Browsing by SDGs "[SDGs]SDG9"

In this thesis, we use a graphical and mathematical modeling tool- Coloured Timed Petri Net (CTPN) to model the production flow in the wafer fabrication plant. Overhead hoist Transport (OHT) is taken as the transportation vehicle, and we take the priority rules for lot dispatching and OHT dispatching. Moreover, we apply the genetic algorithm to help us obtain the near-optimal solution. The model in this thesis comprises two parts, including the processing model and transportation model. With this CTPN model, we can simulate the production process and transportation issues, thus the equipment status, OHT status, and the lot conditions can be tracked efficiently and precisely. In addition, different scheduling policies can be evaluated via simulations and a superior policy will then be determined. In the dispatching phase of lot dispatching, we first present the lot based selection scheme and the equipment based selection scheme. The available equipment will select the fittest lot according to the lots priority if there are multiple waiting lots, and the lot will choose the fittest equipment under multiple pieces of available equipment. In the dispatching phase of OHT dispatching, reassignment of the pair of lot and OHT is applied as the traffic condition of the plant is changing. Besides, “zone control” is used to ensure that OHTs will not collide, and “push vehicle” is used whenever an idle OHT blocks the zone another OHT is trying to occupy. Moreover, through OHT reassignment the block phenomenon can be eliminated, and the traffic congestion problem is also considered and reduced. At last in the scheduling phase, we apply the genetic algorithm (GA) based approach to obtain a near-optimal solution to our scheduling problem. From our experiment results, the developed CTPN based genetic algorithm will yield a more efficient solution than other scheduler, so that this GA scheduler can indeed satisfy the need of a rapidly changing environment, such as the wafer fabrication plant.

A novel real-time task allocation and scheduling scheme is proposed for a multi-core system incorporated in a Bidirectional Network-on-Chip (BiNoC) platform. Given a task graph, this scheme seeks to minimize the total execution time by allocating ready-to-execute tasks to as many available cores as possible subject to the real-time deadlines of each task. A refinement process is introduced to update the priority ranking of a task list so as to meet the timing constraints. In particular, the communication overhead is considered by incorporating the packet routing paths and delays into the overall optimization process. In doing so, the flexibility of bidirectional links of BiNoC is exploited to alleviate traffic congestion, such that more tasks could be executed concurrently at different cores and overall execution time be reduced. To validate the effectiveness of this proposed scheme, extensive simulations have been performed. The results clearly demonstrate the superior performance of this proposed scheme compared to existing approaches that did not exploit the flexibility of BiNoC. © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Current on-chip network and inter-chip interconnection are designed separately. However, this traditional design methodology faces a great challenge: in a multi-chip system, each many-core chip contains hundreds or thousands of processors. The increasing number of on-chip processors must share one input/output unit to interface with the inter-chip interconnection. The increased network usage at the chip interface may create an uneven traffic load in the on-chip network. That is, traffic jams could occur in the chip area around the input/output unit. New technologies, such as through silicon via and silicon interposer, can directly connect networks on chips. These technologies can improve communication performance and reduce power consumption by omitting the input/output unit. This paper proposes a novel routing scheme to deal with the network scalability issues related to the many-core and multi-chip system-in-package paradigm. The proposed scheme can also enhance the fault-tolerance of nano-scale communication in deep-submicron designs. © 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

The development of political ties represents a non-market strategy, which may substitute for formal contracts in safeguarding against transaction risks of innovation processes in emerging markets with weak institutions, such as China. Previous work has largely ignored the role political ties play in product innovation, and especially with respect to subsidiaries of foreign multinational corporations (MNCs). This study investigates the antecedents and role of political ties in relation to the innovation performance of foreign subsidiaries supplying automotive parts in China. Our analysis is based on survey data from 170 foreign MNC supplier firms in China. A partial least squares structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM) approach is employed to examine relationships through a ‘soft-modelling’ analysis, using SmartPLS?3. The results empirically confirm the positive impact of political ties, in terms of enhancing foreign MNCs’ product innovation performance in China. Furthermore, it is found that the extent to which foreign suppliers invest in and maintain political ties is driven by a mix of organizational and environmental factors, namely protection orientation, relationship-specific investment, technological dynamism and competitor opportunism. The paper contributes to the understanding of the antecedents and the implications of political ties with respect to the innovation performance of foreign MNC subsidiaries in emerging economies. ? 2018, The Author(s).

