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This paper comprehensively analyzes a company's supply chain design process in the pulp and paper industry. It focuses on the company's supply chain strategy, structure, operations, and performance and highlights the challenges and opportunities specific to the industry. The purpose of this case study is to show how effective supply chain design can improve a company's competitiveness and success. This paper also offers recommendations for improving supply chain design in the pulp and paper industry and other similar industries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The increasing use of digital technologies has implications for reading. Online and on‐screen reading often consist of engaging with multiple, short, multimedia snippets of information, whereas longform reading is in decline. Meta‐analyses have identified a screen inferiority when reading informational texts, but not narrative texts. The mode effect is explained by reference to the Shallowing Hypothesis, postulating that increased screen reading leads to a propensity to skim and scan rather than carefully read, since digital reading material is typically composed of short, decontextualized snippets of multimedia content rather than long, linear, texts. Experiments have found support for the Shallowing Hypothesis when reading expository/informational texts, but the impact of increased habituation to screens on, specifically, literary reading, is largely unknown. It is plausible that shallow modes of reading, prompted by increased screen use, may compromise one's capacity to engage deeply with literary texts and, in turn, negatively affect readers' motivation and inclination to engage in slower, more reflective, and more effortful reading. This article presents the results from three experiments exploring associations between reading behavior, medium preferences, and the reading of a short literary text on paper versus screen. Although mixed, the results revealed an overall pattern for the role of medium: more frequent reading of short texts on screen predicted less inclination to muster the cognitive persistence required for reading a longer text, and engage in contemplation on the deeper and personally relevant meaning of the literary text. Educational implications of these findings are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper provides an account of the everyday workplace learning of cycle technicians. Derived from an ethnography of working cultures and practices at a bike shop in the North of England, this paper rests on a critical reading of Communities of Practice theory in order to explore the complex and heterogeneous learning of cycle technicians. Drawing on a series of vignettes constructed from the ethnographic data, the paper demonstrates the variety of experiences of both formal and informal learning that characterise the trajectories of new cycle technicians as they enter the industry. In addition to providing an account of a qualified and specialist workforce that is under-represented in extant research literature, the paper also provides an exemplar for ethnographic research as a vehicle for exploring working practices through a Communities of Practice lens, using the paradigmatic theoretical elements of the theory. The paper concludes by arguing that for cycle technicians, and perhaps other occupations as well, Communities of Practice theory can generate rich and complex accounts that do justice to the richness and complexity of the craft and practice being observed.

Purpose: This paper aims to present insights on the governance of sustainability transitions in higher education in Africa. The authors interrogate the research literatures on the governance of socio-technical transitions in water, electricity, transport and waste management, and identify barriers and enabling factors that enhance transformative practices in universities. Design/methodology/approach: The analytical framework proposed in this paper combines the elements of governance network theory (GNT) and transition topology. The framework of this study is grounded in an actor-centric approach using GNT to understand networks conducive to sustainability transitions. Events and governance networks were mapped on a transition topology to visualise organisational and institutional changes over time. The study engaged students, management, academic and administrative staff in building a community of practice towards sustainability. This research is based on qualitative content analysis grounded in interview data, focus group discussions, workshops, webinars and secondary data analysis. Findings: The findings show that the university has consolidated a sustainability vision and targets, but several factors prevent the community from achieving these targets, including hierarchical decision-making processes, a multitude of disjointed committees and fragmentation in the campus community. Originality/value: This research adds to an emerging body of literature in the field of sustainability in higher education with two contributions. Firstly, the study presents a novel perspective(s) on the governance of sustainability transitions by combining the literatures on governance and sustainability transitions using a new methodological approach of transition topology to show organisational and institutional changes. Secondly, the study presents new empirical evidence for improving the governance of sustainability transitions in a diverse and highly unequal African university community in the process of (de)colonisation of knowledge and governance.

