and the main therapeutic efficacy covers 16 fields.[Conclusions]As a part of Yu Tuo Ben Cao,Tibetan medicines of Ranunculaceae have great research value because of their variety,large number,wide distribution,and diverse uses.

Securing offshore resources development:A mathematical investigation into gas leakage in long-distance flexible pipes

Gas flexible pipes are critical multi-layered equipment for offshore oil and gas development.Under high pressure conditions,small molecular components of natural gas dissolve into the polymer inner liner of the flexible pipes and further diffuse into the annular space,incurring annular pressure build-up and/or production of acidic environment,which poses serious challenges to the structure and integrity of the flexible pipes.Gas permeation in pipes is a complex phenomenon governed by various factors such as internal pressure and temperature,annular structure,external temperature.In a long-distance gas flexible pipe,moreover,gas permeation exhibits non-uniform features,and the gas permeated into the annular space flows along the metal gap.To assess the complex gas transport behavior in long-distance gas flexible pipes,a mathematical model is established in this paper considering the multiphase flow phenomena inside the flexible pipes,the diffusion of gas in the inner liner,and the gas seepage in the annular space under varying permeable properties of the annulus.In addition,the effect of a variable temperature is accounted.A numerical calculation method is accordingly constructed to solve the coupling mathematical equations.The annular permeability was shown to significantly influence the distribution of annular pressure.As permeability increases,the annular pressure tends to become more uniform,and the annular pressure at the wellhead rises more rapidly.After annular pressure relief followed by shut-in,the pressure increase follows a convex function.By simulating the pressure recovery pattern after pressure relief and comparing it with test results,we deduce that the annular permeability lies between 123 and 512 m D.The results help shed light upon assessing the annular pressure in long distance gas flexible pipes and thus ensure the security of gas transport in the emerging development of offshore resources.

Analysis of vascular plant resources and diversity in Liupan Mountains of Ningxia Province,China

Liupan Mountains are situated in the south of Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region and east of Gansu Province.This area is rich in forests and vegetation.After field investigation,literature review and specimen identification,the plant resources and diversity of Liupan Mountains were studied by the 4th Shenyang Pharmaceutical University Chinese Medicine Resources Scientific Expedition Team.There were 161 species of vascular plants belonging to 60 families and 119 genera collected from July to August 2010 in this area.Among them,the dominant families are Campanulaceae,Ranunculaceae,Orobanchaceae,Asparagaceae,Fabaceae,Rosaceae and Asteraceae,with 6,7,8,8,10,10,and 22 species,respectively.Although representing only 11.7%of the total number of families,these families had a species occupancy rate of over 44.1%.At the genus level,Pedicularis is the most dominant genus with 6 species,while 92 genera contain only 1 species,accounting for 77.3%of the total number of genera.In a word,our research has updated the plant resources and diversity in Liupan Mountains.Furthermore,by providing practical and meaningful suggestions for strengthening the protection and utilization of plant resources in Liupan Mountains,our research is of great significance for maintaining the diverse ecosystem in this area.

Efficient utilization of ecological and cultural-tourism resources:Taking Guangzhou Cultural Park as an example

Land space is precious resource and carrier of various economic activities.Ecosystem Product Value Realization and Cultural Tourism is new economic growth point for green and low-carbon development.It is necessary to study how to intensively and efficiently utilize ecological and cultural-tourism resources under"Three zones three lines for land use"(3Z3L),which is basic land space planning policy.However,there are few research and cases due to difficulties of interdisciplinary research.This article adopts the methods of policies research,graphic analysis,and visiting,to study efficient utilization of ecological and cultural-tourism resources.This study found that the development of land spaces of ecology,agriculture,and urban areas is 3D trend,multi-purpose resource utilization can be achieved by improving the utilization efficiency of 3D space and differentiating spatial utilization in different periods.Taking Guangzhou Cultural Park as an example,the research object has improved the efficiency of ecological and cultural-tourism resource utilization by its managements and technology,such as“house under the tree,tree inside the house”.However,there are shortcomings just as planning and protection policies with it.We proposed to optimize the spatial planning and regulations,and improve the protection of overlapping areas of 3Z3L by planning and regulations,improve the utilization efficiency of ecological and cultural-tourism space,meet the urban young people's multiple needs such as culture and ecology in 3D space,use new technologies to improve ecological services quality such as biological methods,strengthen the coordination of multiple management departments with the concept of nature based solutions,develop the“Reversed Transmission Effect”,keep the boundary of urban development strictly.

Analysis of plant resources and diversity in Shennongjia Area of Hubei Province,China

Shennongjia Area is located in northwest of Hubei Province with Shennongding,the highest peak(3105.4 m above sea level)in central China.The unique geographical location and complex terrain of this region make it rich in plant resources.After field investigation,th literature review,and specimen identification,the 7 Shenyang Pharmaceutical University Chinese Medicine Resources Scientific Expedition Team studied the plant resources and diversity of Shennongjia Area.454 species of vascular plants belonging to 106 families and 275 genera were collected from July to August in 2013.The dominant families are Lamiaceae,Ranunculaceae,Rosaceae,and Asteraceae,with 20,21,37 and 48 species respectively.At the genus level,Rubus is the dominant one with 11 species.3 species of national first-class protective plants,13 species of“Huan yang yao”and 36 species of“Qi yao”were collected.In all,our research has updated the plant recources and diversity in Shennongjia Area.Furthermore,by putting forward practical and meaningful suggestions on strengthening the protection and utilization of plant resources in Shennongjia Area,our research will help to protect the diverse ecosystem there.

Defining Cities by Water: Addressing Capital Misallocation in a Race to Conserve Resources

As part of its efforts to promote a sustainable and high-quality development,China has pledged to reduce water consumption and create a water-efficient society.On the basis of identifying the institutional root causes of excessive capital allocation and excessive water consumption in China’s water-intensive industrial sectors,this study elaborates how the national water-efficient cities assessment contributes to optimized capital allocation.Our research shows that national water-efficient cities assessment has motivated local governments to compete for water efficiency.To conserve water,local governments regulated the entry and exit of water-intensive enterprises,discouraged excessive investments in water-intensive sectors,and phased out obsolete water-intensive capacities within their jurisdictions.This approach has resulted in mutually beneficial outcomes,including improved allocation of capital,enhanced water efficiency,and reduced emissions.This paper offers policy recommendations for establishing a water-efficient society throughout the 14^(th) Five-Year Plan(2021-2025)period by presenting empirical evidence on the policy effects of resource efficiency evaluation.

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.