The increasing competitive pressures and speed of R&D and product innovation is prompting many multinational enterprise customers to outsource their core activities to suppliers. Despite organizational challenges due to cultural and physical separation from their partners, these are now charged with supplier-driven innovation. This study looks at key drivers of supplier innovativeness, examines the role of cross-national differences in shaping supplier innovativeness and examines the impact of this dimension on relationship performance in international customer–supplier relationships. Our findings from a large-scale survey of Taiwanese electronics suppliers provide evidence of the contribution of antecedents such as customer orientation, customer control and technological uncertainty to the enhancement of supplier innovativeness. Innovativeness contributes to increased customer dependence and improves relationship performance. Differences in knowledge bases stemming from different institutions are also tested in this study; we find that knowledge distance may be detrimental to the innovativeness-performance link in international exchange relationships. ? 2016, Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.

Contemporary world is characterized by a high level of competition. To survive and prosper in a marketplace, enterprises must respond to opportunities and threats to conquer it. Despite a growing recognition of the importance of Central America market as a potential market and the usefulness of Customer Relationship Management (CRM) as a managing tool to improve enterprise competitive performance, there has been little systematic research on this area. The purpose of this research is to (1) to understand Central American SME managers’ main characteristics and negotiations patterns (2) To classify and categorize managers into cultural dimension developed by Hofstede and Trompenaars’s theories (3) To use this information to help Taiwanese SME to have a deep understanding of Central America SME negotiation patterns in order to develop a successful consumer relationship management (CRM) in the future. Research results were conclude by participation in Trade Exhibition in Central American, direct observation and in deep interview. The data was analyzed based on two main theories: Hofstede and Trompenaars Cultural dimensions in order to avoid any oversimplified explanation. Both approaches allow managers to understand customer behavior trend and to realize how to do business in a country culturally different from the one at home. Applying CRM in Central American SME based on Hofstede Cultural Dimension, this study finds that those managers tend to be more: (1) Collectivism, (2) Strong Power distance, (Hierarchy) (3) High trend to uncertainty avoidance (4) Feminine perspective and (5) Short term orientation. While following Trompenaars Cultural Dimension, Central American SME manager are characterized as high trend to: (1) Particularism (2) Diffuse culture (3) Communitarianism (4) Outer Directed (5) Synchronous and (6) Ascription (7) Hierarchical structure. It is expected that findings of this study will guide Taiwanese SME to establish long lasting and valuable customer relationship with Central American Small and Medium Enterprises. Finally, It is important to remember that managers must create an intercultural frame mindset and “Recognize” that we live in a world with cultural differences, for instance we should “Respect” this heterogeneity and should try to “Reconcile” cultural differences.

Over the past two decades, the waste reduction problem has been a major issue in environmental protection. Both recycling and waste reduction policies have become increasingly important. As the complexity of decision-making has increased, it has become evident that more factors must be considered in the development and implementation of policies aimed at resource recycling and waste reduction. There are many studies focused on waste management excluding waste reduction. This study paid more attention to waste reduction. Social, economic, and management aspects of waste treatment policies were considered in this study. Further, a life-cycle assessment model was applied as an evaluation system for the environmental aspect. Results of both quantitative and qualitative analyses on the social, economic, and management aspects were integrated via the Technique for Order Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution (TOPSIS) method into the comprehensive decision-making support system of multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM). A case study evaluating the waste reduction policy in Taoyuan County is presented to demonstrate the feasibility of this model. In the case study, reinforcement of MSW sorting was shown to be the best practice. The model in this study can be applied to other cities faced with the waste reduction problems.

