Package Delivery Research Articles

A Delaunay triangulation based dynamic pricing approach to profit‐driven crowdsourced package delivery

AbstractCrowdsourced package delivery (CPD) has gained great interest from the logistics industry and academe due to its signficant economic and environmental impact. A number of progresses have been reported; however, dynamic pricing, as a special and significant part of the uncertain CPD markets, is far less explored. To address the problem, a novel Delaunay Triangulation (DT) based pricing strategy is proposed for dealing with the imbalanced demand and supply in local markets with the aim to maximizing the profit of the CPD platform. To cater to drivers’ wishes further, the hyperbolic temporal discounting function is applied to estimate their psychological rewards in order to increase the possibility of package acceptance. A three‐stage framework consisting of the DT‐based pricing, the matching pruning and the package assigning algorithm is proposed, to figure out the best‐possible package‐driver matching. With the dataset generated by Brinkhoff road network generator in the city of Jinan and Luoyang, China, a series of experiments is conducted to evaluate the proposed approach against several representative baseline approaches. Experimental results show that the approach significantly outperforms the other approaches in terms of effectiveness and efficiency.

A continuous approximation approach to integrated truck and drone delivery systems

Home package delivery by drones as an alternative or complement to traditional delivery by trucks is attracting considerable attention from the commercial sector as well as academia. While drone delivery may offer considerable benefits, the fundamental issues of how best to deploy drones for small package delivery are still not well understood. Unlike most studies in the literature that consider either truck-drone tandems or drone standalone delivery operations, our research provides a strategic analysis for the optimal design of an integrated drone delivery system in which customers in a service region can be served by a combination of truck-drone (TD) delivery, drone-only (DO) delivery, and truck-only (TO) delivery. We formulate and optimize continuous approximation models to identify the optimal delivery service combination that minimizes the total delivery costs including truck and drone operating and stop costs. We evaluate the impact of a wide range of operating characteristics and delivery environments on the optimal delivery system and the benefits of using drones. Our results suggest that an optimal delivery system design often uses a mix of DO and TD, but TD is the dominant delivery service in most scenarios. The magnitude of the cost savings afforded by the use of drones, relative to truck-only delivery, can be large but strongly depends on the values of key parameters.

Experimental investigation of blade-shaped riblets for drag reduction on UAV applications

This study presents an experimental investigation of blade-shaped riblets for drag reduction in unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) applications. UAVs have gained significant attention since they can perform various missions, including surveillance, reconnaissance, and package delivery. However, their aerodynamic performance, specifically the high drag associated with their exposed surfaces, remains a key challenge for enhancing their efficiency and extending their flight endurance. To address this issue, riblet geometries are proposed as a potential solution, which can reduce the turbulent skin friction drag by up to 8%. The experimental investigation involves wind tunnel testing of blade-shaped riblets, with various spacing-to-height (s/h) ratios and constant groove cross-sectional area (Ag). The riblets are designed for application on the wing, empennage, and fuselage surfaces of a UAV. The investigations are performed on a flat plate for various flow conditions, including different freestream velocities, to evaluate the drag reduction effectiveness of the riblet configuration. The drag force is measured using a force balance system and flow visualization techniques are employed to assess the position where the boundary layer has transitioned to fully turbulent. The results demonstrate the drag-reducing effect of blade-shaped and trapezoidal riblets and the different performances observed for the various s/h ratios. The cases with s/h=1 result in the smallest drag coefficients, while the cases with s/h=2 have significantly increased drag values, compared to the smooth flat plate, due to the increased wetted surface area. These findings highlight the potential of riblets as an effective drag-reduction technique for UAV applications, enabling increased endurance and/or enhanced payload capacity.

