Cargo Payload Research Articles

Bi-Level Fleet Dispatching Strategy for Battery-Electric Trucks: A Real-World Case Study

Driven by new regulations concerning greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in the transportation sector, battery-electric trucks (BETs) are considered one of the sustainable freight transportation solutions. In this paper, a dispatching problem of the BET fleet is formulated as a capacitated electric vehicle routing problem (VRP) with pick-up and delivery. As the BET dispatching problem is NP-hard, the performance of existing approaches deteriorates in large instance problems, especially when the customers have different preferences and constraints. This article proposes a bi-level strategy that incorporates routing zone partitioning and metaheuristic-based vehicle routing to solve the large-scale BET dispatching problem, considering the delivery types, limited travel distances, and cargo payloads. We apply this strategy to a real-world fleet dispatching scenario with around 300 customer positions for pickups and drop-offs. The experimental results demonstrate that the proposed bi-level strategy can reduce total travel distance and travel time by 24–31%, compared to the baseline strategy implemented in the real world.

Three-echelon slot allocation for yield and utilisation management in ship liner operations

In the highly competitive maritime liner business, liner companies face the ongoing risk of mismatches between supply and demand and intense price-cutting by their rivals. Most of them continuously work to improve the use of mega-vessels and form alliances to lower their operation costs and enhance their service network. International liners run long-haul services and fill their vessel slots with shipments from multiple trade lanes, chosen on the basis of shipment yields and empty repositioning from the perspective of local, regional and global slot planning operations. Here, a novel model for multi-echelon slot allocation was developed that accounts for the dynamics among local, regional-hub and global scales in terms of container loading and discharge at various vessels in multiple ports. A two-stage optimisation was proposed to improve usage and yield via slot exchange amongst liner companies in an alliance and cargo shifting amongst multiple trade lanes and service loops. Four optimisation methods for the three-echelon slot allocation were developed based on branch-and-bound search, genetic algorithm and deep neural network theories. The simulation results and model sensitivity of the developed algorithms were evaluated. Single-, two- and multiple-service routes with cargo shifting cases were simulated and analysed. The developed slot allocation model will assist trade and traffic planners in various echelons to coordinate and maximise slot usage and yield and ensure that cargo dimensions and weight fall within the cargo payload capacity and verified gross mass requirements, which further prevent vessel damage, excessive fuel usage and the unnecessary emission of greenhouse gases.

Photoswitchable CRISPR/Cas12a-Amplified and Co3O4@Au Nanoemitter Based Triple-Amplified Diagnostic Electrochemiluminescence Biosensor for Detection of miRNA-141.

In this work, a CRISPR/Cas12a initiated switchable ternary electrochemiluminescence (ECL) biosensor combined with a Co3O4@Au nanoemitter is presented for the in vitro monitoring of miRNA-141. Benefiting from the advantages of high-throughput cargo payload capability and superconductivity, three-dimensional reduced graphene oxide (3D-rGO) was designated as an introductory conducting stratum of a paper working electrode (PWE). With the collaborative participation of Co3O4@Au NPs, the transmutation of TPrA in the Ru(bpy)32+/TPrA system can be riotously expedited into exorbitant free radical ions TPrA•, which provoked the exaggeration of the ECL signal. Moreover, the programmable enzyme-free hybrid chain reaction (HCR) amplifier on the PWE surface accurately anchored the assembly of nucleic acid tandem and accomplished the secondary recursion of the signal. Impressively, the multifunctional CRISPR/Cas12a with nonspecific cis/trans-splitting decomposition manipulated the photoswitch of the "on-off" signal state that avoided the false-positive diagnosis. The presented multistrategy cooperative biosensor demonstrated extraordinary sensitivity and specificity, with a low detection limit of 3.3 fM (S/N = 3) in the concentration scope from 10 fM to 100 nM, which fully corresponded to the expectation. Overall, this innovative methodology paved a generous avenue for evaluating multifarious biotransformations and provided a tremendous impetus to the development of real-time diagnosis and clinical detection of other biomarkers.

First-in-Class Star-Shaped Triazine Dendrimers Endowed with MMP-9 Inhibition and VEGF Suppression Capacity: Design, Synthesis, and Anticancer Evaluation.

