Compliance with MARPOL Annex VI regulation 14 by ships in the Gulf of Guinea sub-region: Issues,challenges and opportunities

The negative environmental and health impacts association with high sulphur dioxide emissions from shipboard machineries have been raised by various stakeholders within the marine transportation sector. It is against this backdrop that the International Maritime Organisation under the MARPOL Annex VI regulation 14 has capped sulphur emission to 0.1% for Sulphur Emission Control Areas and 0.5% for the other shipping nations. However, ship owners in the Gulf of Guinea (GoG) sub-region are facing multitudes of challenges in meeting up with this new IMO regulation. This paper aims to identify the main barriers hampering effective compliance to this new regulation by ships operating in the GoG, rank the barriers, and then discuss the possible opportunities that may arise as a result of addressing the challenges. To identify the main barriers, experts with several years of experience in the maritime industry from Ghana and Cameroun were used while multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) method combining analytic hierarchy process (AHP) and technique for order preference by similarity to ideal solution (TOPSIS) was employed to rank the barriers. Other methods such as fuzzy AHP (FAHP), rank-order centroid (ROC) and TOPSIS were combined to validate the result of the study. The findings indicate that lack of infrastructure, lack of comprehensive marine air pollution laws and high capital and operational costs of sulphur reduction solutions emerged as the top three ranked barriers. The findings of this study can be useful to ship owners and policy makers in dealing with the issues of marine air pollution.     

Adoption of alternative fuel vehicles: Influence from neighbors,family and coworkers

During the last years, many governments have set targets for increasing the share of biofuels in the transportation sector. Understanding consumer behavior is essential in designing policies that efficiently increase the uptake of cleaner technologies. In this paper we analyze adopters and non-adopters of alternative fuel vehicles (AFVs). We use diffusion of innovation theory and the established notion that the social system and interpersonal influence play important roles in adoption. Based on a nationwide database of car owners we analyze interpersonal influence on adoption from three social domains: neighbors, family and coworkers. The results point primarily at a neighbor effect in that AFV adoption is more likely if neighbors also have adopted. The results also point at significant effects of interpersonal influence from coworkers and family members but these effects weaken or disappear when income, education level, marriage, age, gender and green party votes are controlled for. The results extend the diffusion of innovation and AFV literature with empirical support for interpersonal influence based on objective data where response bias is not a factor. Implications for further research, environmental and transport policy, and practitioners are discussed.     

沥青路面压实性能影响因素分析

将影响沥青路面压实的因素归纳为材料因素、结构和环境因素以及压实机具等,并对这些影响因素进行较为全面的分析,充分认识这些因素的作用机理对于在施工中提高沥青路面的压实质量和长期性能具有重大意义。     

水泥混凝土路面出现蜂窝和麻面的原因及预防措施

混凝土的蜂窝和麻面问题严重危害了混凝土的结构性能和外观。对混凝土的蜂窝和麻面现象的原因进行探究,并提出具体的预防和解决措施,可促进施工质量达到相关规范、设计要求。     

港珠澳大桥建设对珠三角地区物流业的影响

港珠澳大桥将改变珠江口东西两岸之间的空间运输联系方式,从而改变整个珠三角地区的物流格局.从珠三角地区城市空间布局结构、产业特点出发,总结珠三角地区物流业特点,对港珠澳大桥影响珠三角物流格局的途径进行介绍；并逐一分析港珠澳大桥建成后对香港、深圳、珠海等珠三角主要城市物流业的不同影响.     

采空区高速公路路基变形失稳的影响因素

矿体开采后会留下采空区.许多公路、铁路需要建在采空区之上或穿越这些采空区,面临因采空区塌陷所导致的路基失稳与破坏问题.了解采空区影响高速公路路基变形失稳的因素,对于有效避免此类病害发生具有重要指导意义.     

Hardware-in-the-loop testbed for evaluating connected vehicle applications

Connected vehicle environment provides the groundwork of future road transportation. Researches in this area are gaining a lot of attention to improve not only traffic mobility and safety, but also vehicles’ fuel consumption and emissions. Energy optimization methods that combine traffic information are proposed, but actual testing in the field proves to be rather challenging largely due to safety and technical issues. In light of this, a Hardware-in-the-Loop-System (HiLS) testbed to evaluate the performance of connected vehicle applications is proposed. A laboratory powertrain research platform, which consists of a real engine, an engine-loading device (hydrostatic dynamometer) and a virtual powertrain model to represent a vehicle, is connected remotely to a microscopic traffic simulator (VISSIM). Vehicle dynamics and road conditions of a target vehicle in the VISSIM simulation are transmitted to the powertrain research platform through the internet, where the power demand can then be calculated. The engine then operates through an engine optimization procedure to minimize fuel consumption, while the dynamometer tracks the desired engine load based on the target vehicle information. Test results show fast data transfer at every 200 ms and good tracking of the optimized engine operating points and the desired vehicle speed. Actual fuel and emissions measurements, which otherwise could not be calculated precisely by fuel and emission maps in simulations, are achieved by the testbed. In addition, VISSIM simulation can be implemented remotely while connected to the powertrain research platform through the internet, allowing easy access to the laboratory setup.     

基于PCA-聚类分析的高铁旅客购票行为特性研究

铁路运输中旅客购票行为是铁路客运运营策略制定的重要基础.旅客购票行为直接影响着列车能力的占用过程,是铁路客运票额组织的重要依据.根据贵阳—广州高速铁路的旅客购票统计数据,以高铁购票旅客为样本,运用主成分分析法购票行为的特征属性进行综合分析,获得购票行为中重要特征变量.结合单次购票强度提出基于模糊C均值的双重聚类算法,对购票旅客进行聚类,并利用模糊聚类有效性指标Xie-beni和分离系数法确定最佳聚类数.结果表明,高铁旅客购票行为的关键特性为单次出行旅客人数、购票提前天数、出行OD城市人均GDP和购票渠道;不同旅客类型的购票行为有明显特性.     

近岸深水联排灌注桩施工工艺优化

采用传统的冲孔灌注桩施工工艺进行海上灌注桩施工时,往往会面临适用条件限制、环境污染、施工成本增加等问题。针对三亚凤凰岛项目海上冲孔灌注桩施工特点,介绍通过优化钢平台结构形式及布局设计、泥浆循环系统优化设计、结构稳定性计算、"四新设备"创新应用等措施,有效降低施工成本、提高施工效率、减少环境污染、提高施工质量。结果表明采取的工艺优化和平台改进措施效果良好、实用性强。     

Modelling the impact of weather conditions on active transportation travel behaviour

Three weather sensitive models are used to explore the relationship between weather and home-based work trips within the City of Toronto, focusing on active modes of transportation. The data are restricted to non-captive commuters who have the option of selecting among five basic modes of auto driver, auto passenger, transit, bike and walk. Daily trip rates in various weather conditions are assessed. Overall, the results confirm that impact of weather on active modes of transportation is significant enough to deserve attention at the research, data collection and planning levels.