Accounting Information System Analysis of Goods Delivery Expeditions at PT. Eka Sari Lorena

PT. Eka Sari Lorena (PT ESL) is a service company engaged in the delivery of goods or packages. The accounting information system is an important part of the goods delivery process for the company. The purpose of this article is to analyze PT ESL's goods delivery accounting information system. This research is descriptive qualitative in nature. Data collection was carried out through interviews and observations with related parties to find out directly about the practices of PT ESL's goods delivery accounting information system. From the results of the analysis it can be concluded that PT ESL's goods delivery travel accounting information system is still not effective and functional. The first is that the number of goods sent has fluctuated in recent years, and the second is that there are constant errors when sending goods so that the target for sending goods is not achieved

Stochastic Geometry-Based Trajectory Design for Multi-Purpose UAVs: Package and Data Delivery

Stochastic Geometry-Based Trajectory Design for Multi-Purpose UAVs: Package and Data Delivery

DAC‐MD: A privacy preserving drone‐access control scheme for last mile delivery

AbstractThe service delivery has lately witnessed strides in the form of paradigm shifts from conventional logistics to drone‐oriented supply chain to conserve ecosystem. The use of drones or unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) for package deliveries offer enhanced accessibility, flexibility, efficiency, speed, safety, and even few environmental gains. However, the drones can come across various security hazards while communicating with ground installations on open channels including physical capture attack, privacy infringement, and so on. Thus, earnest endeavors are needed to fix those security challenges in applications related to drone communications. To address these problems, an efficient authenticated key agreement technique, drone access control scheme for last mile delivery (DAC‐MD) is suggested for user‐drone interactions in IoD environment that help the participating entities in developing a mutually agreed session key for securing subsequent communication interactions. The proposed scheme is proved using automated ProVerif tool as well as analyzed by using formal analysis based on RoR random oracle model. The comparative analysis against recently presented known studies reveals that our scheme not only carries comparable properties in terms of security and privacy, but also low computational and communication costs.

Analysis of Packaging Recycling Mode in Chinese Express Delivery Industry

With the widespread adoption of smartphones and Internet technology, China's express delivery industry has experienced explosive growth. Concurrently, this surge has resulted in the substantial generation of express packaging waste, leading to substantial resource wastage and environmental pollution. There is a need to improve reuse of express packaging in order to reduce the express packaging garbage, and recycling constitutes a crucial step in the reutilization of express packaging materials. The purpose of this study is to investigate the recycling patterns in Chinese Express Industry. This study employed a systematic literature review synthesis method to assess trends, identify gaps, and recommend future approaches to enhance the reuse of express packaging. The focus was on analysing the recycling status, influencing factors, and improvement strategies related to express packaging recycling. Research findings indicate that the recycling of express packaging is confronted with challenges such as high recycling costs and low recycling efficiency in China. Therefore, this paper proposes the combination of low-cost standardized packaging for express delivery, along with consumer awareness of environmental protection and an efficient recycling system, can significantly boost the recycling and reutilization of express delivery packaging. This study will contribute to enhancing the reusability and recycling of express packaging by improving the recycling process, thereby reducing the generation of express waste and minimizing resource wastage.

Designing of Goods Separation Conveyor using GM65 QR Code Scanner Sensor

The sorting or separation process is crucial in the delivery of goods or packages, especially when viewed from the many regions in Indonesia. From the management system of separating goods which is generally still done manually, causing some goods to experience destination errors and delivery delays or commonly called Criss-Cross (CC). Delivery delays are also influenced by human error factors, so special tools are needed to separate goods based on the destination city of the goods, one of which uses a conveyor with a GM65 QR Code Scanner sensor. This sensor works based on commands from Arduino which has been programmed in such a way that it can control all inputs and outputs used in the system. In this system, the goods to be separated are made in the form of 3D mode boxes, where each box is affixed with a different QR code, namely A, B, and C. Each QR code represents the destination city of the goods to be separated, namely city A and city B, but for QR code C indicates data other than city A and city B which will be separated as foreign goods so that in this case it does not match any separation. After testing, the tool can work properly and obtain the results of separating goods in the form of a type of QR code that is read with the destination city of each item that has been separated.

Extracellular vesicles incorporating retrovirus-like capsids for the enhanced packaging and systemic delivery of mRNA into neurons.

