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The article discusses the scheduling of bulk-pickup-delivery vehicles in Shanghai, China. The Shanghai Truck Transportation Corp. operates 3,400 trucks in greater Shanghai. These trucks are used to transport a wide range of products, including items as diverse as biscuits, sweet potatoes, powder, bottles, steel, sand, and coal. About 6,000 to 7,000 orders for transport are received each day at offices scattered in various districts. Trucks are categorized into various types, depending on size and special handling capabilities. Most trucks can carry from five to 10 tons, although there are trucks available with capacity as high as 300 tons. China has established ambitious goals for economic growth that can be attained only if scarce resources are utilized at maximum efficiency. Management Science or Operations Research offers the technology to achieve highly efficient resource utilization, whether those resources are trucks, fuel and other energy sources, food, or any of a whole host of other resources in scarce supply within China.

Carbon prices are low and fluctuate greatly since Chinese carbon emissions trading scheme pilots were operated. This paper discusses the price drivers in the pilots, using structural breaks test and autoregressive distributed lag model. The results indicate that oversupply of allowances, low auction prices and use of China certified emission reductions will cause remarkable decline on carbon prices; the expansion of carbon market and centralized trading will rise carbon prices. Oil prices are positively correlated with carbon prices, and coal prices are negatively related with carbon prices. Carbon-intensive product prices also affect carbon prices. Chemical prices are positively linked with carbon prices in Shenzhen, while negatively related with those in Beijing and Shanghai, for differences in sectoral coverage. Nonferrous prices have positive impacts on carbon prices in Beijing but negative impacts on those in Shenzhen, for differences in industrial structure. Financial markets and weather have limited impacts on carbon prices. Our results provide policy implications for the development of pilots and the national carbon market. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]