With the continuous improvement of people's living standards and their increasing demand for fresh food, the cold chain logistics industry has developed rapidly. One of the biggest challenges to today's cold chain logistics is to offer fresh food while minimizing CO 2 emissions. The fresh degree and CO 2 emissions are involved in the vehicle routing optimization problem in the cold chain logistics. In order to meet the quality requirement for fresh agricultural products and low carbon logistics, a novel routing optimization model considering the costs of quality deterioration and carbon emissions (Low Carbon and Freshness Degrees Vehicle Routing Problem (LCFD-VRP)) for cold chain distribution was established in this study. This model takes into account the fixed cost, fuel cost and time window penalty cost. An improved ant colony algorithm (IACA) is used to optimize the whole vehicle distribution routing with its strong global search ability. Tabu Search (TS) algorithm is used to search the single vehicle distribution routing with its good local search ability. An IACA combined with TS (IACATS) was proposed to solve the above LCFD-VRP model. The practicability of the model and the effectiveness of the above improved algorithm are verified using a real case study. The results of Zhoushan Dayang Refrigerated Logistics Co., Ltd. showed that, compared with the traditional algorithm, IACATS could reduce the dispatching of two refrigerated vehicles, thus lowering the total cost by 4.94%, shortening the actual transportation distance by 5.50% and cutting the total CO 2 emissions by 8.9%. Therefore, the LCFD-VRP model can effectively help to achieve the low carbon emissions, multi-variety and low-cost distribution of fresh agricultural products. The proposed model and IACATS algorithm would be used to optimize VRP in cold chain enterprises. The results of this study also provide management suggestions for cold chain enterprises to effectively balance economic cost and environmental cost.Sustainability 2019, 11, 6584 2 of 22 has higher requirements for quality and timeliness [2]. The normal operation of refrigeration equipment produces a large amount of CO 2 emissions and other greenhouse gases generated from distribution vehicles in the process of delivery. It leads to an increase in greenhouse gases and, as a result, air pollution and greenhouse effect will be intensified. The increased carbon emissions not only pollute the environment, but also raise the cost of logistics enterprises due to the implementation of national carbon-taxing policies [3]. Therefore, how to reduce carbon emissions in cold chain logistics, thereby alleviating the global warming caused by the greenhouse effect, has become a popular issue in the research field of cold chain logistics distribution routes [4].In recent years, the optimization of cold chain logistics distribution routes has attracted extensive academic attention [5,6]. Although the above-mentioned studies have considered the impacts of various cost factors on cold chain logistics, t...

In recent years, Chinese economic development has slowed down and competition in the financial industry has become increasingly fierce. The purpose of this paper is to study the efficiency characteristics of China’s banking industry in the new environment and provide suggestions for banks to improve efficiency. This paper uses a data envelopment analysis (DEA) SBM-undesirable model and window analysis to measure the technical efficiency of 13 nationwide commercial banks in China during the period from 2008 to 2017. Furthermore, the convergence characteristics of bank technical efficiency are examined. The empirical results show that state-owned banks were more efficient than joint stock banks before 2012. After 2012, state-owned banks were less efficient than joint stock banks. Finally, this paper explores the influential factors of technical efficiency. Noninterest income ratio, net interest margin, growth rate of total investment in fixed assets, and consumer price index have a significant positive impact on bank efficiency. The cost-to-income ratio has a significant negative impact on bank efficiency. Further research using the threshold model shows that noninterest income ratio has a threshold effect on bank efficiency.

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