Sistema Regional de Información
en línea para Revistas Científicas de América Latina,
el Caribe, España y Portugal

In this paper we present results concerning the processing and characterization of polyaniline microfibers obtained bythe electrospinning technique. The electrospinning technique is used to produce micro and nano fibers, this techniqueuses an electric field to stretch the jet of the polymer and thus produce fibers, which are deposited on a collectingplate. The continuous fibers production will form some like a membrane. The fibers provide a large surface area dueto their small diameter, therefore, interesting commercial and scientific application could be considered. In this study,fibers from a solution made of polyethylene oxide and polyaniline were obtained. Chloroform was used as solvents forthese polymers. The fibers obtained were characterized by scanning electron microscopy, x-ray diffraction andelectrical conductivity. These results indicate that the diameters of the composite fibers are on the micrometric range,the conductivity thereof is that of a semiconductor material and the degree of crystallinity corresponds to a semicrystallinematerial.

This study investigates supply chain cooperative management problem. In this study, based on principal-agent, firstlywe analyses cooperative management factors in supply chain including leading enterprise expected utilities,subsidiary enterprise expected incomes and leading enterprise agency cost, then the incentive contract model isconstructed; Secondly the model is solved in the case of symmetric information and asymmetric information; At last, inorder to make clear of the model, this paper does mathematical analysis of leading enterprise expected utilities,subsidiary enterprise expected incomes and leading enterprise agency cost. Some important conclusions areobtained: subsidiary enterprise ability, cost coefficient, absolute risk aversion factor and output variance has the sameinfluence on leading enterprise expected utilities and subsidiary enterprise expected incomes; subsidiary enterpriseability, cost coefficient has the same influence on leading enterprise expected utilities, subsidiary enterprise expectedincomes and leading enterprise agency cost; leading enterprise expected utilities and subsidiary enterprise expectedincomes become bigger and bigger, but leading enterprise agency cost becomes smaller and smaller with absoluterisk aversion factor and output variance decreased. etc. Leading enterprise can take on incentive measures(improving subsidiary enterprise ability, decreasing subsidiary enterprise cost coefficient.etc) to optimize supply chainmanagement based on the common factors.

Based on the information processing theory, this study proposes that organizational flatness is an antecedence to themass customization capability and the supply chain planning and corporation coordination mediates the relationshipbetween organizational flatness and mass customization capability. Data from plants located in multiple countriesacross three different industry groups is analyzed to test the research hypotheses. The results show that the effect oforganizational flatness on MCC is mediated by the coordination practices. It is the supply chain planning andcorporate coordination that directly improve the MCC. Our results emphasize the importance of centralizedmanagement of value chain decisions and sharing of knowledge for MCC.

The main aim of this paper is to propose a new approach for the ranking of exponential vague sets. The concepts ofexponential vague sets and arithmetic operations between two exponential vague sets are introduced. Theshortcomings of some existing ranking approaches for the ranking of generalized fuzzy sets and intuitionistic fuzzynumbers are pointed out. The proposed method consider not only the rank but also the decision maker optimisticattitude and it is shown that proposed ranking approach is more intuitive and reasonable as compared to existingranking approaches. Also the proposed ranking function satisfies the reasonable properties for the ordering of fuzzyquantity. For practical use, proposed ranking approach is applied to decision making problem.

In this paper, we establish a common fixed point theorem for expansive mappings by using the concept of weakcompatibility in the setting of G -metric spaces. This result generalizes the result of Ahmed [2] from 2-metric spaces toG -metric spaces by removing the condition of sequential continuity of the mappings. Further, we generalize andextend the theorem of Şahin and Telci [20] to G -metric spaces and thereby extending the theorem of Wang et al. [23]for a pair of mappings to G -metric spaces. Some comparative examples are constructed which illustrate the obtainedresults.

The nonlinear feedback cascade model of the underactuated IWP is obtained through a collocated partial feedbacklinearization and a global change of coordinates. A nonlinear controller is designed with the nonlinear recursivetechnology. The system stability is proved with Lyapunov theory. The simulation results show the system is globallyasymptotically stable to the origin.