Off-target side effects are major challenges hindering the clinical success of matrix metalloproteinase (MMP) inhibitors. Various targeting strategies revitalized MMP research to eliminate this drawback. Herein, we developed s-triazine-based dendrimeric architecture not only amenable to tumor targeting but also decorated with pharmacophoric entities to endow MMP-9 inhibition for halting cancer progression. The design rationale utilized hydrazide branching chains as well as carboxylic and hydroxamic acid termini as Zn-binding groups to confer substantial MMP inhibitory potential. The carboxylic acids are tetherable to tumor targeting ligands and other cargo payloads as synergistic drugs via biodegradable linkages. The synthesized series were screened for cytotoxicity against normal fibroblasts (Wi-38) and two selected cancers (MDA-MB 231 and Caco-2) via MTT assay. The most active hexacarboxylic acid dendrimer 8a was more potent and safer than Dox against MDA-MB 231 and Caco-2 cells. It intrinsically inhibited MMP-9 with selectivity over MMP-2. Docking simulations demonstrated that the extended carboxylic acid termini of 8a could possibly chelate the active site Zn of MMP-9 and form hydrogen-bonding interactions with the ligand essential backbone Tyr423. In addition, it suppressed the correlated oncogenic mediators VEGF and cyclin D, upregulated p21 expression, induced apoptosis (>75%), and inhibited the tumor cell migration (∼84%) in the treated cancer cells. Thus, up to our knowledge, it is the first triazine-based MMP-9 inhibitor dendrimer endowed with VEGF suppression potential that can be employed as a bioactive carrier.

Therapeutic Application of Metal-Organic Frameworks Composed of Copper, Cobalt, and Zinc: Their Anticancer Activity and Mechanism.

Effective penetration into cells, or binding to cell membranes is an essential property of an effective nanoparticle drug delivery system (DDS). Nanoparticles are generally internalized through active transport mechanisms such as apoptosis, and cargo can be released directly into the cytoplasm. A metal–organic framework (MOF) is a network structure consisting of metal clusters connected by organic linkers with high porosity; MOFs provide a desirable combination of structural features that can be adjusted with large cargo payloads, along with Cu, Co, and Zn-MOFs, which have the chemical stability required for water-soluble use. Bioactive MOFs containing copper, cobalt, and zinc were prepared by modifying previous methods as therapeutic drugs. Their structures were characterized via PXRD, single-crystal crystallographic analysis, and FT-IR. The degradability of MOFs was measured in media such as deionized water or DPBS by PXRD, SEM, and ICP-MS. Furthermore, we investigated the anticancer activity of MOFs against the cell lines SKOV3, U87MG, and LN229, as well as their biocompatibility with normal fibroblast cells. The results show that a nanoporous 3D Cu-MOF could potentially be a promising candidate for chemoprevention and chemotherapy.

Analysis of global marine oil trade based on automatic identification system (AIS) data

A fine-grained analysis framework of global marine oil trade based on AIS data is developed to address the existing problems of using statistical data to analyze oil trade without sufficient temporal and spatial resolution. The framework includes three modules: traffic route analysis, trade volume analysis, and trade network analysis. A ship cargo payload calculation (SCPC) model is proposed to take the draught, shape, and size of the vessel and seawater density into consideration. It calculates the oil trade volume of each oil tanker voyage as a unit. More than 3.4 billion global automatic identification system (AIS) records in 2017 are utilized to verify the proposed framework and achieve the following findings. The Middle East-Strait of Malacca-East Asia oil transport route is the busiest and largest trade volume route in the global marine oil trade. The oil trade volume of the world's top 20 oil-importing and oil-exporting countries calculated based on AIS data is strongly correlated to the Joint Organizations Data Initiative (JODI) statistics with the determination coefficient (R2) of 0.8798. More than 90% of the world's top 20 oil-importing and oil-exporting countries have more than five oil trading partners. The experimental results show that the proposed analysis framework has utilized the most minimal research object, every oil tanker's trajectory, to realize the fine-grained research of marine oil trade based on oil tanker flows analysis. The derived oil flows with directions and trade volumes provide the basis for constructing a directed weighted oil trade network.

MOF‐Based Microrobots: MOFBOTS: Metal–Organic‐Framework‐Based Biomedical Microrobots (Adv. Mater. 27/2019)

Metal–organic frameworks (MOFs) have been recently used as building blocks in micro- and nanoswimmers; in article number 1901592, Josep Puigmartí-Luis and co-workers present 3D soft-based MOF microrobots that can swim along pre-designed tracks, achieving both single-cell targeting in a cell-culture media and controlled delivery of cargo payloads.

MOFBOTS: Metal-Organic-Framework-Based Biomedical Microrobots.