External memory bandwidth is an important issue in System-on-Chip (SoC) systems. Especially in high definition (HD) video coding, the bandwidth requirement of off-chip memory is critical in video processing. In recent researches, embedded compression shows high potential on off-chip memory bandwidth reduction. Works about embedded compression have been done for low power applications. However, there is no suitable efficient embedded compression with good rate-distortion performance for high throughput applications. In this paper, an algorithm and hardware architecture of high performance lossy embedded compression is proposed to ease the bus congestion problem while keeping the latency low. Using the proposed algorithm, not only the high throughput requirement of HD video encoder is met, but also the hardware cost is relatively low. From our simulation, about 70% memory bandwidth is reduced with only 0.1dB PSNR degradation in 1080p HD video.1 © 2008 IEEE.

North American freight rail demand is projected to increase, and new passenger services are being proposed to operate simultaneously over portions of the freight infrastructure. Capacity allocation and corresponding charges have become important issues in shared-use rail lines. This study developed new approaches suitable for North American shared-use corridors with capacity models and base train equivalent concepts to estimate the possible capacity charges in congestion cost and opportunity cost. The possible access charging schemes were also assessed and compared with the current regime (infrastructure cost only). The evaluation of capacity charges demonstrates that owning railroads may bear significant congestion or opportunity cost, or both, resulting from the addition of passenger services. Opportunity cost, which represents the profit loss caused by lack of capacity and is paid by the owning railroad, is higher than the congestion cost. Therefore, capacity charges should be considered in the negotiation process between freight railroads and passenger operators. The proposed approaches facilitate the estimation of capacity charges from additional passenger trains with rational and quantitative methods. The charging schemes can assist railroads and operators in achieving a mutually satisfactory agreement.

Rural transportation management plays a critical role in the sustainable future of human society. Two emerging challenges faced by rural communities today are cost control and equity due to the increasing demand and limited operations resources available and the need to deal with the inevitable tradeoffs among multiple objectives and criteria. In this paper, we develop a new methodology for rural transportation management which takes into consideration of both the equity and cost factors under multiple objectives. We conceptualize and define equity in rural transportation management with the development of new performance measures and an analytical model for decision making with multiple desirable and undesirable objectives. We also develop a heuristic procedure based on data envelopment analysis for characterizing and analyzing the route design choices on the frontier between costs and multi-objective measures of equity. A GIS-based decision support system is constructed to process the extensive data required in our analysis. The new methodology has been successfully implemented by Quinte Access, a not-for-profit organization in a rural community in Ontario, to help redesign bus routes with significant quantitative benefits observed in multiple performance dimensions. It is also expected that the new knowledge, insights, and decision support tools developed through this study for transportation planning, big data management, and transportation service operations can be transferred to other rural communities in order to deliver more sustainable transportation services in rural regions around the world. © 2016 Elsevier Ltd

Different types of trains may have substantially dissimilar characteristics, which result in various capacity effects. The concept of base train equivalent (BTE) has been previously proposed to standardize different train types into a universal unit, i.e., a base train unit (BTU). However, the previously developed delay-based model suffers from consistency issues before and after BTU conversion, and its application is limited to only two train types. Thus, this study proposes a new concept of delay-based BTE computation and corresponding BTE models. The dynamic BTE model considers volume and heterogeneity to fully reflect the actual capacity effect of nonbase trains. The fixed BTE model identifies the most appropriate BTE value at a particular traffic heterogeneity. Results of the case studies demonstrate that the proposed method can address scenarios with all types of traffic mixes and multiple train types. The unit of delay-based rail capacity can be converted into a standard unit using the proposed models. The effect of an extra train can be effectively assessed, and the capacity evaluation from different lines or systems can be analyzed and compared. © 2020 American Society of Civil Engineers.

