Chain Nodes Research Articles

Industrial status, technological progress, challenges, and prospects of hydrogen energy

Under the requirements of China's strategic goal of "carbon peaking and carbon neutrality", as a renewable, clean and efficient secondary energy source, hydrogen benefits from abundant resources, a wide variety of sources, a high combustion calorific value, clean and non-polluting, various forms of utilization, energy storage mediums and good security, etc. It will become a realistic way to help energy, transportation, petrochemical and other fields to achieve deep decarbonization, and will turn into an important replacement energy source for China to build a modern clean energy system. It is clear that accelerating the development of hydrogen energy has become a global consensus. In order to provide a theoretical support for the accelerated transformation of hydrogen-related industries and energy companies, and provide a basis and reference for the construction of "Hydrogen Energy China", this paper describes main key technological progresses in the hydrogen industry chain such as hydrogen production, storage, transportation, and application. The status and development trends of hydrogen industrialization are analyzed, and then the challenges faced by the development of the hydrogen industry are discussed. At last, the development and future of the hydrogen industry are prospected. The following conclusions are achieved. (1) Hydrogen technologies of our country will become mature and enter the road of industrialization. The whole industry chain system of the hydrogen industry is gradually being formed, and will realize the leap-forward development from gray hydrogen, blue hydrogen to green hydrogen. (2) The overall development of the entire hydrogen industry chain such as hydrogen production, storage and transportation, fuel cells, hydrogen refueling stations and other scenarios should be accelerated. Besides, in-depth integration and coordination with the oil and gas industry needs more attention, which will rapidly promote the high-quality development of the hydrogen industry system. (3) The promotion and implementation of major projects such as "north-east hydrogen transmission", "west-east hydrogen transmission", "sea hydrogen landing", and utilization of infrastructures such as gas filling stations, can give full play to the innate advantages of oil and gas companies in industrial chain nodes such as hydrogen production and refueling, etc., which can help to achieve the application of "oil, gas, hydrogen, and electricity" four-station joint construction, form a nationwide hydrogen resource guarantee system, and accelerate the planning and promotion of the "Hydrogen Energy China" strategy.

P45 Lyme-associated uveitis: Panuveitis and positive Lyme results – is it a masquerade or the real deal?

P45 Lyme-associated uveitis: Panuveitis and positive Lyme results – is it a masquerade or the real deal?

Investigation of complex dynamics and chaos control of the duopoly supply chain under the mixed carbon policy

Against the background of the mixed carbon policy (carbon tax‑carbon trading) implemented in China, the authors analyze the complexity of a series of competition decisions between supply chains through constructing Cournot(Duopoly)game model between supply chains. The dynamics of the proposed game model and the time evolution of the supply chains are described by a nonlinear discrete dynamical system. The equilibrium point of the discrete dynamical system is obtained and its local stability is discussed. The stability of the equilibrium point is further discussed by numerical simulation, which is affected by the speed of adjusting parameters and some other cost parameters. Finally, we apply the delayed feedback control method to suppress and overcome the chaos of the discrete dynamical system. It can effectively promote the discrete dynamical system to return to the stable behavior. It is hoped that the current research can provide a theoretical basis for the competitive decision-making of supply chain node enterprises.

The Resilience Evaluation of Agricultural Supply Chain in Green Transformation under “Double-Carbon” Emission Goal

The “carbon peak and carbon neutral” emission target has set new requirements for the supply chain structure, exacerbated by the complexity and vulnerability of the agricultural sector and global supply chains after the COVID-19 outbreak. Under these circumstances, the resilience evaluation of the agricultural supply chain based on green transformation became an important subject. Based on this topic with outstanding problems, this paper evaluates the resilience level of the agricultural supply chain in northeast China with the goal of achieving the “double carbon” objective. By focusing on its resilience, we selected Heilongjiang, Jilin, and Liaoning provinces as research subjects and collected the agricultural supply chain-related data from 2010 to 2019. Based on the relationship between supply chain nodes and the operation system, an evaluation model containing three levels was established. The entropy weight method and TOWA operator were used to carry out secondary weighting on the evaluation system and time levels containing 12 indicators, following the evaluation of the resilience level of the agricultural supply chain in three static and dynamic dimensions using the grey correlation method. The results show that the importance of the evaluation level of “internode resilience level” has always been a priority during the decade. Therefore, it is pointed out that the resilience construction and green transformation of the agricultural supply chain should be strengthened and implemented from the following three aspects: strengthening agricultural modernization, optimizing supply chain operation, and the implementation and promotion of effective policies.