Formal and informal peer-to-peer support through advice plays an important role in enhancing students' experiences and ensuring their success in higher education. For international students who often face social and cultural challenges adapting to their new university environment, direct and authentic guidance from peers can be vital in helping them acclimate and cope with their transition to campus. This paper examines the cross-cultural adjustment experiences of over 400 international students enrolled at a mid-sized, research-intensive university located in the United States (U.S.). Relying on a qualitative research design, we analyzed data from reflection essays written by international students between 2013 and 2021 and used Oberg's culture shock theory (1960) as a lens to interpret data on experiences that impacted their sociocultural adjustment. Based on their lived experiences, these students identified specific areas that current and future international students could focus on to ease their adjustment to a new culture and academic environment. Guided by five main themes, the discussion highlights salient factors that impact international students, calling for new ways for addressing their adjustment to university life in the U.S. Our findings enabled us to offer insights to university officials as they develop and deliver acculturation and transition programs to their international student community.

The article discusses the organization of the educational process of railway university students in the target programs. A successful educational process will be effective if the training provided to students of the transport university is of an acceptable quality, which will lead to a high demand for a specialist. When participating in targeted training programs, the learning process can be optimized and structured within the educational framework, thereby placing emphasis on acquiring the necessary knowledge for future professional endeavors. The objective of the article was to examine how the minor program in the Mathematics discipline for students in targeted programs enhances their professional motivation. We propose to consider the characteristics of training in targeted programs by examining the training of students in the specialty 23.05.04 "Electric power supply of railways" at the Samara State University of Railway Transport. We believe that one way to organize the mathematical training of students in targeted programs is to use professionally oriented tasks. As the objective of the study pertains to the issues of specialized university education in the field of mathematics, the paper presents a task that is geared towards professionals for students enrolled in the targeted programs of this particular field. Furthermore, this approach to the study of mathematics yields a comprehensive understanding of one's professional pursuits, implying that the integration of the educational process is essential in the preparation of a railway transport specialist. The evaluation of the proposed methodology for the instruction of students in the targeted programs has demonstrated its efficacy.

