Influence of vehicle driving parameters on the noise caused by passenger cars in urban traffic

In this work, a sample of vehicles has been instrumented to measure of variables that influence vehicle noise emissions in Madrid. A circuit reproducing a normal travel pattern in large city is traveled by a fleet of vehicle models representing the fleets of cars in a European city. A sample of drivers covers the test track under different traffic conditions. Driving parameters and noise emitted have been recorded in each test and average values have been extracted. These data have been analyzed to define the noise emissions produced by a vehicle in real driving conditions and to identify the noisiest driving behaviors.     

New potential for multimodal connection: exploring the relationship between taxi and transit in New York City (NYC)

Transportation - Taxi trips have been somewhat neglected in transportation mobility and multimodal connection studies. The socio-demographic characteristics of taxi riders are often not fully...     

The Teachable Moments on Marine Mammal Tours: Watching versus Swim-With Tours

With the continuing growth of the tourism industry over recent decades, has come a change in tourist behavior from the traditional stereotypical 3-S tourist (sun, sand, sex) to an increasingly sophisticated and demanding tourist. These “new” tourists like to learn about history, nature, and wildlife, and they expect an educational component on wildlife tours. This study investigated swim-with-dolphin tours in Kaikoura, New Zealand with regard to the educational content and the overall anatomy of these tours, using data from observations on a total of 32 tours during December 2011. The resulting data were then compared with the data from Hrycik and Forestell's study, which investigated the content of questions asked by passengers on whale-watching tours in Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary. Results of the on-tour observations indicate that the surveyed tours display a structured approach to interpretation, which is customized to the specific tour anatomy of a “swim-with” tour, and varies in some parts significantly from “watch-only” tour interpretation.     

The Dependency of People on the Great Barrier Reef,Australia

Understanding how people are dependent on Large Scale Marine Protected Areas (LSMPAs) is important for understanding how people might be sensitive to changes that affect these seascapes. We review how resource dependency is conceptualized and propose that it be broadened to include cultural values such as pride in resource status, scientific heritage, appreciation of aesthetics, biodiversity, and lifestyle opportunities. We provide an overview of how local residents (n = 3,181 face-to-face surveys), commercial fishers (n = 210, telephone surveys), and tourism operators (n = 119 telephone surveys) are potentially dependent on the Great Barrier Reef (GBR), a region currently experiencing significant environmental, social, and economic change. We found that commercial fishers and tourism operators were dependent not only financially on the GBR, but also because of their age, years in the industry and region, lack of education, and the number of dependents. These stakeholders lacked flexibility to secure alternative employment. All stakeholder groups, regardless of economic imperatives, were dependent on the GBR because of their cultural connections. We propose that resource dependency also provides an umbrella concept to describe the cultural services provided by an ecosystem, which can be described through place-based dependence and place-identity.     

Reliability Modeling and Maintenance Policy Optimization for Deteriorating System Under Random Shock

Performance degradation and random shock are commonly regarded as two dependent competing risks for system failures. One method based on effective service age is proposed to jointly model the cumulative effect of random shock and system degradation, and the reliability model of degradation system under Nonhomogeneous Poisson processes (NHPP) shocks is derived. Under the assumption that preventive maintenance (PM) is imperfective and the corrective maintenance (CM) is minimal repair, one maintenance policy which combines PM and CM is presented. Moreover, the two decision variables, PM interval and the number of PMs before replacement, are determined by a multi-objective maintenance optimization method which simultaneously maximizes the system availability and minimizes the system long-run expect cost rate. Finally, the performance of the proposed maintenance optimization policy is demonstrated via a numerical example.     

浅谈工程设计对公路建设投资的影响和相应对策

通过工程设计对公路建设投资影响的分析,阐明了工程设计是影响建设投资的主要因素之一,并通过实例证明了合理选择设计方案和采用技术标准等办法是控制投资的一条有效途径,而合理选择设计方案和技术标准又受到各种因素的影响和限制,对影响合理选择设计方案的原因进行了具体分析,并就此提出了几点相应对策,供同行们参考.     

彩色多普勒超声在动态监测移植肝及其并发症中的应用

目的探讨彩色多普勒超声在动态监测肝移植术后血流动力学变化及并发症诊治中的应用价值。方法回顾我中心107例原位肝移植术后应用彩色多普勒超声资料,汇总后行统计学分析。结果肝移植术后早期门脉流速较正常对照组升高,而肝动脉流速降低,后逐渐恢复正常。107例中发现肝动脉血栓形成2例(1.87%),肝动脉狭窄5例(4.67%),门脉血栓形成3例(2.80%),肿瘤复发7例(6.54%),诊断为急性排斥反应18例次(16.82%),慢性排斥反应10例次(9.34%),胸腔积液105例(98.13%),腹腔积液65例(60.74%),假性动脉瘤1例,胰漏1例,胆道感染4例(3.74%),胆道狭窄4例(3.74%),胆漏5例(4.67%),胆总管结石1例。结论彩色多普勒超声在动态监测肝移植术后血流动力学变化及并发症诊治中具有重要的临床意义。     

关于船舶UPS的容量估算

伴随着不间断电源(UPS)技术在船舶以及海洋工程项目中的使用日益广泛,人们对不间断电源技术的了解也日益增加。该文通过实船案例结合理论知识详细介绍UPS的工作方式以及UPS的容量确定、蓄电池容量确认等内容。     

基于LabVIEW的“海院1号”波浪发电平台浮筒取能效率数据采集系统设计

浮筒取能效率测试是波浪发电平台研究的重要组成部分。传统的测试系统不但测量精度低,而且自动化程度低、操作复杂。为此,该文基于“海院1号”波浪发电平台,采用虚拟仪器LabVIEW软件开发了浮筒取能效率数据采集系统。文中介绍了“海院1号”波浪发电平台及其浮筒,进行了测试系统的设计,实现了浮筒取能效率测试的数据采集、数据管理、曲线拟合及绘制、生成报表、信号分析以及数据处理等工程。对实际运行效果进行分析,结果表明该系统具有精度高、运行稳定可靠、自动化程度高、人机界面友好以及操作简单等特点,具有重要的工程实践意义。     

Alternative fuels for transportation

The alternatives to the oil based fuels for transportation are considered and analysed. These are the synthetic fuels, made from coal, the liquid petroleum gases of propane and butane, compressed natural gas and methanol. The problems associated with the use of electric vehicles are discussed; the main problem being that of range.

The possible use of hydrogen as a fuel is analysed in some detail. Since its supply can be tied directly to nuclear energy sources, rather than hydrocarbon feed stocks, it could be an alternative in the long term. The main problems of the storage of hydrogen on the vehicle and of its propensity to “back‐fire” into the engine intake are discussed. The first can be ameliorated and the second eliminated by dual fuelling; with petrol. It is advocated that the on‐board storage of hydrogen be by the use of hydrides for private cars. However, it is expected that it may be as liquid hydrogen for some forms of transport and will certainly be in this form for aircraft.