The Safe Financial Processing Method for Realizing Supply Chain Integrated Business Intelligence Using Blockchain Application Scenarios

In order to improve the financial processing effect of supply chain integrated business intelligence, this study applies blockchain technology to the financial processing of supply chain integrated business intelligence and conducts an evolutionary game analysis on the factors that affect the selection of information-sharing strategies for logistic service supply chain nodes. By establishing the evolutionary game model of logistic service integrators and logistic service providers under the strategy of information sharing and information nonsharing, the value of information sharing in the logistic service supply chain is discussed from a qualitative and quantitative perspective. In addition, this study constructs the expected profit mathematical model of a two-level logistic service supply chain composed of logistic service integrators and logistic service providers. The experimental research results show that the safe financial processing method for realizing supply chain integrated business intelligence using blockchain application scenarios has good results.

Efficacy, safety, and feasibility of volumetric modulated arc therapy for synchronous bilateral breast cancer management.

Volumetric Modulated Arc Therapy (VMAT) exhibits potent advantages regarding target volume coverage and protection of organs at risk, notably in the context of anatomical constraints. Nevertheless, reports concerning VMAT for the treatment of synchronous bilateral breast cancers (SBBC) have been scarce to date. As such, we conducted this observational study to assess efficacy, safety and feasibility of VMAT in SBBC. From August 2011 to December 2017, 54 consecutive patients with SBBC with or without axillary nodes involvement underwent a treatment protocol containing radiotherapy using VMAT. A total dose (TD) of 52.2Gy in 29 fractions was delivered to breast and internal mammary chain (IMC) nodes Planning Target Volume (PTV) plus, if applicable, a TD of 49.3Gy in 29 fractions to the supra- and infra-clavicular nodes PTV and a TD of 63.22Gy in 29 fractions to tumor boost PTV. Lungs, heart, esophagus, trachea, liver, thyroid and spinal cord were considered as organs at risk. VMAT feasibility and organ at risk sparing were evaluated by treatments planning of the 20 first enrolled patients. Tolerance and patients' outcome were prospectively monitored by acute/late toxicities records and by the analysis of overall survival (OS), locoregional recurrence-free survival (LRFS) and recurrence-free survival (RFS). Breast, supraclavicular nodes and boost PTV coverage was adequate with at least 98% of PTV encompassed by more than 95% of the prescribed dose. Less than 90% of IMC PTV was encompassed by 95% of the prescribed dose. Mean lung dose was 12.3Gy (range: 7.7 - 18.7); mean heart dose was 10.7Gy (range: 6.2 - 22.3). Concerning acute toxicities, only 2 patients experienced grade 3 skin toxicity (3.7%) and only 1 patient developed grade 1 pneumonitis. After a median follow-up of 5.3 years, grade 2 fibrosis and/or shrinking was observed in 5 patients (10%), and grade 3 fibrosis in 1 patients (2%). The 5-year LRFS-rate, RFS-rate and OS were 98% [95% CI= 86.12-99.70%], 96% [95% CI= 84.63-98.96%] and 100%, respectively.

Information technology-driven operational decisions in a supply chain with random demand disruption and reference effect

Frequent occurrence of emergencies results in the persistence of unexpected demand disruption, which adds complexity to the supply chain and leads to inaccurate decisions easily. Precise information can generally help decision-makers to make accurate decisions, and sharing information between supply chain nodes is powerful in improving the performance of the supply chain. This paper examines how the random demand disruption and the consumers’ reference effect impact operational decisions, including pricing, information collection and sharing, in a dual-channel supply chain composed of one supplier and one platform. Three progressive game-theoretical models are proposed. We find that inaccurate disruption information brings substantial losses to the supply chain, and the reference effect will aggravate the loss for the platform but mitigate the loss for the supplier. When the degree of information distortion is high, the platform invests in new information technologies to collect precise information will benefit him, but will hurt the supplier. At this moment, if the supplier is willing to accept an information sharing contract with the platform, the platform will always choose a revenue sharing scheme, while the supplier wants the platform to choose a fixed fee scheme, especially when the reference effect is weak. Oppositely, when the degree of information distortion is small, the supplier should not accept the information sharing contract.

The 11 sins of seafood: Assessing a decade of food fraud reports in the global supply chain.

