Seaport research: A structured literature review on methodological issues since the 1980s

This study aims to investigate how seaport research has been conducted from the methodological perspective. To this end, this study reviews published port literature for the last three decades (1980-2000s). The investigation primarily categorises the literature according to various methodological issues such as research paradigm, research strategy, base-disciplines, research methods and analysis techniques in order to provide meaningful implications on methodological evolution in seaport research for the period. This study suggests methodological bias in port research to a positivistic paradigm, following a quantitative trajectory moving from conceptual to empirical studies. In addition, the increased use of mathematical modelling and advanced statistical analysis methods is clearly observed. The introduction of advanced analytical tools used in other academic disciplines facilitates discussions in particular research area and amplifies the literature in those areas. This paper also suggests research gaps from the methodological perspective and implications for future port research.     

The price of uncertainty in pavement infrastructure management planning: An integer programming approach

Currently there is a true dichotomy in the pavement maintenance and rehabilitation (M&R) literature. On the one hand, there are integer programming-based models that assume that parameters are deterministically known. On the other extreme, there are stochastic models, with the most popular class being based on the theory of Markov decision processes that are able to account for various sources of uncertainties observed in the real-world. In this paper, we present an integer programming-based alternative to account for these uncertainties. A critical feature of the proposed models is that they provide – a priori – probabilistic guarantees that the prescribed M&R decisions would result in pavement condition scores that are above their critical service levels, using minimal assumptions regarding the sources of uncertainty. By construction of the models, we can easily determine the additional budget requirements when additional sources of uncertainty are considered, starting from a fully deterministic model. We have coined this additional budget requirement the price of uncertainty to distinguish from previous related work where additional budget requirements were studied due to parameter uncertainties in stochastic models. A numerical case study presents valuable insights into the price of uncertainty and shows that it can be large.     

Railway wheel-flat detection and measurement by ultrasound

This work presents an innovative ultrasound technique designed to detect and quantify flats formed in the rolling surface of railway wheels. Differently from other approaches, ultrasonic pulses (Rayleigh waves) are sent over a measuring rail. The variations in the round-trip time of flight (RTOF) of the ultrasound pulse to the rail-wheel contact point allow detecting and quantifying the wheel-flats. In spite of the wear state of the irregularity, the method provides the loss of material and the length of the flat originally formed by abrasion. A theoretical background supports the technique which offers many advantages for railway maintenance. Simulations and experimental results match the expected ones.     

A network option portfolio management framework for adaptive transportation planning

A real option portfolio management framework is proposed to make use of an adaptive network design problem developed using stochastic dynamic programming methodologies. The framework is extended from Smit’s and Trigeorgis’ option portfolio framework to incorporate network synergies. The adaptive planning framework is defined and tested on a case study with time series origin-destination demand data. Historically, OD time series data is costly to obtain, and there has not been much need for it because most transportation models use a single time-invariant estimate based on deterministic forecasting of demand. Despite the high cost and institutional barriers of obtaining abundant OD time series data, we illustrate how having higher fidelity data along with an adaptive planning framework can result in a number of improved management strategies. An insertion heuristic is adopted to run the lower bound adaptive network design problem for a coarse Iran network with 834 nodes, 1121 links, and 10 years of time series data for 71,795 OD pairs.     

Mobility, social exclusion and well-being: Exploring the links

Building on a growing research foundation, transport policy makers have begun to associate the ability to be mobile with having a role in the facilitation of social inclusion. However, the further connection to well-being is not as well understood. This paper explores the association between a person’s travel patterns, their risk of social exclusion and self-assessed well-being. Key influences on social exclusion are discussed, with trip making emerging as a significant influence. Trip making is not a significant direct influence on well-being but does exercise an indirect influence through the impact on risk of social exclusion. The modelling process enables a value for additional trips to be estimated, the value being about four times the values derived from conventional generated traffic approaches. Similar high values are found in separate metropolitan and regional case studies, confirming the significance of the results.     

GPS-based optimization of plug-in hybrid electric vehicles’ power demands in a cold weather city

Using the WPG03 duty cycle developed from global positioning data collected in Winnipeg, Canada, real world energy demands and costs are modeled. Three types of plug-in hybrid electric vehicles, four temperatures and two charging scenarios are compared to a vehicle with an internal combustion engine. Cold temperatures are shown to greatly affect vehicle operation energy costs, which is an important consideration for cold weather cities such as Winnipeg. The largest energy cost savings are obtained for smaller-battery plug-in hybrids that had the opportunity to charge during the day.     

铁路宽带移动通信网络规划技术研究

提出了一种铁路宽带移动通信网络的规划方法.该方法参照通用WiMAX网络规划步骤,分析了典型铁路移动通信业务的通信速率和服务质量（QoS）需求,结合铁路使用环境进行了各类业务的链路预算并得出网络覆盖能力,就覆盖能力数据提出了典型铁路设定情况下的容量规划算法原则,最后基于OPNET软件对典型铁路WiMAX网络的规划方案进行了仿真.     

一体化网络中支持寻呼的移动性管理机制

一体化网络是一种基于身份信息和位置信息分离的网络体系结构,能够有效支持主机的移动性.但随着用户数量的增多,信令开销可能成为制约网络发展的瓶颈之一.为了有效地减少移动过程中的信令开销,本文在一体化网络体系结构的基础上,提出了一种支持寻呼的移动性管理机制.此外,本文还建立了解析模型,导出了信令开销的计算公式,并分析了不同系统参数对信令花费的影响.性能分析结果表明,寻呼机制能够减少信令开销,从而增强了网络的性能.     

考虑最短距离作业的港口拖轮作业调度优化

为了合理调度拖轮作业,有效提高拖轮的利用率,减少船舶等待时间,针对拖轮作业特点,用多处理器任务调度理论分析了拖轮作业调度问题.在考虑拖轮最短距离作业的前提下,以最小化最大完工时间为优化目标建立了拖轮作业调度模型.采用演化策略算法对拖轮作业调度问题进行优化,提出了一种基于轮盘赌概率分配的编、解码方法,并设计了三点交叉互换的重组算子和个体基因交叉互换的变异算子.算例结果表明:用演化策略算法的优化结果优于仿真结果和粒子群算法的计算结果.采用实数编码时,通过优化算法得到的最大完工时间最小值为356 min,比仿真结果减少了117 min;而采用整数编码时,最大完工时间最小值为369 min,比仿真结果减少了104 min.验证了最短距离作业原则的有效性.