The blood-brain barrier (BBB) restricts the systemic delivery of messenger RNAs (mRNAs) into diseased neurons. Although leucocyte-derived extracellular vesicles (EVs) can cross the BBB at inflammatory sites, it is difficult to efficiently load long mRNAs into the EVs and to enhance their neuronal uptake. Here we show that the packaging of mRNA into leucocyte-derived EVs and the endocytosis of the EVs by neurons can be enhanced by engineering leucocytes to produce EVs that incorporate retrovirus-like mRNA-packaging capsids. We transfected immortalized and primary bone-marrow-derived leucocytes with DNA or RNA encoding the capsid-forming activity-regulated cytoskeleton-associated (Arc) protein as well as capsid-stabilizing Arc 5'-untranslated-region RNA elements. These engineered EVs inherit endothelial adhesion molecules from donor leukocytes, recruit endogenous enveloping proteins to their surface, cross the BBB, and enter the neurons in neuro-inflammatory sites. Produced from self-derived donor leukocytes, the EVs are immunologically inert, and enhanced the neuronal uptake of the packaged mRNA in a mouse model of low-grade chronic neuro-inflammation.

DESIGN AND DEVELOPMENT OF FLIGHT CONTROLLER FOR QUADCOPTER DRONE CONTROL

UAV (Unmanned Aerial Vehicle), also commonly called drone, is a flying robot technology that can be controlled remotely and can also fly autonomously based on the mission given by the operator. Drones are usually used for various purposes such as package delivery, watering plants, land mapping, natural disaster monitoring, photography, videography and others. Drones have many types, one of which is a drone with four motors as the main drive, commonly called a quadcopter drone. Quadcopter drones have evolved a lot based on current needs. Although quadcopter drones have many uses, the development of quadcopter drone research in Indonesia is quite slow, one of the quadcopter drone components whose development is quite slow is the flight controller. Flight controller (FC) is a main controller brain in drones that has complex functions in quadcopter drone control. The function of the FC is to regulate motor speed, stabilize and maintain altitude. In this research, FC is designed to control the stability of quadcopter drones while flying. This FC was developed by applying LoRa technology as an internal receiver. LoRa technology is used to receive control data from the remote control (RC) and simultaneously send sensor data. The purpose of this research is to design FC to improve local products in the field of technology and participate in the development of flying robot technology, especially on quadcopter drones and to determine the performance of LoRa technology after being integrated as an internal transceiver in FC for remote control of quadcopter drones.

Decentralized adaptive controller for multi-drone cooperative transport with offset and moving center of gravity

Multi-drone cooperative transport has been extensively studied in literature. However, few issues are still required to be addressed to make such systems technologically sound. One such issue is that of control of such systems when the center of gravity of the object being transported is unknown and/or varies with time. Few examples in which the center of gravity is either offset (does not coincide with the geometric center of the object) or moves continuously with time include package delivery, pesticide spraying, and aerial car. This paper presents a decentralized adaptive control approach for a multi-drone cooperative transport system where the center of gravity of the system is offset and/or moving. This paper proposes a fuzzy logic based force-torque feedback controller along with two novel adaptive control laws to estimate the payload's center of gravity and/or its velocity. Simulation results validate the effectiveness of the proposed control technique as compared other methods in literature.

Autonomous Drone Landing: Marked Landing Pads and Solidified Lava Flows

Landing is the most challenging and risky aspect of basic multirotor drone flight, and only simple landing methods exist for autonomous drones. We explore methods for autonomous drone landing in two scenarios. In the first scenario, we examine methods for landing on known landing pads using fiducial markers and a gimbal-mounted monocular camera. This method has potential in drone applications where a drone must land more accurately than global positioning system (GPS) can provide (e.g. package delivery in an urban canyon). We expand on previous methods by actuating the drone’s camera to track the marker over time, and we address the complexities of pose estimation caused by fiducial marker orientation ambiguity. In the second scenario, and in collaboration with the Rover-Aerial Vehicle Exploration Network (RAVEN) project, we explore methods for landing on solidified lava flows in Iceland, which serves as an analog environment for Mars and provides insight into the effectiveness of drone-rover exploration teams. Our drone uses a depth camera to visualize the terrain, and we are developing methods to analyze the terrain data for viable landing sites in real time with minimal sensors and external infrastructure requirements, so that the solution does not heavily influence the drone’s behavior, mission structure, or operational environments.