Due to complex, valuable, and often extremely opaque supply chains, seafood is a commodity that has experienced a high prevalence of food fraud throughout the entirety of its logistics network. Fraud detection and prevention require an in-depth understanding of food supply chains and their vulnerabilities and risks so that food business operators, regulators, and other stakeholders can implement practical countermeasures. An analysis of historical criminality within a sector, product, or country is an important component and has not yet been conducted for the seafood sector. This study examines reported seafood fraud incidents from the European Union's Rapid Alert System for Food and Feed, Decernis's Food Fraud Database, HorizonScan, and LexisNexis databases between January 01, 2010 and December 31, 2020. Illegal or unauthorized veterinary residues were found to be the most significant issue of concern, with most reports originating from farmed seafood in Vietnam, China, and India. For internationally traded goods, border inspections revealed a significant frequency of reports with fraudulent or insufficient documentation, indicating that deceptive practices are picked up at import or export but are occurring further down the supply chain. Practices such as species adulteration (excluding veterinary residues), species substitution, fishery substitution, catch method fraud, and illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing were less prevalent in the databases than evidenced in the scientific literature. The analysis demonstrates significant differences in outcomes depending on source and underlines a requirement for a standardized and rigorous dataset through which food fraud can be scrutinized to ensure enforcement, as well as industry and research resources are directed accurately. Practical Application: Levels of historic food fraud in a product, sector, supply chain node or geographic location provide an indication of historic criminality, the methods used and the location of reported frauds. This study provides an overview of historic levels of seafood fraud that can be used to inform seafood fraud prevention and mitigation activities by the food industry, regulators and other stakeholders.

Security of an RFID Based Authentication Protocol with Bitwise Operations for Supply Chain

Due to the stringent computational capabilities of low-cost RFID tags, several lightweight secure authentication protocols have been proposed for an RFID-based supply chain using bitwise operations. In this paper, we study the vulnerabilities associated with bitwise operations by doing cryptanalysis of a secure lightweight authentication protocol for RFID tags. The bitwise operations like rotation and XOR show that the protocol is vulnerable to tag, reader, and supply chain node impersonation attacks. We find that the major cause of the vulnerability is bitwise operations and suggest using the physically unclonable functions rather than bitwise operations to secure such lightweight protocols. We provide formal analysis using AVISPA tool and show that protocol is vulnerable to various attacks.

Network Security Technology of Supply Chain Management Based on Internet of Things and Big Data.

In order to improve the network security of supply chain management based on the Internet of Things and big data, this paper studies the Internet of Things and big data technology and analyzes the data processing process of the Internet of Things. On the premise that the terminal device meets the requirements of delay and energy consumption, a data offloading encryption model is established to offload data to multiple edge servers for encryption. In addition, this paper proposes an optimization problem including overall security, delay, and equipment energy consumption and establishes a mathematical model that maximizes overall security under the condition of satisfying the requirements of delay and equipment energy consumption. From the simulation data, it can be seen that the network security technology of supply chain management based on the Internet of Things and big data proposed in this paper can achieve effective management and control of supply chain nodes and improve their information security.

Role of Distribution Centers Disruptions in New Retail Supply Chain: An Analysis Experiment

The convergence of physical stores and e-commerce has led to the emergence of a new retail business mode in the retail industry. In today’s world, new retail supply chains face the potential risks of disruption caused by natural and man-made disasters, and epidemics. In this paper, we simulate a three-stage new retail supply chain consisting of suppliers, manufacturers, and a retailer with online and offline channels in the AnyLogistix simulation and optimization software. We develop a simulation model to analyze the effects of various supply chain node disruptions on new retail supply chain performance and service level with consideration of four scenarios: disruption-free; manufacturer disruption; warehouse center disruption; offline store disruption. The main results show that supply chain node disruptions have negative impacts on the performance and service level. Besides, the warehouse center disruption has the most devastating effect on this new retail supply chain. Overall, this paper provides insights for decision-makers to consider disruption issues when designing resilient new retail supply chains.

Analysis of Supply Chain Optimization Method and Management Intelligent Decision under Green Economy

As environmental issues become the focus of global attention, low-carbon economy based on the concept of low energy consumption, low pollution, and sustainable development is becoming the focus of global attention. This new trend brings new challenges and opportunities to supply chain management. In view of the current new trend, each node enterprise in the supply chain should have the dual compatibility of economy and environment. How to balance the profits of supply chain nodes is an important issue for traditional enterprises under the guarantee of environmental benefits and green supply chain management. This paper takes the green transformation of enterprises as the breakthrough point, combined with the comparison of three green supply chain models. Considering the different preferences of enterprises for environmentally friendly goals, a green supply chain model is constructed when manufacturers and retailers consider different goals. This paper discusses the impact of environmental preferences of manufacturers and retailers on the supply chain system. It is found that when the manufacturer’s environmental preference is 1, the supply chain profit of the biobjective model is up to 1901. The results show that the model can achieve the dual optimization of the profit target and environmental friendly target and achieve the effect of green supply chain optimization.

