Interest in the 'Middle Corridor' was revived after Russia invaded Ukraine and expanding Western sanctions raised the commercial risk for carriers. Despite enthusiasm among…
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DOI: 10.1108/OXAN-DB272189
ISSN: 2633-304X
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Topical
A.K. Oudjida, S. Titr and M. Hamarlain
The emergence of the systolic paradigm in 1978 inspired the first 2D‐array parallelization of the sequential matrix multiplication algorithm. Since then, and due to its attractive…
Abstract
The emergence of the systolic paradigm in 1978 inspired the first 2D‐array parallelization of the sequential matrix multiplication algorithm. Since then, and due to its attractive and appealing features, systolic approach has been gaining great momentum to the point where all 2D‐array parallelization attempts were exclusively systolic. As good result, latency has been successively reduced a number of times (5N, 3N, 2N, 3N/2), where N is the matrix size. But as latency was getting lower, further irregularities were introduced into the array, making the implementation severely compromised either at VLSI level or at system level. The best illustrative case of such irregularities are the two designs proposed by Tsay and Chang in 1995 and considered as the fastest designs (3N/2) that have been developed so far. The purpose of this paper is twofold: we first demonstrate that N+√N/2 is the minimal latency that can be achieved using the systolic approach. Afterwards, we introduce a full‐parallel 2D‐array algorithm with N latency and 2N I/O‐bandwidth. This novel algorithm is not only the fastest algorithm, but is also the most regular one too. A 3D parallel version with O(log N) latency is also presented.
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Xu Zhang and Hans-Joachim Schramm
This paper presents an overview of the recent development of Eurasian rail freight in the Belt and Road era and further evaluates its service quality in terms of transit times and…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper presents an overview of the recent development of Eurasian rail freight in the Belt and Road era and further evaluates its service quality in terms of transit times and transport costs compared to other transport modes in containerised supply chains between Europe and China.
Design/methodology/approach
A trade-off model of transit time and transport costs based on quantitative data from primary and secondary sources is developed to demonstrate the market niche for Eurasian rail freight vis-a-vis the more established modes of transport of sea, air and sea/air. In a scenario analysis, further cargo attributes influencing modal choice are employed to show for which cargo type Eurasian rail freight service is favourable from a shipper's point of view.
Findings
At present, Eurasian rail freight is about 80% less expensive than air freight with only half of the transit time of conventional sea freight. Our scenario analysis further suggests that for shipping time-sensitive goods with lower cargo value ranging from $US1.23/kg to $US10.89/kg as well as goods with lower time sensitivity and higher value in a range of $US2.46/kg to $US21.78/kg, total logistics costs of Eurasian rail freight service rail is cheaper than all other modes of transport.
Practical implications
As an emerging competitive solution, Eurasian rail freight demonstrates to be an option beneficial in terms of transport cost, transit time, reliability and service availability, which offers a cost-efficient option enabling shippers to build up agile and more sustainable supply chains between China and Europe.
Originality/value
Our study firstly provides a comprehensive assessment of present Eurasian rail freight including a thorough comparison with alternative modes of transport from a shipper's point of view.