Motile metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) are potential candidates to serve as small-scale robotic platforms for applications in environmental remediation, targeted drug delivery, or nanosurgery. Here, magnetic helical microstructures coated with a kind of zinc-based MOF, zeolitic imidazole framework-8 (ZIF-8), with biocompatibility characteristics and pH-responsive features, are successfully fabricated. Moreover, it is shown that this highly integrated multifunctional device can swim along predesigned tracks under the control of weak rotational magnetic fields. The proposed systems can achieve single-cell targeting in a cell culture media and a controlled delivery of cargo payloads inside a complex microfluidic channel network. This new approach toward the fabrication of integrated multifunctional systems will open new avenues in soft microrobotics beyond current applications.

Estimating vessel payloads in bulk shipping using AIS data

The cargo payload of a merchant vessel is a crucial variable in calculating revenue for a particular voyage and estimating global trade flows for key commodities. However, due to the opaque nature ...

The Air Cargo Carrying Potential of The Airbus A350-900XWB and Boeing 787-9 Aircraft on Their Ultra-Long-Haul Flights: A Case Study for Flights from San Francisco to Singapore

Abstract The introduction of the Airbus A350-900 (A359) and the Boeing B787-9 (B789) have enabled airlines to operate ultra-long-range services. Using a mixed methods research design, this study has examined the air cargo-carrying potential of Singapore Airlines Airbus A350-900XWB (A359) and United Airlines Boeing B787-9 (789) aircraft on their ultra-long-haul San Francisco to Singapore and the Singapore to San Francisco air routes. The qualitative data was analysed using document analysis, and the air cargo payload was modelled by simulation. The air cargo-carrying potential of the two aircraft types was significantly influenced by enroute weather. In the event of eastbound winds, the Singapore Airlines Airbus A350-900XWB air cargo payload was 16.9 tonnes and the United Airlines Boeing 787-9 was 11.5 tonnes, when these flights had a full passenger payload. In the case of westbound winds with a full passenger payload, the Singapore Airlines Airbus A350-900XWB air cargo payload was 13.1 tonnes and the United Airlines Boeing 787-9 was 7.9 tonnes. When there were no winds on the air routes, the Singapore Airlines Airbus A350-900XWB offered 15.0 tonnes and the United Airline Boeing 787-9 offered 9.7 tonnes of air cargo payload, respectively.

Symbio unveils higher power H2Motiv L kit for larger vehicles

The H2Motiv L hydrogen kit from French-based Symbio is designed to optimise the performance of battery-powered, heavy-duty urban vehicles such as refuse collection vehicles, street washers, and buses. The system optimises recharging time as well as battery life in all seasons, in addition to boosting the cargo volume and payload of these vehicles.

Can the renewed interest in ultra-long-range passenger flights be satisfied by the current generation of civil aircraft?

A number of full service network carriers have recently stated their ambition to develop certain ultra-long-range (ULR) routes, such as Doha to Auckland, Dubai to Auckland, Dubai to Panama City, Singapore to San Francisco, Singapore to New York, all of which require a great circle distance between 7,000–9,000 nautical miles (nm) with an estimated travel time between 15 and 20 hours. This paper examines the capability of the current generation of wide-bodied passenger aircraft to satisfy this evolving strategy, and the impact, if any, on the provision of air cargo transportation. An exploratory study is presented herein based on an assessment of each aircraft type’s payload-range envelope, taken from the appropriate Aircraft Airports Handling Characteristics Manual. The key findings reveal that airlines wishing to pursue this ultra-long-range strategy have a surprisingly limited choice of current-generation passenger aircraft which are capable of flying the desired mission profile without compromising significantly on passenger numbers and cargo payload.

Performance assessment of electrically driven pump-fed LOX/kerosene cycle rocket engine: Comparison with gas generator cycle

An electrically driven pump-fed cycle for rocket engine is proposed and a viability of the proposed cycle is assessed compared to a gas generator cycle. The maximum possible thrust level is determined considering the technological maturity of the electric motor. Four types of battery cells were assessed in a screening test for the proposed cycle and the necessity of regenerative cooling for the battery pack is shown. The mass expressions of the proposed cycle and gas generator cycle are derived in terms of pump power and burning time. The basic features are demonstrated with respect to combustion chamber pressure, burning time, and thrust level. The results show that it is favorable to maintain a lower combustion chamber pressure, a longer burning time, and a higher thrust level to remedy the payload penalty incurred when the gas generator cycle is not used. In addition to focusing on the battery pack, the regenerative cooling effect on the battery pack mass is discussed. Further, the impact of optimal battery cell discharge time on the payload is explained. To estimate the payload for the proposed cycle quantitatively, hypothetical low earth orbit (LEO) and KSLV-II sun synchronous orbit (SSO) mission cases are used. In the analysis of the hypothetical LEO mission, it is found that the proposed cycle payloads are only 2.1% to 3.5% lower than those of the gas generator cycle when the combustion chamber pressure is 3.0 MPaA. For the KSLV-II SSO mission, the cargo payload is increased by 3.7% compared to that of gas generator cycle if the proposed cycle is employed for the third-stage engine.

