Transportation system in the future

The paper begins with a review of the major features of the transport policy of the European Community. It continues with an assessment of the likely characteristics of future transport supply, identifying the particular competing developments in road and air transport which would affect the success of high speed rail investments such as that proposed between Amsterdam, Groningen and Hamburg.     

珀金斯:永远把客户放在第一位

Perkins致力满足中国整机厂的需求,帮助他们攻克本土和出口市场。最终目标是要成为中国设备制造商的首选发动机供货商。     

On the semantic scale problem in stated preference rating experiments

Stated preference (SP) rating experiments are easy to design and conduct. Furthermore, they constitute a generalisation of SP choice experiments in terms of the information about preferences that can be achieved. However, its results are sensitive to the numerical values assigned by the analyst to the semantic scale used by individuals to express their preferences. We consider this problem in depth using a variety of statistical techniques, including ordinal probit and a novel optimal scale linear regression approach.     

A Review of Modelling Methods for Railway Vehicle Suspension Components

The dynamic behaviour of railway vehicles has been the subject of study for over a century but the advances in computing technology in the last few years have led to a very rapid development in the use of numerical techniques for solving railway vehicle dynamics problems. As these techniques have developed, and have been applied to ever more complex problems, the modelling of the vehicle components has increased in importance. Mathematical models of railway vehicles may now include components such as swing links, air-springs, trailing arm suspensions, load sensitive friction dampers, rubber bushes with hysteresis etc, all of which require sophisticated modelling techniques to produce accurate results. This paper looks at the developments that have taken place in this area, the background to the need for sophisticated models, the improvements in accuracy that can result and some of the difficulties in applying these techniques to the modelling of real situations.     

Directional Stability of Truck-Dolly-Trailer System

The present state of knowledge on the handling behaviour of truck-dolly-trailer system is based on parametric studies made through simulation or eigen value analysis. Any convincing study using the equations to the stability boundaries have not been reported so far due to algebraic complexities. This paper fills the gap. Effects of system parameters are assessed using equations to the stability boundaries obtained from Routh-Hurwitz criterion. The system equations of motion are derived from a bondgraph model of a linearised system.     

Use of duration models for predicting vehicular delay at a US/Canadian border crossing

Delays caused by congestion at the US/Canadian border crossing between Washington state and British Columbia have underscored the need for some sort of intervention. One obvious congestion-mitigation measure would be to estimate delay times and then relay this information to motorists so that they could select among alternative border crossing sites, or delay their trips. This paper applies duration models to estimate vehicular delay and demonstrates the usefulness of such models as a basis for a fully automated motorist information system. The paper also explores the flexibility of duration models, in providing estimates of vehicle delay, by using alternate parametric forms and assessing prediction accuracy.     

Chlorophyll estimation in the Southeastern Mediterranean using CZCS images: adaptation of an algorithm and its validation

Region-specific algorithm to derive chlorophyll concentration from Coastal Zone Color Scanner (CZCS) images was adopted following field measurements in the Southeastern Mediterranean Sea, in June 1992. Reflectance in the range 400 to 700 nm, chlorophyll concentration and seston dry weight were measured simultaneously at 21 stations. The optical model used based on algorithm for Case I waters, using shipboard simulation of CZCS channels for adaptation of parameters. The resulting model was validated with an independent data sets from series of cruises in the Southeastern Mediterranean (1981–1984). Concurrent CZCS images were used for retrieval of the radiance ratio Channel 1/Channel 3, for each station. The resulting ratios were then used to calculate chlorophyll concentrations. A comparison between those calculated concentrations and the actual chlorophyll measurements showed that an estimation error of chlorophyll as low as 0.013 mg m⁻³ was achieved.