To evaluate filter paper as a means to transport oro/nasopharyngeal samples from laboratories with few resources for SARS-CoV-2 detection by RT-qPCR in a central laboratory that usually performs this technique as routine. A total of 40 specimens were evaluated in parallel by RT-qPCR carried out after RNA extraction using two different protocols: direct RNA extraction (Protocol A - reference method) and RNA extraction after impregnation in filter paper (Protocol B). The RT-qPCR for SARS-CoV-2 using Protocol B presented 97.22% (35/36) of agreement for SARS-CoV-2-positive samples when compared to the reference method (Protocol A), even for specimens with low viral load (increased Ct values). Noteworthy, three clinical specimens which were categorized as inconclusive by Protocol A presented amplification of both N1 and N2 targets using Protocol B, presenting positive results for SARS-CoV-2. The use of filter paper to transport oro/nasopharyngeal clinical samples presented very satisfactory results to detect SARS-CoV-2 by RT-qPCR. In addition, it proved to be a feasible and sensitive approach, being able to generate the detection of SARS-CoV-2 even at low concentrations, without presenting false-negative results. • Clinical samples impregnated in filter paper presented 97.22 % of agreement. • Filter paper transport is satisfactory for specimens with low viral load. • Filter paper transport would allow the access to the RT-qPCR for SARS-CoV-2. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Road traffic accidents in Iran are a critical issue that hinders economic development and one of the main threats to the health and safety of people in the community. The statistics indicate that after cardiovascular diseases, traffic accidents are the second leading cause of death in different age groups, which reflects the necessity of prediction in this area. Materials and Methods: The present study investigated the data of the traffic-accident injured people between April 2009 and March 2012 in Golestan, Mazandaran, Guilan, and Ardebil provinces, presented to forensic medicine. We used the Box-Jenkins method as one of the most advanced methods in prediction and future studies in the field of health systems, to estimate the number of injuries by province, for the years 2016 to 2019. Results: The obtained results suggested the appropriate time series patterns for predicting injured people in Golestan Province with Autoregressive Integrated Moving Average (ARIMA) (4, 2, 4), Mazandaran Province with ARIMA (3, 1, 5), Guilan Province with ARIMA (3, 1, 4), and Ardabil Province with ARIMA (5, 1, 2). Furthermore, the mean percentages of absolute error for different provinces were as follows: Golestan Province, 0.114; Mazandaran Province, 0.064; Guilan Province, 0.078; and Ardabil Province, 0.1250. These data demonstrate the high precision of the Box-Jenkins method in predicting the number of traffic-accident injured people, especially in Mazandaran and Guilan provinces. Estimated values for 2016 to 2019 indicate that the road traffic injuries are increasing in Golestan Province and decreasing in Mazandaran, Guilan, and Ardebil provinces. Conclusion: The high precision of the Box--Jenkins method makes it an appropriate way for experts and authorities to predict traffic accident injuries in Golestan, Guilan, Mazandaran, and Ardebil provinces. The reduced number of casualties in Mazandaran, Guilan, and Ardebil indicate a progressive improvement in the transportation system conduct in these provinces. Moreover, Golestan Province is moving towards an increase in traffic accidents, requiring replanning to reduce accidents there. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper proposes a method of distinguishing the contributions of ionized and injected charges to the charge transport in oil immersed paper in triple-layer and double-layer samples. With the double-layer sample, the apparent mobility including the ions contribution is obtained by the calculation according to the speed of accumulated charge density at the interface. The contribution of ions is excluded by subtracting the accumulated charge density in the triple-layer sample from that in the double-layer sample. It is found that the interface charge mainly comes from the ionization charges under a low field, and the contribution of injected charge takes a more important part at higher electric field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Several studies have been carried out by various authors on limemud that occurs in the western Indian offshore which is compositionally CaCO3, amorphous, homogeneous, creamy white, soft and non sticky sediments mainly consisting of ooids. The chief mineral constituent of limemud is aragonite. The age, occurrence, formation and estimation of limemud resource are compiled from various published literatures and briefly presented. Bench scale beneficiation and agglomeration studies for limemud were conducted by Geological Survey of India at the lab of Indian Bureau of Mines and found limemud may be used in steel and filler industries, pharmaceuticals, food, cement etc. The physical and chemical properties of limemud suggest it may be a suitable raw material for the production of stone paper. There are several advantages in manufacturing stone paper in comparison with that of wood pulp paper. A brief comparison between the two compiled from the published literature is presented in the paper. The striking difference is in the consumption of water and emission of CO2e from the production of wood pulp paper and that of stone paper. A difference of about 1000 kg CO2e emission between the two helps to possess carbon credits. Sustainable mining technology and transportation of limemud from Gujarat offshore to nearby beach facilities are discussed. The approximate costs for limemud mining and transportation are estimated and compared with that of imported high grade limestone from UAE/Oman and is found to be much cheaper. Advantages of limemud and future propositions are briefly submitted for the consideration of the planners. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While writing has evolved away from the conventional method of using pens and paper in favor of digital tools (Li et al., 2019), English teachers continue to face difficulties in teaching writing. This study shows how mind-mapping and the program, Writeabout, can be merged for online writing classes in English for Specific Purposes (ESP) classrooms. It reports on a classroom-based research with a qualitative research design which includes class observations and essay analysis of first-year undergraduate students enrolled in the Railway Mechanical Technology program in Indonesia during the academic year 2020/2021. The analysis of students' essays via TOEIC-adopted writing criteria showed that the students lacked competence in vocabulary (range: 2-5), grammar (range: 2-5), and sentence quality (range: 2-5). However, their text organization skills were a bit higher (range: 3-7), which was likely due to the course instructions incorporation of mind-mapping techniques. The findings revealed that incorporating the mind-mapping technique and the Writeabout application into online writing lessons can have a positive effect on students' writing.