Hierarchically Targeted and Penetrated Delivery of Drugs to Tumors by Size‐Changeable Graphene Quantum Dot Nanoaircrafts for Photolytic Therapy

Theranostic nanohybrids are promising for effective delivery of therapeutic drug or energy and for imaging‐guided therapy of tumors, which is demanded in personalized medicine. Here, a size‐changeable graphene quantum dot (GQD) nanoaircraft (SCNA) that serves as a hierarchical tumor‐targeting agent with high cargo payload is developed to penetrate and deliver anticancer drug into deep tumors. The nanoaircraft is composed of ultrasmall GQDs (less than 5 nm) functionalized with a pH‐sensitive polymer that demonstrates an aggregation transition at weak acidity of tumor environment but is stable at physiological pH with stealth function. A size conversion of the SCNA at the tumor site is further actuated by near‐infrared irradiation, which disassembles 150 nm of SCNA into 5 nm of doxorubicin (DOX)/GQD like a bomb‐loaded jet, facilitating the penetration into the deep tumor tissue. At the tumor, the penetrated DOX/GQD can infect neighboring cancer cells for repeated cell killing. Such a SCNA integrated with combinational therapy successfully suppresses xenograft tumors in 18 d without distal harm. The sophisticated strategy displays the hierarchically targeted and penetrated delivery of drugs and energy to deep tumor and shows potential for use in other tumor therapy.

Fluorinated carbon fiber as a novel nanocarrier for cancer chemo-photothermal therapy.

Although biomedical applications of carbon materials such as fullerenes, carbon nanotubes and graphene have been intensively studied in recent years owing to their unique chemical and physical properties, fluorinated carbon fiber (FC) has been rarely explored in biomedicine, mostly because of it's large-size, needle-like structure and strong hydrophobicity. In this study, for the first time we developed a novel FC-based nano-carrier with good biocompatibility, high drug-loading capacity and enhanced photo-thermal performance. A simple and feasible strategy is first employed to transform commercial FC into nano-sized ones with good solubility in both water and culture medium. The changes in surface wettability then facilitated us to load doxorubicin (DOX) onto the FC viaπ-π stacking interactions. Successful regulation of structure and composition also endows FC with an enhanced photothermal response in the near-infrared (NIR) region. Moreover, cell experiments indicate that the constructed nanocarrier can be easily transferred into cells by endocytosis, showing low toxicity and exhibiting excellent cancer therapy effects resulting from a good combination of chemotherapy and photothermal therapy. Considering the low cost, high synthesis efficiency and outstanding properties of FC, the newly developed nanocarrier may find widespread applications in biomedicine and other related fields.

The Penetrated Delivery of Drug and Energy to Tumors by Lipo-Graphene Nanosponges for Photolytic Therapy.

Delivery of drug and energy within responsive carriers that effectively target and accumulate in cancer cells promises to mitigate side effects and to enhance the uniquely therapeutic efficacy demanded for personalized medicine. To achieve this goal, however, these carriers, which are usually piled up at the periphery of tumors near the blood vessel, must simultaneously overcome the challenges associated with low tumor penetration and the transport of sufficient cargos to deep tumors to eradicate whole cancer cells. Here, we report a sponge-like carbon material on graphene nanosheet (graphene nanosponge)-supported lipid bilayers (lipo-GNS) that doubles as a photothermal agent and a high cargo payload platform and releases a burst of drug/energy (docetaxel (DTX) and gasified perfluorohexane (PFH)) and intense heat upon near-infrared irradiation. Ultrasmall lipo-GNS (40 nm) modified with a tumor-targeting protein that penetrates tumor spheroids through transcytosis exhibited a 200-fold increase in accumulation relative to a 270 nm variant of the lipo-GNS. Furthermore, a combination of therapeutic agents (DTX and PFH) delivered by lipo-GNS into tumors was gasified and released into tumor spheroids and successfully ruptured and suppressed xenograft tumors in 16 days without distal harm when subjected to a single 10 min near-infrared laser treatment. Moreover, no tumor recurrence was observed over 60 days post-treatment. This sophisticated lipo-GNS is an excellent delivery platform for penetrated, photoresponsive, and combined gasification/chemo-thermotherapy to facilitate tumor treatment and for use in other biological applications.

