Thesis (M.S.)--Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, 1993. / Vita. Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 87-88). Also available via the Internet.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Hong Kong, 2006. / Title proper from title frame. Also available in printed format.

With a software industry that is moving at a fast pace, continuous integration and delivery is something important for many products today. Moreover, with containers being on the rise since 2013, more companies are moving their CI/CD environment into containers not only for development but also for testing. This thesis begins with giving the reader an introduction to containers, container orchestration, and Jenkins, which is a continuous integration and delivery tool. The experiment was then set up with one container based cluster and one single node machine. Two kinds of experiments were run on them, one big job and one small job. The system scalability is assessed, and with smaller clusters the memory overhead could be an issue. Performance wise, the container cluster is performing better than a single node machine, as long as it is utilizing all its nodes. Security with containers is still an issue and it could be fatal for a cluster if it is compromised.

Este trabalho apresenta um diagnóstico da questão de automação em terminais de contêineres no Brasil, assim como oferece uma proposta de um modelo que permita auxiliar a reflexão no momento da tomada de decisão na escolha da automação de equipamentos e/ou de processos que compõem as principais atividades de um terminal de contêineres. O processo de automação é recente na indústria portuária, teve seu início na década de 90 em países europeus cujos custos laborais eram altíssimos e necessitavam aumentar a produtividade e experimentar inovações. O modelo apresentado pretende ser uma proposta de análise expandida, isto é, um conceito amplo, que não verifique apenas análises financeiras, mas outros aspectos pertinentes à gestão e planejamento de um terminal, indicados por meio de um conjunto de variáveis. A saber: Layout existente ou proposto do terminal, Investimento financeiro CAPEX e OPEX, Confiabilidade dos sistemas de automação, Integração com sistemas de Tecnologia da Informação e Inteligência de Equipamento, em especial com os Sistemas de Operações dos Terminais, mas conhecidos como TOS (Terminal Operating System), Organização do trabalho e alterações de procedimentos operacionais, Contribuição para a segurança e meio ambiente, Obrigatoriedade legal do uso de automação, Custo e Intensidade do uso de mão de obra. A contextualização do setor e evolução da automação na indústria portuária; assim como um quadro atual da situação (diagnóstico) de automação dos terminais brasileiros será apresentada. Posteriormente, a revisão bibliográfica do tema com os principais artigos nacionais e internacionais. Todo esse arcabouço busca demonstrar o hiato existente entre os estágios automatizados e não automatizados; indicar os principais entraves existentes na implantação da automação por processo existente; promover a discussão da viabilidade desses terminais entre operadores, armadores, clientes e demais intervenientes em termos de produtividade, eficiência e de custos. A delicada questão da mão de obra avulsa não foi considerada uma variável restritiva do modelo por diversas razões: pois por si só seria restrição de implantação da automação pela reserva de mercado, especialmente para avulsos; ela permeia diversos itens listados anteriormente. Ao final dessa tese, além do diagnóstico de automação no país e de uma proposta de modelo para a tomada de decisão; espera-se contribuir a pesquisa e ao ensino da engenharia e áreas de gestão indicando do grau e desenvolvimento tecnológico na área de automação especificamente para terminais de contêineres. E, por derradeiro, fomentar uma reflexão sobre a profundidade das mudanças operacionais e organizacionais do trabalho que podem ocorrer. / This study aims a diagnosis of automation in container terminals in Brazil, and offers a proposal of model that allows assist the reflection at the time of decision making in the choice of automation equipment and/or processes that compose the main activities of a container terminal. The automation process is recent into port industry, beginning in the 90s in European countries whose labor costs were very high and needed to increase productivity and test innovations. The model to be presented is intended to be a proposal for expanded analysis, ie, a wide concept, which not only make financial analysis, but others relevant to the terminal management and planning, indicated by a set of variable features. Namely: existing or proposed layout, Financial Investment CAPEX and OPEX, Reliability of automation systems, integration of Information and Intelligence hardware technology systems, in particular with the Terminal Operating System (TOS), organization of work and changes in Standards Operating Procedures, Contribution to safety and the environment, legal obligation of the use of automation, cost and intensity of use of labor. The contextualization of the sector and the evolution of automation in the port industry; as the current situation (diagnosis) of Brazilian container terminals will be presented. Subsequently, the literature review of the topic with the main national and international articles. All this framework seeks to demonstrate the gap between automated and non-automated stages; indicate the main barriers in implementation of automation for existing process; further discussion of the viability of these terminals to operators, shipowners, customers and others stakeholders in terms of productivity, efficiency and cost. The delicate issue of dock workers was not considered a restrictive variable model for several reasons: it alone would restriction deployment automation by booking deployment automation, especially for dockers pool; it permeates many items listed above. At the end of this thesis, in addition to the diagnosis of automation in the country and a proposed model for decision making; is expected to contribute to research and education in engineering and management areas indicating the degree and technological development in automation specifically for container terminals. And at last, to promote reflections on the depth of operational and organizational job changes that may occur.