In the traditional retail industry, some supermarket chains and department stores have been maintaining strongpositions as the market comes to maturity. They can make use of the strong positions to squeeze their suppliers andobtain extra earnings. This situation may be challenged by the rapid development of e-commerce. Consumers’purchase habits have been changing and many manufacturers are starting to sell goods through electronic retailers, inaddition to their traditional distribution channels. This paper analyzes price and service competition in the dualchannelsupply chain with both pure play Internet and strong bricks-and mortar retailers, investigates the influence ofretailer power and proposes some competitive strategies for traditional retailer under e-commerce environment. Thedemand model is proposed based on consumer utility theory, and Stackelberg theory is used to analyze the gameprocess in which the manufacturer is the leader and the two retailers, acting simultaneously, are the followers. Theequilibrium price and service decisions of the supply chain members are reached. The analysis of the competitivestrategy is divided into two parts. Firstly, the influence of the retailer power on members of the supply chain isexamined. We find that although the traditional retailer can use its power to depress the wholesale price, this strategycannot help the traditional retailer increase its profit. Secondly, other competitive strategies of the traditional retailerare analyzed and the traditional retailer is found to be able to improve its operating status through adjusting prices andservices via specific actions.

Earthquakes, hurricanes, flooding and terrorist attacks pose a severe threat to our society. What’s more, when such adisaster happens, it can spread in a wide range with ubiquitous presence of a large-scale networked system.Therefore, the emergency/disaster management faces new challenges that the decision-makers have extra difficultiesin perceiving the disaster dynamic spreading processes under this networked environment. This study tries to use thecomplex networks theory to tackle this complexity and the result shows the theory is a promising approach to supportdisaster/emergency management by focusing on simulation experiments of small world networks and scale freenetworks. The theory can be used to capture and describe the evolution mechanism, evolution discipline and overallbehavior of a networked system. In particular, the complex networks theory is very strong at analyzing the complexityand dynamical changes of a networked system, which can improve the situation awareness after a disaster hasoccurred and help perceive its dynamic process, which is very important for high-quality decision making. In addition,this study also shows the use of the complex networks theory can build a visualized process to track the dynamicspreading of a disaster in a networked system.

The traditional SWOT tool, which lists the S, W, O, T factors and groups them together to form some strategies, isconvenient for analyzing but not effective enough for strategic formulation. This paper proposes a hybrid “three-stage”qualitative and quantitative SWOT model, trying to narrow the gap between strategic analysis and strategicformulation by first confirming the SWOT factors, second narrowing the selection area and last making optimalstrategies. First, the SWOT-AHP model is used to analyze and evaluate the external and internal environment factors.Then we narrow the analysis field down to two levels by using strategic quadrilateral model, where the quadrant of thegravity centre is used to represent the market position. Finally correlation rules, including matrix calculations,maximum and sub-maximum sub-array techniques, are introduced to formulate the effective strategies, which focuson the most influential factors. A case study of EMS is conducted with the objective of validating the effectiveness instrategic planning and management.

This paper addresses a vehicle scheduling problem encountered in the cold chain logistics of the frozen fooddelivery industry. Unlike the single product delivery scenario, we propose an optimization model that manages thedelivery of a variety of products. In this scenario, a set of customers make requests for a variety of frozen foodswhich are being loaded together. The objective is to find the routes that represent the minimum delivery cost for afleet of identical vehicles that, departing from a depot, visiting all customers only once and returning to the depot.The delivery cost includes the transportation cost, the cost of refrigeration, the penalty cost and cargo damage costbased on the characteristics of different frozen food products. Apart from the usual constraints of time windows andloading weight, the study also takes into account the constraints of loading volume related to the unit volume ofdifferent frozen foods. We then propose a Genetic Algorithm (GA) method for the model. Computational tests withreal data from a case validate the feasibility and rationality of the model and show the efficient combinations ofparameter values of the GA method.