Purpose: This paper aims to analyze the demand for mobility in higher education to understand the critical elements of students' mobility and the potential impact of accessing sustainable alternatives. The demand for different means of transportation accounts for socioeconomic variables such as household income and size, gender, age, among other travel factors such as distance, time, speed and direct cost. Design/methodology/approach: This research uses a unique data set encompassing a representative sample of households across gender and municipalities in the Monterrey Metropolitan Area in Mexico. This paper uses the value of transportation time savings approach to estimate the derived demand for mobility in higher education across different means. The empirical strategy uses a linear utility framework in a multinomial non-ordered logit model to analyze the conditional selection of transportation as a function of sociodemographics, direct monetary costs and travel determinants such as travel time, distance and speed. Findings: Men students are more likely to use an unsustained transportation mode such as a car or cab than women. Income is a crucial determinant for transportation demand. There is a negative relationship between household income and walking or riding the bus but positive with driving a car. An increase in the time of the trip decreases the probability of walking while increasing the likelihood of using a car or riding the bus to school. Students who feel safe while riding a bus are more likely to use the bus or walk as transportation than using a car. Finally, having access to better quality sidewalks significantly incentive walking over other transportation options. Practical implications: Results show that individuals would almost always choose private vehicles because of the personal comforts and time savings. Social implications: Understanding the demand for higher education and access to sustainable transportation might provide new insights into campus planning and development. Access to public transportation options can reduce the travel costs for students with lower incomes and enlarge options for students who have to commute longer distances by car. Sustainable transportation access plays a role in promoting equality and economic development. Originality/value: This study's results bring new light on how transportation becomes an essential component of the opportunity cost of college education and could define its role in promoting equality or increasing inequality. This study's finding is of particular interest for cities where housing location seems to be independent of access to school, work or other amenities.

This paper focuses on a two-year program with a Norwegian public sector project-based construction company, where action learning groups and critical incident technique were combined to enhance organizational learning. Project-based organizations typically face difficulties of 'project amnesia', as they fail to integrate learning from experience into organizational memory. In drawing lessons from experience, employees often focus on solving short-term problems with individual projects rather than contributing to medium- and longer-term organizational learning. The program that is the focus of this paper engaged newly-appointed engineers in action learning groups and trained them to use critical incident technique to gather and analyze information about recent projects undertaken by the company. The groups reported back their findings to colleagues in the program and to managers and senior executives in the company. Originally designed as an alternative to the traditional induction training for new employees, the program generated useful practical learning across the whole organization about project success factors. This paper explains how action learning and critical incident technique combined in this program to enhance individual, team and organizational learning, and argues that the synergies between these three processes should be explored in other contexts.

In this paper, drawing on an extensive research project across three countries (VET Africa 4.0 Collective 2023), we produce an emerging argument that it is necessary to rethink and reframe VET logics and approaches in a warming future dominated by informality and mass unemployment. Currently, neither the formal VET college or workplace are adequately set up to provide the type(s) of VET that are in demand or needed for just transitioning and sustainable futures. We acknowledge the importance of political economy accounts in developing a richer understanding of VET, but suggest these are not sufficient for dealing with the existential and practical crisis of the climate emergency. We note that many scholars have sought to address this tension in the academic literature by adopting a political ecology account that reframes the theoretical and political challenge. This leads us to call for a political-economy-ecology account of VET. Although we acknowledge the limited nature of our approach here, we offer some thoughts for VET analysis with reflection on these theoretical issues applied to four cases studies from Uganda and South Africa of VET provisioning in oil, transport, water and food (which materially shape our cases).

A new method for fabricating a paper based microfluidic device in a printed circuit board is presented. The printed circuit board is hollowed out to form a pattern of paper channels. When a polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) film is mounted on the bottom of the PCB, liquid PDMS is filled in the areas having been hollowed out, and solidified in a constant temperature oven. Paper pattern is then mounted on the solidified PDMS, while a piezoelectric device with an interdigital transducer is embedded into the PCB. At last, PDMS film is covered on the surface of paper channels. Microfluidic transportation and color development reaction are demonstrated in presented microfluidic platform. Results show paper channels and the piezoelectric device can be integrated into the printed circuit board, and surface acoustic wave can drive a microfluid to the paper channels for microfluidic analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This is a conceptual paper that examines the origin and development of universities and their current role in global society. There has been an unprecedented and exponential growth of technology and artificial intelligence capabilities over the past ten years which is challenging current working practices and affecting all areas of society. The paper examines how this role may change to match the new demands placed on them by a digitally enabled society that has greater leisure time. The design of the paper is first to detail some of the changes in work practices that are taking place and how these will impact on society. It then offers several ways in which universities could modify their role to respond to these emerging challenges. This could include new courses, new organisational structures and new pedagogical practices. The paper provides a platform for discussion and debate around the strategic vision and direction of travel for higher education.