A new promising technology to face the problem of scalability and availability is the microservice architecture. The problem with this architecture is that there is no significant study that clearly proves the performance differences compared to the monolithic architecture. Our thesis aims to provide a more conclusive answer of how the microservice architecture differs performance wise compared to the monolithic architecture. In this study, we conducted several experiments on a self-developed microservice and monolithic system. We used JMeter to simulate users and after running the tests we looked at the latency, successful throughput for the tests and measured the RAM and CPU usage with Datadog. Results that were found, were that the microservice architecture can be more beneficial than the monolithic architecture. Docker was also proven to not have any negative impact on performance and computer cluster can improve performance.  We have presented a conclusive answer that microservices can be better in some cases than a monolithic architecture.

5 pp. / This publication covers the basics of container gardening in the hot, dry desert. Selecting an appropriate container, planting medium, and plant types for production are discussed.

This master thesis is divided into five chapters. In the first one, evolutionary trends in the international container transport are described along with the standardization process and typology of various container types. Second part characterizes different contracts used in international transport and points out diversities in the position of individual parties as per contract chosen. Third chapter goes more in detail into selected modes of container transport. The main transport mode (by volume), i.e. marine transport, is thoroughly analysed in the fourth chapter, which continues into the last part, where author compares market position of the three main european container terminals based on four pre-set criteria.

The objective of this study is to examine the factors affecting international container traffic, with special reference to the Port of Vancouver. In order to achieve this objective, a number of topics are examined. First, background information about West Coast container ports and trade flows and patterns of economic activity are provided. This is followed by an examination of the transportation system concept and by a presentation of important characteristics of current container ports. Then, the economics of container vessel size are discussed. The present institutional frameworks in Canada and in the United States are examined, followed by an examination of current trends of shipping services that may have an impact on container movements through the West Coast. Some of the factors that are relevant to shipping lines when assessing different route configurations are identified and a computer model is used to evaluate the attractiveness of two different configurations involving ports in the Pacific Northwest. The sensitivity of route choice to different parameters is examined. Finally, general conclusions are presented. It is suggested that the development of sophisticated intermodal services in the United States may have an important impact in the routing of Canadian cargo through American ports; the trend towards an increase in vessel size is also a factor that favours the concentration of services through the United States. / Business, Sauder School of / Graduate

Aim of this master´s thesis is a design of tractor hook loader and stress analysis of selected parts using the fine element analysis. The theoretical part of the thesis describes general characteristics of hook loaders and summarizes critical research aimed on similar designs used by competition. Practical part deals with own design which consists of repetitive steps: design, analytical check, software simulation- if necessary, stress analysis. The last part is dedicated to drawing documentation. Assembly drawing, sub-assembly drawings and few parts drawings were composed.

Multi-player interactions and vertical relationships in the U.S. containerized-import shipment market are investigated using game theory approaches. Bi-level programming problems (BLPP) are built to capture the hierarchy structure of the container shipping industry, whereas the ocean carriers (OC) are considered as the market leader. For a case study with five players from several levels of the shipment chain, 16 BLPPs are built to analyze the 32 coalition possibilities. Two routes are compared: The West Coast route (WCR) includes one terminal (P1) and one railroad (R); the East Coast route (ECR) includes a second terminal (P2) and the Panama Canal (PC). The impact of Panama Canal expansion is investigated by comparing scenarios with different assumptions of vessel size. Capacity constraints at port terminals are also analyzed by assuming different capacity levels. The grand coalition of the five players is found to be very unstable because of the unavoidable competition within the coalition; hence, following games are further created, supposing the grand coalition could not form. Model results indicate the OC prefers to form an East Coast Coalition (ECC) with East Coast players if the grand coalition could not form. Sensitivity analyses on some parameter values for the grand coalition and for the ECC bring some interesting findings. With higher cargo values, the WCR becomes more appealing because of its quicker delivery time and lower inventory costs compared with the ECR. The Panama Canal expansion will improve market power and profit shares for the East Coast players if the canal operator could increase its competitive price more than the increase of costs. Generally, a player will gain more market power if its cost could be reduced. A player's upper bound rate is a reflection of its relative market power. But in a complicated market characterized with various cooperation-competition strategies and an ambiguous definition of partners and competitors, the impact of a player's upper bound rate on the market power structure could not be easily explained. For future research, the challenge mainly lies on the large number of BLPPs that need to be constructed and solved in order to study more players.