Planning Impact-Driven Logistic Tasks

Reinforcement Learning is a conventional ap-proach in the robotics field for solving control problems asan alternative to classic control algorithms. By learning tosolve logistics tasks through simulated experience (explorationand exploitation paradigm) and making use of artificial neu-ral networks, Deep RL algorithms showed the capability ofgeneralizing solutions even for situations in which it hadnever been trained. In this paper, we present our resultsof adopting DRL as a high-level control algorithm in twodifferent logistic tasks proposed by the Logistics League at 2017Latin America Robotics Competition. We also show the roboticand computational architectures built over Festo's RobotinoPlatform to accommodate our algorithm and the implicationsof training and fine-tuning it in a computational environmentbefore deploying it to the real robot.

Limited access to resources, significant deterioration of the climate and increased influence of natural disasters, social problems and poverty – these are the global problems that require decisive action in all areas of the economy. These issues make the strategy of sustainable development more relevant than ever, which determines the goals of this study. The purpose of the article is to analyze the features and prospects of improving modern methods of supply chain management based on sustainable development. Green logistics reviewed as the system of modern improvement trends of resource flow management, its key advantages, stages and reasons for development are described. The impact of modern market requirements and sustainable development goals on the tasks of logistics is evaluated: changes in the goals of reducing the overall level of costs and creating additional value for the consumer are described in the article. The main areas of improvement of green logistics are systematized according to their sphere of influence. Such organizational methods of improving logistics as Lean Production, standardization, integration and changes in legislation have a significant impact on how planning and interaction in supply chains works, these improvements contribute to the active involvement of labor resources in the implementation of sustainable development. Technological methods for improving green logistics rely heavily on digitization, automation, and robotization of many processes; artificial intelligence technology has great prospects for forecasting and modeling, which allows to reduce operational costs of logistics. The electrification of transport, the transition to ecological materials and alternative energy, which contributes to the development of circular supply chains, are also relevant directions of development. Conclusions are made regarding the significant prospects for the development of supply chains on the basis of sustainable development and the practical possibilities of upgrading logistics in the future, such as: reducing polluting and carbon footprint, reducing total costs and creating additional value, improving level of the competitiveness, are evaluated.

As is known, the problem of determining economically justified volumes of supplies in the theory and practice of logistics management plays a key role in ensuring the efficient operation of both individual enterprises and supply chains. Logistics, which is the science of effective management of material, information and financial flows in the field of production and circulation, is closely related to such sections of operations research as mathematical programming, inventory management theory, schedule theory, queuing theory and more. Many tasks of logistics are directly related to the optimal management of stocks of raw materials, semi-finished and finished products, as well as the construction of an optimal schedule for delivery of finished products to points of consumption with the participation of trunk transport. Thus, since the issues of optimal inventory management are of paramount importance in logistics, it means the importance of inventory theory in the design and operation of various logistics systems. The article is devoted to substantiation of expediency and efficiency of additional costs of a supply firm for advertisement with the aim to its profit increasing on the fixed planning horizon under supposition that the expected demand at point of destination may be controlled by firm. For this problem solving the modification of classical Wilson’s model from inventory control theory is used to maximize the total profit of firm for sailing the good, taking into account ordering, delivery and storage of good costs on the planning horizon and additional cost for advertisement of good. It is assumed that buying/sailing prices of good are known, as well as daily expenses for storage of good at warehouse. It is supposed also that demand for the good is an increasing function of advertisement costs. The case of linear dependence of demand on advertisement cost is studied in details. For this particular case the optimal value of ordering party of good and optimal value of cost for advertisement are found in evident form. It is shown also that above optimization model may be generalized for the case of several kinds of good. Restrictions on the capacity of the warehouse for storage of goods and restrictions on the financial resources available to the company allocated for advertising activities are taken into account. A convex optimization problem is obtained, which can be solved numerically using the Excel application package.

Education in logistics and training of non-logistic personnel

The article reveals the essence and meaning of logistics. The main tasks of logistics activities in enterprises are considered. It is established that the logistic activity of agricultural enterprises is a connecting function between all its divisions, which unites such functional areas as supply, production, and sales into a single system. Logistics tasks are crucial for any agricultural enterprise that seeks to optimize and maintain highly available logistics systems. When handled correctly, they increase efficiency, cost savings, and customer satisfaction. Each of the types of logistics activity in the enterprise is characterized by separate logistics processes for the effective management of which appropriate methods and tools are used. It is established that during 2017–2021, a decrease in the number of agricultural enterprises of all organizational and legal forms in Ukraine was observed. During 2019-2021, there was an increase in the production of the following main types of agricultural products by business entities in crop production in Ukraine: grain and leguminous crops, sunflowers, potatoes, and grapes; in animal husbandry: the live weight of farm animals sold for slaughter and the amount of production (gross yield) of milk. In 2022, Ukraine received a central part of its income from exporting agricultural products due to its sales to EU countries. It was outlined that logistics and supply chain costs are the main components of the cost structure of an agricultural enterprise. Ways to save resource costs in the logistics system of enterprises are proposed. It has been established that cost management in the logistics system is vital for maintaining the effective functioning of an agricultural enterprise. It is necessary to conduct data analysis and build forecasts to determine what costs the enterprise bears for logistics activities; find ways to save enterprise costs on supply chains. As a result, optimizing logistics costs will contribute to the further development and increase of the financial potential of the agricultural enterprise as a whole. Keywords: logistics, management, logistics activity, enterprise, transport, products, delivery.