Isoprene has potentially a large impact on secondary oxidant formation, particularly in the polluted urban atmospheres. The environmental conditions in tropical and subtropical cities with high temperatures and light flux are conducive to the production of large amounts of biogenic isoprene. Measurements of speciated volatile organic compounds (VOCs) were conducted in Taipei, a subtropical metropolis, to investigate the characteristics of biogenic and anthropogenic isoprene during the hot seasons (summer and autumn) and to assess their significance in secondary pollutant formation. The daily and daytime average concentrations of isoprene at the subtropical urban site in summer were 0.72 and 1.26ppbv, respectively, which were considerably higher than the concentrations of isoprene in most temperate cities. Furthermore, summertime isoprene ranks highest in OH reactivity and second highest in terms of ozone formation potential (OFP) among 66 measured VOCs.The ratios of isoprene to 1,3-butadiene, an exhaust tracer, were used to estimate the fractions of biogenic and anthropogenic isoprene in the urban area. The results reveal that the biogenic contribution apparently overwhelmed the anthropogenic contribution in summertime, although traffic in the city is heavy. Furthermore, the residual isoprene (mostly biogenic) after daytime photochemical loss persisted into the nighttime and contributed a large fraction to nighttime isoprene. In autumn, daytime isoprene was also predominantly from biogenic sources because the hot and sunny conditions persist into the autumn months. The high biogenic isoprene levels in subtropical urban settings and its coherence with OH diurnal cycles accentuate the significance of biogenic isoprene and its potentially great impact on atmospheric oxidant capacity, urban air quality, and even regional climate. © 2013.

In recent years, many countries have implemented a number of policies in order to encourage private investors to build and operate the public infrastructure works. BOT, a policy designed to attract private capital into this works initiated by the government, stresses the private investors’ participation with emphasis on financing, planning, construction, management, efficiency, and creativity and thereby alleviates the debts and financial burden for the government, speeds up the construction progress, upgrades managerial efficiency and eventually enhances the investment benefits, improves the living standard and environment quality. In addition, asset securitization is designed to divide the illiquid asset into small-amounted and standardized liquid securities by means of structuring pools, risk isolation, credit enhancement and thus financing from the capital markets. Apparently, a modal combined with asset securitization and BOT will allow the BOT investors to identify the most lucrative financing source. Furthermore, asset securitization helps the BOT investors recover a portion of their investments earlier than expected without undermining their managerial stability. Thus, they may continue to invest in the other new BOT projects. Moreover, BOT securitization allows the populace investors to participate in the public infrastructure works practically. Thus, the populace investors will get benefits from BOT and the BOT projects also serve the general public’s interests in the meantime. This study focuses on the utilization of BOT and asset securitization with emphasis on the market application and conditional requirements for the frameworks and thereby presents the implementation considerations and countermeasures together with the tangible recommendations. This study has also analyzed the features, legal basis, and case studies related to asset securitization and BOT. Furthermore, this study has reviewed the relevant laws and regulations as well as feasible topics related to BOT securitization, such as timing for public issuance, stable net cash flow, bankruptcy remote, credit enhancement, transfer of concession expiration or termination, moral hazard and agency issues, etc. This study finally has provided some examples of securities of BOT equity and debt securitization and has thereby presented the concepts for reference. The research results indicate that, with the appropriate conditional measures and mechanism design, debt or equity securitization of a BOT project will not only minimize or prevent the moral risks or agency problem from happening, but also enhance managerial efficiency in compliance with the requirements of this BOT project and expanding investment pathways. Thus, the populace investors’ interests and the general public’s interest served at the same time. Furthermore, the relevant laws and regulations in Taiwan indicate that only those specified in the real estate investment trust (REIT) of the Real Estate Securitization Act are eligible for BOT securitization at this moment. Restricted by the Act for the Promotion of Private Participation in Infrastructure Project, however, the financing of debt securitization of a BOT project is not permitted. Therefore, the laws should be discussed and revised for the application and benefits of BOT securitization.

