A shortage of empty containers has become a global crisis with more devastating effects than during previous periods when combined with various problems arising from the COVID-19, such as an increase in an imbalance of global trade between supply and demand, a decrease in the workforce, and restrictions by countries or regional quarantine practices. The absence of empty containers in regions where they are needed slows down industrial activities and locks the global supply networks, necessitating the use of alternative methods that are inefficient. Although this shortage causes many disruptions in global trade, solutions to the issue have not been studied in detail. Therefore, the aim of this study was to determine the issues caused by the shortage of empty containers and to rank the appropriate solutions. Four main criteria and sixteen subcategories used to define the issues, as well as a multi criteria decision model comprising five criteria for the solutions, were proposed based on information from the literature, sectorial publications, and expert opinions. The issues' weighted order of importance in our proposed model was calculated using the SWARA (Step-wise Weight Assessment Ratio Analysis) method; solutions were ranked using the ARAS (Additive Ratio Assessment) method. The results of the study revealed that the issues were ranked in importance as cost increases, uncertainty in the supply chain, volume loss, and increases in blank sailing announcements. Appropriate solutions were ranked as booking guarantee applications and information communication technologies, using shipper-owned containers, inducement calls, and E2E (end to end) delivery services.
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http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s12544-022-00531-8 | DOI Listing |
Behav Res Methods
January 2025
Department of Methodology and Statistics, Utrecht University, Utrecht, The Netherlands.
Researchers face inevitable difficulties when evaluating theory-based hypotheses in the context of contingency tables. Log-linear models are often insufficient to evaluate such hypotheses, as they do not provide enough information on complex relationships between cell probabilities in many real-life applications. These models are usually used to evaluate the relationships between variables using only equality restrictions between model parameters, while specifying theory-based hypotheses often also requires inequality restrictions.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFFront Cell Dev Biol
January 2025
College of Medicine, Central Michigan University, Mount Pleasant, MI, United States.
Introduction: Ischemic stroke is a devastating neurovascular condition that occurs when cerebral tissue fails to receive an adequate supply of oxygen. Despite being a leading cause of death and disability worldwide, therapeutic interventions are currently limited. Polyamidoamine (PAMAM) dendrimers are nanomolecules commonly used in biomedical applications due to their ability to encapsulate small-molecules and improve their pharmacokinetic properties.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFOphthalmic Genet
January 2025
Department of Ophthalmology, Stein Eye Institute at UCLA, Los Angeles, California, USA.
Purpose: To assess the impact of MitoQ, a mitochondria-targeted antioxidant, on viability of human corneal endothelial cell (hCEnC) lines expressing mutations associated with congenital hereditary endothelial dystrophy (CHED) and Fuchs endothelial corneal dystrophy type 4 (FECD4).
Methods: wildtype () and mutant () hCEnC lines were created to express either variant 2 (V2) or variant 3 (V3) by stable transduction of hCEnC-21T with lentiviruses containing either or one of the following mutations: V2 (V3) mutants c.374 G>A (c.
ACS Biomater Sci Eng
January 2025
Faculty of Biotechnology and Food Engineering, Technion─Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa 3200003, Israel.
The skin, our first line of defense against external threats, combines a physical barrier and a rich microbial community. Disruptions of this community, for example, due to infectious injury, have been linked to a decrease in bacteria diversity and to mild to severe pathological conditions. Although some progress has been made in the field, possibilities/procedures for restoring the skin microbiome are still far from ideal.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFJ Pharm Sci
January 2025
Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry, School of Pharmacy, The University of Kansas, 2095 Constant Avenue, Lawrence, KS 66047 USA.
The majority of adeno-associated virus (AAV) gene therapies are currently developed as frozen formulations (e.g., ≤ - 60 °C) that are challenging to maintain and distribute world-wide.
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