Scheduling under uncertainty is essential to many autonomous systems and logistics tasks. Probabilistic methods for solving temporal problems exist which quantify and attempt to minimize the probability of schedule failure. These methods are overly conservative, resulting in a loss in schedule utility. Chance constrained formalism address over-conservatism by imposing bounds on risk, while maximizing utility subject to these risk bounds. In this paper we present the probabilistic Simple Temporal Network (pSTN), a probabilistic formalism for representing temporal problems with bounded risk and a utility over event timing. We introduce a constrained optimisation algorithm for pSTNs that achieves compactness and efficiency through a problem encoding in terms of a parameterised STNU and its reformulation as a parameterised STN. We demonstrate through a car sharing application that our chance-constrained approach runs in the same time as the previous probabilistic approach, yields solutions with utility improvements of at least 5% over previous arts, while guaranteeing operation within the specified risk bound.

In this work an adaptive neuro-control is proposed to cope with some external disturbances that can affect unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) dynamics, specifically: the variation of the system mass during logistic tasks and the influence of the wind. An intelligent control strategy based on a feedforward neural networks is applied. In particular, a variant of the generalized learning algorithm has been used. Simulation results show how the on-line learning increases the robustness of the controller, reducing the effects of the changes in mass and the effects of wind on the UAV stabilization, thus improving the system response. It has been compared with a PID controller obtaining better results.

Human Resource (HR) planning is essential in organizing events, including art exhibitions, to ensure smooth operations and alignment with organizational goals. It is crucial for both logistical tasks and fostering creativity and collaboration within the committee for a successful exhibition. This research aims to explore how HR planning is applied in the committee of the SODALIS Art Exhibition, organized by the 2023 Arts Management students. The research specifically examines how HR planning supports the exhibition's success in managing human resources effectively and achieving the exhibition's goals. The study uses a qualitative approach, utilizing participatory observation and documentation analysis. The researcher, who was involved as both the chairperson and a committee member, observed and documented the exhibition's planning and execution from its initial committee formation to its conclusion. The researcher also compared theoretical HR planning models with the actual practices observed during the exhibition. The HR planning process in the SODALIS Art Exhibition successfully met the human resource needs, organized committee members effectively, and ensured smooth coordination among them. The tasks were distributed efficiently, which helped in avoiding unnecessary resource allocation and operational costs. The planning process contributed to the development of a collaborative committee culture, fostering creativity and innovation, and achieving a successful event. HR planning is essential in organizing an art exhibition, ensuring that human resources are utilized efficiently to meet organizational goals. The study highlights the importance of proper HR planning in achieving the success of such events, demonstrating that a well-structured committee can optimize resources, improve efficiency, and enhance the overall outcome of the exhibition. This research provides valuable insights for future art exhibitions and other events requiring effective HR planning.

In Industry 4.0, the production planning and execution of smart factories (SFs) full of continuously delivered small-batch orders become dynamic and complicated. Traditional centralised manufacture planning is difficult to handle unexpected disturbances. With the aid of new information technologies, resources in SFs become smart and connected to make autonomous decisions. This paper tries to release intelligence of smart connected resources to allocate production tasks and logistics tasks in SFs coordinately and autonomously. The architecture is modelled as an autonomous decision-making manufacturing system with IIoT support, which aims to synchronously allocate manufacturing tasks by the bidding of resources in SFs. Then, a dynamic production-logistics-integrated tasks allocation model is built. The orders makespan and resources utilisation are considered as the objective function, and production resources and logistics resources are integrated to autonomously communicate and interact with each other to bid for dynamic production-logistics integrated operations. To figure out, a reinforcement learning (RL) algorithm is studied, which makes operations decisions for each job step by step based on in-situ data during manufacturing process. Finally, a demonstrative case showed that compared to centralised scheduling system, the RL-based model performs better in handling production-logistics-integrated tasks allocation problem in SFs full of dynamic and small-batch individualised orders.

El presente proyecto consistió en la implementación de un robot móvil autónomo capaz de facilitar el flujo de documentos entre las diferentes áreas de una empresa, universidad, etc. Este robot es capaz de navegar de manera completamente autónoma en ambientes reales tal como los ambientes del CTIC, FIM, FIEE, etc. Tan solo especificando el punto inicial, el mapa del ambiente de navegación, y el punto deseado, este robot es capaz de generar el camino óptimo para llegar a dicha meta, y luego seguir este camino con la capacidad de evitar obstáculos si estos se presentan. Dadas estas características, este robot se puede usar en aplicaciones logísticas en donde el robot debe llevar paquetes, cargas, etc., a algún punto especificado por el usuario. En el proyecto se tienen dos modelos, el primer robot llamado R2D2‐R1 puede llevar cargas de hasta 3kg, y el segundo robot llamado R2D2‐R2 puede llevar cargas de hasta 25kg. Cabe señalar que los algoritmos implementados en este proyecto representan el estado del arte del campo de la robótica autónoma, y su desempeño se ha comprobado en las diversas pruebas de navegación realizadas en ambientes de la UNI. Este proyecto contribuye a cumplir con la misión de la UNI en los temas de innovación y gestión tecnológica para contribuir al bienestar de la sociedad y desarrollo del país.