In the current knowledge-based global economy, regional innovation systems (RISs) require to establish external linkages to sustain their vitality. By using the investments of Taiwan's machine tool (MT) industry in China as the case, this paper studies how an RIS developed its extra-regional networks through building offshore industrial systems. We particularly examine the networking activities of Taiwanese MT firms in building their familiar networked-type industrial systems in China, and discuss how the emergence of such offshore industrial systems would influence the technological changes and inter-firm dynamics of Taiwan's MT firms and the MT RIS. In addition to providing empirical study discussing issues related to networking involved in the development of an RIS's extra-regional networks, this paper contributes to the RIS literature by presenting one evolutionary trajectory of RISs which has been of particular significance in the Taiwan-China context. © 2015 Elsevier Inc.

Reducing carbon dioxide emissions is one of the critical challenges to mitigate global climate change, which is having detrimental impacts on society and the environment. Fossil fuel combustion in transportation, power generation, and industrial processes is the dominant contributor to carbon emissions. Over the past decades, sustainable solutions and strategies have been investigated and developed to enable decarbonization. Catalysis plays an essential role to address this global challenge by increasing energy efficiency, reducing carbon emissions, capturing carbon dioxide, and utilizing clean energy sources to displace fossil fuels. In this Review, the role of catalysis in reducing energy demand was discussed, enhancing process efficiency, displacing carbon-intensive feedstocks and products, and therefore, reducing carbon emissions. Recent advances in catalyst development were summarized, focusing on applications to enhance industrial processes efficiency and enable utilization of clean energy sources. Emerging approaches in catalysis were reviewed, including the manufacture of iron and steel, direct air capture of CO2, production of ethylene, ammonia, and sustainable aviation fuels, plastic recycling, and the synthesis of biobased plastics. The Review was concluded with suggested research directions to achieve a carbon net-zero world.

The business values of product remanufacturing have been well-recognized in the literature. Companies have also increasingly realized the importance of coordinating the closed-loop supply chains (CLSCs) with both manufacturing and re-manufacturing processes. In this paper, we investigate a CLSC which consists of a retailer, a collector, and a manufacturer, and examine the performance of different CLSC under different channel leadership. Through a systematic comparison, we find that the retailer-led model gives the most effective CLSC. Moreover, we analytically reveal that the remanufacturing system's efficiency is highly related to a supply chain agent's proximity to the market. Counter-intuitively, we show that the collector-led model is not the most effective model for collecting the used-product. We finally illustrate how both the serial and parallel CLSCs can be coordinated by using different kinds of practical contracts. ? 2013 Elsevier B.V.

In the information age, collaborative innovation in process and product is critically important. In this paper, we study the value of a supply chain innovation in which one upstream supplier and one downstream manufacturer may co-develop a product that includes several innovative elements. The supplier is responsible for process innovation to optimise the production system and reduce unit production costs, and the manufacturer is responsible for product innovation. We study innovation leadership and consider the supplier-led (SL) and manufacturer-led (ML) innovation games. We find that in both SL and ML innovation games, if the manufacturer has sufficient resources and capability to invest in product innovation, the manufacturer is always willing to invest in product innovation, but not the supplier. We identify the value of co-innovation and innovation leadership. We find that the product with higher innovation level will be provided under the ML innovation game. When selling the technological and innovative products (as they usually have a larger profit margin ratio), the manufacturer should invest more in product innovation. When product innovation efficiency is large (small), the manufacturer's profit is convex (concave) in the profit margin ratio. We identify the optimal value creation of joint pricing and innovation in a supply chain and the impacts of ?rocess-product innovation dependence?? Our results (i) highlight the value of manufacturer-led innovation and the importance of considering the product's profit margin ratio in co-innovation, (ii) indicate that the manufacturer should be the leader to invest in product innovation, and (iii) the co-innovated products should be sold at a high profit margin. ? 2021 Elsevier B.V.