Cross-border education is defined as the movement of people, knowledge, programs, providers, and curriculums across national or regional jurisdictional borders. Each year, millions of students access better education by crossing their national borders from less developed or newly-industrialized countries to Western, industrialised countries. Most are tertiary education students but the numbers engaged in secondary, primary, and pre-school education are also significant. Under the implementation of "one country two systems" in Hong Kong after the transition of sovereignty from Britain to China in 1997, and a decision of a case in The Court of Final Appeal of Hong Kong in 2011, babies born in Hong Kong to mainland Chinese parents are entitled to the right of abode in Hong Kong. Since then, tens of thousands of such births have occurred. More than 20,000 cross-border students travel from China to attend public schools in Hong Kong every day. This paper explores equality issues faced by these students. The paper evaluates the results of various stakeholders working together to solve important issues; for example, dedicated school zones, immigration clearance services, setting up Hong Kong classes in Chinese schools, and language, communication, and cultural support. The paper argues that inequality is prevalent.

The aim of this study is to determine the views of candidate science teachers about environmental problems and solutions to these problems. One of the qualitative research designs, phenomenology, was used in the research. Data were collected with a semi-structured interview form developed by the researcher. In the analysis of the research, a descriptive analysis technique was used. The study was carried out with 19 science teacher candidates. When definitions of the environment are examined, it is as "the environment in which living and non-living beings interact, the area where living things live, the artificial environment-natural environment." Candidate teachers identified air pollution as the most important environmental problem. They stated that environmental problems occur due to production, consumption, both production and consumption and natural reasons. Candidate teachers discussed solution proposals of environmental problems individually, professionally, socially, and administratively. In individual solution proposals, it is recommended to use public transport, to encourage afforestation, to consume resources economically, to reduce the use of perfume-deodorants and fossil fuels, and to raise awareness with experiments, activities, visual and practical solutions under professional solution suggestions. When social solution suggestions are examined, it is stated that to raise awareness; it is necessary to produce visual and artistic activities, meetings, training, and projects, to be engaged in conscious agriculture in managerial solution offers, to use renewable energy sources, to recycle, to build industrial establishments outside of residential areas, to establish treatment facilities, and to install and inspect filters in factory chimneys. [This study was presented as an oral presentation at the conference "VIIIth International Eurasian Educational Research Congress."]

This paper investigates how one could envision a discursive mobilization process to transform protest movements into agents that help reconstruct the universities as agents supporting material mobilizations leading to ecological reconstruction. After reviewing universities' ecological footprints, the author shows how theories of mobilization and conjunctures could contribute to understanding how this transformation could occur. "Discursive mobilizations" advance values or ideas but stop short of innovation and production system changes. "Material mobilizations" affect deployment of human, technological, industrial and financial resources. "Conjunctures" involve linkages of political activity to spaces implicated in both kinds of mobilizations in a given historical time frame. The study shows many nations having both extensive climate activism and concentrations of university students creating a possibility for greening education centers based on various models for doing so. Yet, two key problems emerge. First, some nations lag in climate activism. Second, interest in a Green Deal or Green New Deal does not always match the level of attention to leading activist Greta Thunberg. The paper illustrates how such problems can be addressed by university-based campaigns linking activist cohorts, mobilization supporting green conversion of higher education and solidaristic, mutual aid exchanges among regions.

Access to higher education is often limited to adults because of their location. This is particularly challenging for adults who live in rural communities and small towns and can lead to unmet expectations. While policy makers have long recognised the potential impact of lifelong education for adults, the educational needs of adults have received relatively less attention. For adults residing in rural areas who rely, more often than not, on distance education, mostly in the form of blended learning there is usually limited access to public universities. For policy makers to respond effectively to the educational needs of the adult population in the rural areas, the first step is to understand the educational barriers of adults living in such areas, particularly as they are constrained with lack of minimal transportation and information communications technology. This paper reports on qualitative research exploring the educational challenges and needs faced by adults in rural areas of Ghana.