Low-thrust roundtrip trajectories to Mars with one-synodic-period repeat time

Cycler trajectories—both ballistic and powered—are reported in the literature in which there are two-vehicle, three-vehicle, and four-vehicle cases. Such trajectories permit the installation of cycler vehicles which provide safe and comfortable living conditions for human space travel between Earth and Mars during every synodic opportunity. The question the present paper answers is a logical, obvious one: Does a single-vehicle, one-synodic-period cycler exist? The answer is yes: such a trajectory can be flown—but only with a high-power electric propulsion system. In our example, it is found that “stopover” trajectories that spend 30 days in orbit about Earth and 30 days about Mars, and return astronauts to Earth in one synodic period require a 90-t power generator with a power level of 11 MWe. Fortuitously, and in lieu of using chemical propulsion, the high power level of the electric propulsion system would also be effective in hauling the cargo payload via a spiral trajectory about the Earth. But because one synodic period is not enough for the cycler vehicle to fly both the interplanetary trajectories and the Earth-spiral trajectories, we suggest developing two nuclear power generators, which could alternate flying the interplanetary trajectories and the Earth-spiral trajectories. Once these power generators are launched and begin operating in space, the mass requirement in seven subsequent missions (over a period of 15 years beginning in 2022) would be modest at 250–300 metric tons to low-Earth orbit per mission. Thus two cargo launches of NASA׳s Space Launch System and one crew launch of the Falcon Heavy, for example, would be adequate to maintain support for each consecutive mission. Although we propose developing two sets of electric propulsion systems to account for the Earth-spiral phases, only one vehicle is flown on a heliocentric trajectory at any given time. Thus, our low-thrust stopover cycler with zero encounter velocities falls into a category of a “one-vehicle cycler,” which completes the gap in the literature, where we have already seen multiple-vehicle cycler concepts.

Artificial micromotors in the mouse's stomach: a step toward in vivo use of synthetic motors.

Artificial micromotors, operating on locally supplied fuels and performing complex tasks, offer great potential for diverse biomedical applications, including autonomous delivery and release of therapeutic payloads and cell manipulation. Various types of synthetic motors, utilizing different propulsion mechanisms, have been fabricated to operate in biological matrices. However, the performance of these man-made motors has been tested exclusively under in vitro conditions (outside the body); their behavior and functionalities in an in vivo environment (inside the body) remain unknown. Herein, we report an in vivo study of artificial micromotors in a living organism using a mouse model. Such in vivo evaluation examines the distribution, retention, cargo delivery, and acute toxicity profile of synthetic motors in mouse stomach via oral administration. Using zinc-based micromotors as a model, we demonstrate that the acid-driven propulsion in the stomach effectively enhances the binding and retention of the motors as well as of cargo payloads on the stomach wall. The body of the motors gradually dissolves in the gastric acid, autonomously releasing their carried payloads, leaving nothing toxic behind. This work is anticipated to significantly advance the emerging field of nano/micromotors and to open the door to in vivo evaluation and clinical applications of these synthetic motors.

Gold nanoparticles in biomedicine

Nanoparticles (NPs) are classed as single particles with size diameters in the nanometre range, typically less than 100 nm. In cell biology, many molecules are measured in the nanoscale range, such as proteins and DNA. It is established that NPs less than several hundred nanometres can easily enter cells (with less than 50 nm entering most cells), whereas those under 20 nm can move through the blood vessels and permeate adjacent tissue, and also cross the blood–brain barrier1, thus NPs hold great promise regarding applications in biomedicine. Aside from this advantage of ubiquitous tissue accessibility, NPs also benefit from their large surface area to volume ratio, which, alongside ease of chemical functionalization, permits attachment of a multifunctional cargo payload (such as a fluorescent moiety or cell targeting molecules), as illustrated in Figure 12.

Comment on "Three-Dimensional Aerodynamic Simulations of Jumping Paratroopers and Falling Cargo Payloads"

Comment on "Three-Dimensional Aerodynamic Simulations of Jumping Paratroopers and Falling Cargo Payloads"