A blockchain-based lightweight identity authentication scheme for the IEDs of security and stability control system

As an important part of the second defense line of the power system, the Security and Stability Control System (SSCS) is of great significance to ensure the reliable operation of the power system. However, SSCS still lacks an effective security mechanism and is easily accessed by attackers, thus posing a threat to the stable and reliable operation of the power system. To tackle this issue, we propose a blockchain-based identity authentication scheme for Intelligent Electronic Devices (IEDs) of SSCS. We first propose an identity authentication system model for IEDs and design the deployment of consortium chain nodes on IEDs, with architectural characteristics of SSCS and the working scenario of IEDs taken into consideration. The consortium chain is used to store credentials required for authentication, ensuring that they are tamper-proof. We combine IP address, port number and physical ID, and propose the unique identification of IEDs, with a data structure designed for the identification. We also propose a lightweight identity authentication method based on renewable hash chains, with hash chains used as one-time authentication passwords, and introduce a renewal mechanism of hash chains. Further, the detailed processes of registration and authentication phase are designed. Finally, the security analysis shows that our identity authentication scheme can resist various attacks, and the feasibility of our scheme is verified by experiments.

Resetting random walks in one-dimensional lattices with sinks

A standard symmetrical random walk with Poissonian resetting in a chain with terminal sinks is considered. The expressions for probabilities of occupation of chain nodes are obtained for arbitrary values of chain length N, rate k of jumps to adjacent nodes, sink intensities q 0, q N and placements of resetting node n r and starting node n 0. These expressions are used for calculating the dependences of the prime characteristics of the process (unconditional and conditional mean first passage/exit times and splitting probabilities W 0, W N ) on resetting rate r. Among a rich variety of process scenarios, the possibility of inverting the ratio W 0/W N with r growing is of special interest. This provides an effective mechanism of controlling the process outcome.

Analysis on Optimization of Agricultural Products Supply Chain Based on Dynamic System

To thoroughly implement the spirit of the Fifth Plenary Session of the 19th CPC Central Committee, this paper optimizes the supply chain of agricultural products based on dynamic system. In the complex supply chain of agricultural products, they are scattered upstream and downstream. It is difficult to form agglomeration scale effect, information asymmetry between supply chain nodes, and poor hardware environment of supply chain. Logistics operation is difficult. By analyzing the supply chain of agricultural products, optimize the supply chain by using the push‐pull supply chain. According to the change of market demand, the push mode and the pull mode are properly allocated and the government’s attention to the supply chain is increased, intentionally the Internet is combined with the supply chain, the stability of the supply chain is increased, and there is a certain adaptability to market demand fluctuations. Problems can be fed back to the suppliers and final buyers of agricultural products in time, and the delivery rate of the whole supply chain should be improved.

Study on Quasi-Period and Chaos Synchronizations of a Laser Local Area Network by Shifting the Currents of One Chain Node Lasers

Quasi-period and chaos synchronizations of a laser local area network (LAN) are discussed deep by shifting or controlling the current parameters of one chain node lasers of the LAN. The two coupling-lasers as network’s double-driver nodes and other two laser as network’s receiver node lasers perform two chains of laser LAN. Multi-dynamics states and their synchronizations, such as quasi-period, chaos and their synchronizations, are guided to show in the LAN by varying the current parameters of one chain node lasers. We find that multi-dynamics state synchronizations, such double-period, period-3, period-4, period-5, other quasi-period and chaos synchronizations, are guided to present at two chains of the LAN. This LAN and its obtained results have import reference values for complex system, network, artificial intelligence, chaos synchronization.

Research on Agricultural Supply Chain Architecture Based on Edge Computing and Efficiency Optimization

This paper proposes the classification standard of supply chain structure from three different aspects: the complexity of the supply chain node enterprises, the reliability of the supply chain, and the optimization goal. In addition, this article starts from the characteristics of agriculture itself, according to the actual needs of the agricultural supply chain, considers the feasibility of the solution strategy from different sides, and gives related models, which solve the related problems in the agricultural supply chain to a certain extent. At present, there are many resource allocation algorithms at the edge of mobile networks, but the existing resource allocation algorithms still have the problem of high computational complexity and can still solve the above problems in resource utilization optimization. In order to solve these problems, this paper proposes a system architecture of the agricultural industry Internet of Things based on edge computing. The main motivations of this article are to improve the stability and usability of the system, and to enhance agricultural wisdom, so as to provide a reference for the development of precision agriculture. According to this method, Firstly, from the perspective of how to improve the energy efficiency of mobile terminals, methods to improve the energy efficiency of mobile terminals are studied in multi-user systems where mobile terminals compete for MEC servers with limited computing resources. Then, this paper focuses on the waste of computing resources caused by user movement under the scenario of limited server coverage in MEC system and studies the problem from the perspective of effective management of computing resources. Experimental results show that the proposed algorithm has good performance.