The Department of Energy (DOE) Frontier Observatory for Research in Geothermal Energy (FORGE) is to be a dedicated site where the subsurface scientific and engineering community can develop, test, and improve technologies and techniques for the creation of cost-effective and sustainable enhanced geothermal systems (EGS) in a controlled, ideal environment. The establishment of FORGE will facilitate development of an understanding of the key mechanisms controlling a successful EGS. Execution of FORGE is occurring in three phases with five distinct sub-phases (1, 2A, 2B, 2C, and 3). This report focuses on Phase 1 activities. During Phase 1, critical technical and logistical tasks necessary to demonstrate the viability of the Fallon FORGE Project site were completed and the commitment and capability of the Fallon FORGE team to execute FORGE was demonstrated. As part of Phase 1, the Fallon FORGE Team provided an assessment of available relevant data and integrated these geologic and geophysical data to develop a conceptual 3-D geologic model of the proposed test location. Additionally, the team prepared relevant operational plans for full FORGE implementation, provided relevant site data to the science and engineering community, engaged in outreach and communications with interested stakeholders, and performed a review of the environmental and permitting activities needed to allow FORGE to progress through Phase 3. The results of these activities are provided as Appendices to this report. The Fallon FORGE Team is diverse, with deep roots in geothermal science and engineering. The institutions and key personnel that comprise the Fallon FORGE Team provide a breadth of geoscience and geoengineering capabilities, a strong and productive history in geothermal research and applications, and the capability and experience to manage projects with the complexity anticipated for FORGE. Fallon FORGE Team members include the U.S. Navy, Ormat Nevada Inc., Sandia National Laboratories (SNL), Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), the United States Geological Survey (USGS), the University of Nevada, Reno (UNR), GeothermEx/Schlumberger (GeothelinEx), and Itasca Consulting Group (Itasca). The site owners (through direct land ownership or via applicable permits)—the U.S. Navy and Ormat Nevada Inc.—are deeply committed to expanding the development of geothermal resources and are fully supportive of FORGE operations taking place on their lands.

In this essay, Alex Kuo looks at the impact of wildfires through his own experience working for the U.S. Forest Service on a fire crew. Just a high school graduate newly immigrated to the States, Kuo describes his workday at St. Joe National Forest in the late 60s, as well as the various places he was moved to and the notorious fires fought across the western United States. Kuo's essay charts all the logistical tasks and costs of fighting wildfires.

The Arctic reserves of hydrocarbons play an important geostrategic and economic role for many states, whose energy security will rely on this region in the nearest decades. The development of hydrocarbon deposits in extreme conditions requires unique scientific and industrial solutions, as well as new sourcing strategies for attracting vehicles that can operate at low temperatures. Mineral production in the Polar regions is a complex technological, transport, and logistical task. As a result, each industrial production project needs a highly efficient and complex system of supporting projects, which involve naval aviation, marine fleet, integrated support bases, etc. In addition to solving technical problems, this production support system should comply with the highest standards of environmental and industrial safety, generating no adverse impact on the sensitive ecosystem of the Russian Arctic and adjacent marine territories.

In a business world where there is great competition between companies seeking to find solutions to surmount the difficulties they face. One of the ways they do that is the development of logistics and innovation. Companies often find solutions, it is innovation that want to overtake the competition and generate substantial revenue for the competition before it manages to find out. Numerous innovations over time and become a patent by which the company can be recognized. Logistics task is to connect business processes from concept to finished product to market. In Croatia, the state of patents is not growing strongly, but on the contrary is declining. For the procedure for the protection and realization of rights in the Republic in charge of the State Intellectual Property Office, which takes care of the above application and presents the results in their annual reports.

To palliate the current scarcity of information about lithic raw materials in the Western Pyrenees during the Gravettian, the study of ten assemblages has explored the flint procurement patterns and economic organisation of the territory. The study was based on the macro- and microscopic analysis of the different lithic remains. A wide range of flint varieties were used, including some excellent rocks for knapping and others of poorer quality. This diversified catchment pattern was defined by the criteria of quality and suitability for reduction. Although procurement took place mostly at the primary outcrops, there is some evidence of limited acquisition in secondary deposits. Within the economic territory of the Western Pyrenees, divergences in the connections between the outcrops on one side of the mountains and the archaeological sites on the other may indicate different territorial or economic roles for each side. In general terms, the northern side may have been more residential with more stable habitation, while the southern side was linked with logistic tasks and more seasonal occupation. The economic connections between this territory and surrounding areas revealed by the lithic resources are the reflection of inter-group contacts and an economic mosaic imbricated with a cultural or symbolic one.