I-Pos Information System Security Audit Using Framework Control Objectives for Information and Related Technologies 2019 And Information Technology Infrastructure Library 4

Information system security is used to protect against cyber attack crimes. Generally, cyber attacks occur because someone wants to intervene in a system to find out the confidentiality and availability of information. PT. Pos Indonesia is a company under the auspices of SOEs engaged in distributing letters and packages. Both domestic package distribution and overseas package distribution. To facilitate the delivery of packages, PT Pos Indonesia developed an information system called I-POS. Based on the results of the researchers' analysis, the I-POS information system is an information system that aims at mail and package delivery transactions, so using the I-POS information system can facilitate the process of delivery transactions, as well as provide accurate, timely, and relevant information. The purpose of this study is to determine the level of maturity of information system security in the field of I-POS information systems at PT. Pos Indonesia, Analyzing the findings and gaps of the level of maturity of the information system security. Based on the results of research that has been conducted through questionnaires using the COBIT 2019 framework with APO13 and DSS05 domains, it was found that the Existing Capability obtained was at level 2 while the expected Capability Level was at level 5 so the Capability Gap produced in these conditions was 3 levels

Important Aspects of Food Home-Business Sales Based on Customer Review in Shopee

Business opportunities are expanding on e-commerce platforms such as Lazada, Shopee, and e-Bay. However, the Shopee app has the highest user statistics in Malaysia, making it the most suitable platform for small traders like B40 (bottom 40% income) women in Malaysia. Many B40 women experience problems identifying suitable products for sale, as well as improving their product quality. A study of customer reviews to identify the most important attributes of online food products was conducted. A Shopee scraper tool was built to acquire a home-business product dataset. Fourteen attributes were analyzed, and the top five most influential attributes were identified for both positive and negative reviews. The results show that the attributes that have the highest overall impact on online home-business food sales are taste, price, appearance, and texture as well as package condition, delivery service, and free gifts. It is noted that daily snacks and side dishes to go with main meals are suitable for year-round sales, while seasonal cookies are usually in demand only during festive seasons.

Strategies to reduce out-of-pocket medication costs for Canadians with peripheral arterial disease.

Given that peripheral arterial disease (PAD) disproportionately affects people of lower socioeconomic status, out-of-pocket expenses for preventive medications are a major barrier to their use. We carried out a cost comparison of drug therapies for PAD to identify prescribing strategies that minimize out-of-pocket expenses for these medications. Between March and June 2019, we contacted outpatient pharmacies in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, to assess pricing of pharmacologic therapies at dosages included in the 2016 American College of Cardiology/American Heart Association guideline for management of lower extremity PAD. We also gathered pricing information for supplementary charges, including delivery, pill splitting and blister packaging. We calculated prescription prices with and without dispensing fees for 30-day brand-name and generic prescriptions, and 90-day generic prescriptions. Twenty-four pharmacies, including hospital-based, independent and chain, were included in our sample. In the most extreme scenario, total 90-day medication costs could differ by up to $1377.26. Costs were affected by choice of agent within a drug class, generic versus brand-name drug, quantity dispensed, dispensing fee and delivery cost, if any. By opting for prescriptions for 90 days or as long as possible, selecting the lowest-cost generic drugs available in each drug class, and identifying dispensing locations with lower fees, prescribers can minimize out-of-pocket patient medication expenses. This may help improve adherence to guideline-recommended therapies for the secondary prevention of vascular events in patients with PAD.

The Effect of pH on the Viscoelastic Response of Alginate-Montmorillonite Nanocomposite Hydrogels.

Ionically cross-linked alginate hydrogels are used in a wide range of applications, such as drug delivery, tissue engineering, and food packaging. A shortcoming of these gels is that they lose their strength and degrade at low pH values. To develop gels able to preserve their integrity in a wide range of pH values, Ca-alginate-montmorillonite nanocomposite gels are prepared, and their chemical structure, morphology, and mechanical response are analyzed. As the uniformity of nanocomposite gels is strongly affected by concentrations of MMT and CaCl2, it is revealed that homogeneous gels can be prepared with 4 wt.% MMT and 0.5 M CaCl2 at the highest. The viscoelastic behavior of nanocomposite gels in aqueous solutions with pH = 7 and pH = 2 is investigated by means of small-amplitude compressive oscillatory tests. It is shown that Ca-alginate-MMT nanocomposite gels preserve their integrity while being swollen at pH = 2. The experimental data are fitted by a model with only two material parameters, which shows that the elastic moduli increase linearly with a concentration of MMT at all pH values under investigation due to formation of physical bonds between alginate chains and MMT platelets. The presence of these bonds is confirmed by ATR-FTIR spectroscopy. The morphology of nanocomposite gels is studied by means of wide-angle X-ray diffraction, which reveals that intercalation of polymer chains between clay platelets increases the interlayer gallery spacing.