Public-Private Partnership could be defined as the collaboration between two for improved services to bring about change that will influence employment creation and boost the economy of any country. In this paper, it is perceived as a twin sister that could work together for effectiveness and efficiency to promote employment creation. While on the other hand, employment creation is the process of creating new jobs, especially for people who are unemployed. With the current trend in Nigeria, public-private partnership seems to be the best option in resolving the menace of unemployment. There are valuable physical and mineral resources in Nigeria which could be used to create employment at local, national and international level. However, public sector has been pulling weight in offering employment to Nigerian youths, but due to the series of organizational problems it has been difficult for the public sector to cope with the fast growing population in terms of employment. Hence, this paper discussed the necessity for public-private partnership for employment creation in Nigeria. The paper examines the possible partnership areas between public and private sectors for employment creation in Nigeria. It elucidates the possible benefits and challenges of public-private partnership on employment creation. The paper recommended tapping of resources available in the socio-political zones to create jobs as well as vibrant economic policies and stable political climate which be put in place to enhance effective partnership between public and private sectors for employment creation.

IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INTELLIGENT TRANSPORTATION SYSTEMS (T-ITS) has become a leading international journal in the field of ITS since its first issue published in 2000. To obtain a structural overview as well as the evolution of T-ITS in the last decade (2010–2019), we present a comprehensive bibliometric analysis from multiple perspectives based on the articles published during the same period in this paper. Our analyses of the T-ITS literature include: (a) statistical analysis;(b) topic analysis; and (c) network analysis. Statistical analysis was first conducted to identify the most highly cited papers, then the top productive and influential authors, institutions and countries/regions were given from paper counts and citations respectively. In order to identify important topics and patterns of evolution, author keywords were used to identify the most frequent topics and the theme river map can visually demonstrate their corresponding trends. Furthermore, keyword co-occurrence network was constructed to reveal the hotspots and the research landscape within this field. In addition, three networks are provided to visualize the relationships and reveal the collaboration patterns from different perspectives, including authors, institutions and countries/regions. The results provide an insight on the characteristics of the publications over the last decade, from which we can know the key contributors and groups who brought the significant growth of the journal. This paper can benefit researchers in terms of promoting understanding of the entire field with the development status and trends. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a bibliometric analysis within the research domain dedicated to the utilization of agent-based modeling (ABM) in the field of transportation. By employing specific keywords related to both agent-based modeling and transportation, we have identified and extracted 1016 scholarly papers from the ISI Web of Science database, spanning the period from 2002 to 2023. Through the application of bibliometric methods, we have systematically examined key contributors, affiliations of academic institutions, influential publications, and renowned journals within this domain. Our analysis reveals a consistent and robust growth in scholarly interest pertaining to agent-based modeling in the field of transportation throughout the considered period. Notably, within approximately four decades of ABM's application in transportation, a distinct upward trajectory began in 2008, culminating in the year 2021. The entire considered period witnessed a remarkable surge in paper production, characterized by an annual growth rate of 21.67%. Furthermore, employing an n-gram analysis, we have delineated and discussed the principal areas within transportation that have progressively benefited from the advancements in agent-based modeling. Prominently, the domains of air transport and road transport have exhibited substantial development over time, while the implications of climate change have emerged as a persistent concern throughout the entire study period. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The widespread communication of academic ideas and research achievements through literature and media has generated massive academic big data. Analyzing such academic big data and discovering knowledge can discover comprehensive and predictive academic intelligence and provide corresponding services, which are valuable for scholars, journals, institutions and governments for career assessment, topic selection, funding management and resource allocation. This paper proposes a heterogeneous knowledge-learning method for understanding and predicting academic impact in the transportation field. The proposed method is illustrated on the academic big data collected from the papers published in 34 transportation journals from 2008 to 2018. We extract four types of features including bibliometric, altmetric, network and semantic features, and build hybrid feature embedding via TransR and Doc2vec that involving domain knowledge. Further, an academic impact prediction model for articles named as Hy-LSTM-Att is proposed, which weighs the hybrid features by the attention mechanism and predicts academic impact with the bi-LSTM recurrent neural networks. Experimental results demonstrate that the proposed Hy-LSTM-Att model outperforms competing shallow and deep learning models. Additionally, the feature ablation experiments illustrate that the four types of features positively contribute to the performance of impact prediction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research on the Sustainable Supply Chain is a significant focus within the academic community, highlighting the importance of smart logistics, smart transportation, and digital technologies. This paper reviews current research trends from 2014 to 2023 by analyzing publications from the Web of Science database. The bibliometric analysis covers publication counts, document types, top-cited papers, leading journals, main funding sponsors, and distribution by subject categories, countries, and institutions. Additionally, co-authorship and keyword co-occurrence were examined to identify key knowledge components and research clusters. The analysis underscores the need for expanded international research and continuous integration of Sustainable Supply Chain concepts for future development. The goal of the document is to provide a comprehensive review of research and industrial trends and key insights in the fields of smart logistics, smart transportation, and digital technologies in recent years. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: The total demand for freight transport in Europe has increased significantly in recent decades, but most of it has been handled by road transport. To fulfil the modal shift targets set in the EU White Paper 2011, it will be necessary to double rail's market share from today's 18 %, by 2050. Translating this into reality means rail will have to handle 3 to 4 times the cargo volume it does today. With this in mind, the paper develops a vision of an efficient rail freight system in 2050. Methodology: To achieve the above objective, the research applies literature survey and group discussion methodology and applying a system approach. Keeping on board the EU Transport White Paper 2011 modal shift targets, as well as future freight demand and customer requirements, the current research attempts to answer the following three critical questions: Results: The authors find that the service quality can be improved by better planning, application of appropriate ICT-systems and adoption of an integrated supply chain approach. A more customer-orientated service can also be achieved by further deregulation of rail. There is also an urgent need for a faster implementation of Rail Freight Corridors (RFC). As well as liner trains, future rail freight services should be offering end-point trains, with semi/ fully automated loading/unloading equipment in hub-terminals, as well as terminals at sidings to improve the availability of intermodal operation. Conclusion: To offer a competitive price and reliable service, a reduction in operating costs will be vital by implementing a number of measures, including operation of heavier and longer trains, wider loading gauge, higher average speed, and better utilisation of wagon space and all assets. This will bring increased capacity, as well as better timetable planning, signalling systems and infrastructure improvements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 1995, Theeuwes and Godthelp published a paper called "self-explaining roads," in which they argued for the development of a new concept for approaching safe road design. Since this publication, self-explaining roads (SER) became one of the leading principles in road design worldwide. The underlying notion is that roads should be designed in such a way that road users immediately know how to behave and what to expect on these roads. In other words, the environment should be designed such that it elicits adequate and safe behavior. The present paper describes in detail the theoretical basis for the idea of SER and explains why this has such a large effect on human behavior. It is argued that the notion is firmly rooted in the theoretical framework of statistical learning, subjective road categorization and the associated expectations. The paper illustrates some successful implementation and describes recent developments worldwide.