A Mathematical Programming Approach to Supply Chain Network Design considering Shareholder Value Creation

One of the main goals of supply chain management is to ensure proper flows of products and information through all nodes to supply them in the right place at the right time. To achieve this objective, it is very important to consider flows of products and finances among supply chain nodes. Traditionally, operational and financial processes have been optimized as separate problems. The developed model addresses the problem of designing a supply chain network and tries to integrate both areas of operations and financial aspects to maximize the value created and measured by the Shareholder Value Analysis (SVA). The results show that with appropriate financial decisions, creating more value for the company and its shareholders is achievable. The developed model with a new financial approach is able to improve the total created shareholder value as much as 0.7% larger than the SVA obtained without financial aspects and 0.93% larger than the value created by the basic model. The main reason for an increase in value creation is due to new operational and financial aspects, which mainly show the possibility of closing facilities and bank debt repayments. To validate and show the applicability of the proposed model, it was solved by GAMS‐BARON solver with data provided from the literature. Sensitivity analyses on financial parameters were performed to evaluate the results.

Tuna is women's business too: Applying a gender lens to four cases in the Western and Central Pacific

AbstractThe USD6 billion Western and Central Pacific Ocean (WCPO) tuna fisheries produce over half the world's tuna and are important for coastal countries. Tuna fisheries policy, management and research currently focus on fisheries resources and industrial fishing on offshore vessels with all male crews, although women, as much as men, are employed in tuna processing and trading in domestic, informal and export value chains. We apply a gender lens to four WCPO case‐study tuna industries: Suva and Levuka in Fiji, Bitung in Indonesia, General Santos City in the Philippines and Western Province including Noro in Solomon Islands. The gender divisions of labour, livelihood opportunities and social impacts vary greatly across the value chain nodes, depending on the size, quantity and quality of fish handled, and the scale of operations. The gender lens also reveals the social impacts of fishing when husbands/fathers/sons are killed or injured, absent for long periods and engage in sex, drugs and alcohol behaviours in port. Despite the centrality of women in tuna industries, and the gendered social impacts, regional and national policies largely omit gender. The tuna discourse should be broadened from that of male‐dominated industrial fishing to whole of value chains including domestic and informal enterprises in which women are equally involved. Progress on gender equity needs collaboration by multiple stakeholders including industrial firms employing people in factories, offices and on fishing vessels, regional bodies and national governments responsible for policy, monitoring and regulation, and research agencies to build knowledge.

Medicinal plant business in Bangladesh: Exploring the performance of supply chain actors

Since and prior to the initialization of civilizations, humankind hunted and gathered while plants and herbs were the mainstays of treatment. Like many other countries, in many rural and tribal areas of Bangladesh, people relied on nature and natural remedies to heal and prevent diseases due to the immense abundance of medicinal plants. Nonetheless, these medicinal plants are also a great source of income generation, employment creation, entrepreneurship. This study concentrated on the marketing system and value addition process by understanding market actor's performance through the efficiency of the supply chain nodes in the medicinal plants business. The constraints and possible remedies were illustrated with SWOT (Strength, Weakness, Opportunity, and Threat) analysis to depict the medicinal plants' business environment. Seed suppliers were the highest value-adding actor for Tulsi ( Ocimum tenuiflorum ), while processors were the least value creator for Basok ( Justicia adhatoda ). On the other hand, lack of modern production and business techniques, financial backwardness of medicinal plant farmers, minimum or no training and extension support, unstable market price, and demand hinders the full marketing system of medicinal plants. Land suitability, input abundancy, and history of acceptance are major strengths of the medicinal plant business, while minimum support, government non-responsiveness, calamitic hazards, and poor quality inputs pose potential threats to this enterprise. However, with appropriate planning and development of a suitable environment for medicinal plant production, processing, and marketing, this sector may flourish in the long run. • Medicinal plant seed suppliers are the highest value-adding actors. • MP production and marketing are highly profitable in southern Asia. • Medicinal plants could be a potential economic crop for any country.