High-resolution global geopositioning system for last-mile delivery

High-resolution monitoring systems are commonly used to calculate mechanical and energy performance, as well as environmental impact resulting from the operation of a fleet of vehicles in a region. These systems require recording operational or vehicle position data, energy consumption in the case of electric or electric-assisted vehicles, and buttons for specific signals in the operation, such as the start of operation, end of operation, or package delivery. Some vehicle tracking devices available on the market do not allow speed and energy consumption data to be recorded and accessed at the required sampling frequency. This study presents the development and validation of a remote sensing device to record energy consumption and operational variables of a vehicle under real operating conditions with a frequency of 1 Hz. The functioning of the device, the integrated elements in its development, and the data analysis process are detailed. Finally, using the monitoring equipment data, a comparison was made between the operation of electric vehicles and internal combustion vehicles, achieving savings of up to 83% in operating costs and a 79% reduction in CO2 emissions.

Investigating the Impact of Polyvinyl Alcohol Addition on the Thermal Behavior and Chemical Structure of Electrospun Cellulose Nanofibers

The study aimed to investigate the effect of adding polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) on the chemical and thermal properties of cellulose nanofibers (CNFs). The CNF was prepared using electrospinning with varying amounts of PVA, and the resulting samples were analyzed using Fourier-transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy and Thermogravimetric analysis (TGA). The FTIR results showed that adding PVA did not significantly affect the chemical structure of CNF but led to the appearance of new peaks attributed to the characteristic peaks of both CNF and PVA. Moreover, the TGA results revealed that all samples underwent weight degradation after being heated from 350°C. The addition and removal of PVA did not significantly alter the thermal behavior of the CNF. Overall, the results suggested that PVA can be used as a compatible additive to CNF without significant changes to their properties, which could have potential applications in various fields, including biodegradable packaging and drug delivery systems.

Electrospun nanofibers based on plant extract bioactive materials as functional additives: possible sources and prospective applications

Bioactive plant compounds are combined with polymers and electrospun into nanofibers. These fibers, with antioxidant and antibacterial properties, are used in drug delivery, tissue engineering, and food packaging.

The environmental footprint of e-commerce in modern conditions

The article is devoted to studying the ecological impact of e-commerce on the environment and the theoretical aspect of setting and applying sustainable development goals in this sector. As part of the work, an analysis of the growing trend of digital business model research was carried out, considering the three main goals of sustainable development. The relevance of the research is due to the rapid changes in the world, which must be responded to to provide for future generations. Such research methods were used as abstraction, synthesis, empirical research methods, the Scopus information platform's resource base, comparison method, graphic interpretation, and the VosViewer program. The article considered the main opinions of scientists regarding electronic commerce. A bibliographic analysis from the Scopus scientometric database is shown. The relationship between «e-commerce» and «sustainable development» was investigated. The dependence of Internet users over time on social network users from 2012 to 2022 was shown. This dependence was shown in the context of the growth of digital sales, which reflects trends in e-commerce, where the parallel development of Internet users and social networks took place. According to the graph, the equation of direct dependence is given and the coefficient of multiple determination - R2 is determined. In addition, it is determined to increase sales of goods worldwide with ecological delivery and ecological packaging. The implementation of environmentally friendly packaging and delivery not only contributes to the preservation of the environment, but also positively affects the image of the company, making it more attractive to customers who support sustainability and environmental responsibility. It also showed shoppers' appreciation of green alternatives for e-commerce packaging and found that people are willing to pay more for green shipping. The results of the study allow company managers and buyers to adhere to the goals of sustainable development.