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Supplemental material, sj-docx-1-pic-10.1177_09544062231166799 for Novel double-deck Rzeppa constant velocity joint with large operating angle: Mechanism configuration and kinematic characteristics analysis by Shuyang Shi, Hongpeng Chu, Xuesong Qiu and Yulin Zhou in Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, Part C: Journal of Mechanical Engineering Science

Online-to-offline (O2O) food delivery service refers to an emerging modern business model that enables customers to order foods from local restaurants via an online platform, and then receive and enjoy them offline after the delivery, offered by couriers. Such service, discussed in this article, specifies that a customer can order from multiple restaurants in a single order and choose for them to be delivered together or separately, whereas the commonly discussed mode only permits placing an order in one restaurant at once. In this service, one crucial issue is how to dispatch these orders to couriers for offline delivery. For this, we propose a new three-stage order dispatch scheme, namely, pseudo-assign first, re-route second, and courier selection last, aiming to deliver the orders in time and balance the couriers’ workload. Due to the dynamism and uncertainty inherently involved in this issue, we also take responsiveness to future demands and robustness into consideration when making the dispatch. Compared with existing approaches, the new one significantly balances the couriers’ workload and, meanwhile, keeps good performance in delay rate, making the decisions more practical. Furthermore, this study analyzes the influence of customers’ preference for order splitting and number of couriers on the efficiency of the distribution system, thereby interesting managerial insights for O2O food delivery are revealed.

In the study, MgAl binary water talc (MgAl-CO3-LDHs) was firstly synthesized by a steady-state co-precipitation method and then characterized by XRD, SEM and ICP-OES methods. The effects of n(Mg2+)...

In the present study, the over-constrained hybrid manipulator R(2RPR)R/SP+RR is considered as the research objective. In this paper, kinematics of the hybrid manipulator, including the forward and inverse position, are analyzed. Then, the workspace is checked based on the inverse position solution to evaluate whether the workspace of the hybrid manipulator meets the requirements, and the actual workspace of the hybrid robot is analyzed. After that, the force analysis of the over-constrained parallel mechanism is carried out, and an ADAMS-ANSYS rigid-flexible hybrid body model is established to verify the simulation. Based on the obtained results from the force analysis, the manipulator structure is designed. Then, the structure optimization is carried out to improve the robot stiffness. Finally, calibration and workspace verification experiments are performed on the prototype, cutting experiment of an S-shaped aluminum alloy workpiece is completed, and the experiment verifies the machining ability of the prototype. This work conducts kinematics, workspace, force analyses, structural optimization design and experiments on the over-constrained hybrid manipulator R(2RPR)R/SP+RR, providing design basis and technical support for the development of the novel hybrid manipulator in practical engineering.

With the rapid development of the retail industry and its transition to omni-channel, a critical challenge that how to fulfill customer orders by choosing the proper channels arises for the retailers. In omni-channel retailing, customers can make a purchase online or offline, and the online customers are offered the options of home delivery or collection at a specified store, delivering immediately or during an appointed time window, and accepting split delivery or not. For the effective execution of omni-channel retailing in such a circumstance, this paper proposes an intuitive order fulfillment policy, aiming to gain lower service cost and higher customer satisfaction, as a reference for the retailers’ operation management. Via experimental analyses under various service costs and demand forecasts, their influences on channel selection and the policy performance are illustrated. Furthermore, the comparison of the performances of the omni-channel with independent channels quantitatively reveals one crucial reason for the surge of omni-channel.