In recent years, the health sector has faced increasingly important challenges. Due to the economic crisis and competitions, hospitals are facing many issues affecting the supply chain, such as budget cuts or lack thereof as well as insufficient human resources. Although essential for an excellent service, logistics take up a considerable part of the budget as challenges need to be addressed such as delays in drugs delivery, transportation and storage conditions, routing and scheduling. As to governance, each hospital is assigned to a specific region, which cannot be defined due to political, demographic, or geographic issues. This paper focuses on multi-depot vehicle routing problem (MDVRP) in healthcare logistics to feed the hospital pharmacies. The idea is to apply MDVRP's approach to the health sector, specifically hospital pharmacies. In this projection, hospitals are considered to present clients, and central pharmacies present deposits. This problem (the MDVRP) is known by this nature NP-hard. For that, the heuristic method was used as genetic algorithm to solve the problem. The paper is organized as follows, the first section discusses, compares, and proposes clustering methods for healthcare facilities with applying them on Moroccan hospitals case; the second section proposes a genetic algorithm to resolve the MDVRP with a simulation.

This paper offers some thoughts in response to René Arcilla's stimulating new book on road movie philosophy. I consider the book's case for separating the "educare" and "educere" functions of education from one another by examining the teacherly role of the child in Wim Wenders' films. I then reflect on the nature of train travel as a mode of journeying that troubles the distinction between fate and destiny. The paper concludes by viewing the road movie as the route to coherence in life and language.