A unified framework for estimating or updating origin/destination matrices from traffic counts

This paper presents an in-depth study of the methodology for estimating or updating origin-to-destination trip matrices from traffic counts. Following an analysis of the statistical foundation of the estimation and updating problems, various basic approaches are reviewed using a generic traffic assignment map. Computational issues related to specific assignment maps and estimation models for both road and transit networks are then discussed. Finally, additional insight into the relative performance of several estimators is provided by a set of test problems with varying input data.     

ICT Adoption among Logistics Companies in ASEAN Countries

In this era of globalization, adoption of information and communication technology (ICT) is one of the critical determinants of logistics companies' competitiveness and growth. This is especially so for the ASEAN countries as they pursue the vision of regional economic development and integration. Existing empirical studies on ICT adoption by logistics companies in developing countries are, however, scarce and have limited theoretical support and so far no comparative analysis of ICT adoption among ASEAN logistics companies and its determinants has been undertaken. This paper investigates the level of ICT adoption among ASEAN logistics companies and also develops an investment-based model to explain it. The model is evaluated with logistic regression using firm-level data collected from interviews with a sample of ASEAN logistics companies. The study finds that ICT adoption level varies significantly among the ASEAN countries and provides an empirical support for an investment-based view of ICT adoption. It also finds no further evidence for the relevance of the institutional theory to the ASEAN logistics industry. These findings have important strategic and policy implications for the ASEAN policy-makers and logistics industry.     

Understanding ship-grounding events

The paper presents a simple procedure to estimate the damage to a ship bottom and the associated seabed topology that results from a dynamic grounding event. The seabed is modeled as a rigid body and parameterized by a quadratic surface, i.e., a paraboloid, which can in principle model a wide range of seabed topologies. A nonlinear finite element program (LS-DYNA) is used to simulate the contact force versus the lateral penetration, from which the horizontal force component of powered grounding is estimated. The simplified procedure for analyzing dynamic and static grounding events is outlined. Simulations are performed for different ship speeds and for different initial levels of obstruction over the keel. It is shown that a static approach may replace the dynamic grounding simulation, thereby considerably reducing the computational work. The static approach allows for the quick estimation of the energy absorption during powered grounding, which is imperative for decision making during critical situations. The ultimate goal of the study is to provide a near real-time prediction of the risk of rupture of the cargo tanks and hull girder failure. Moreover, the residual strength of damaged ships is an important issue that is related to operations involved in the salvage of wrecked vessels, such as re-floatation and towing.     

Inland cargo flow modelling considering shipment time variability on cross-border transport

This paper formulates an inland cargo flow model that considers the additional costs incurred because of variability in shipment times at borders and seaports. Using the proposed model, five scenario analyses for cross-border haulage between Lao PDR and seaports in Thailand and Vietnam are carried out in order to assess the impact of improving border and seaport reliability. These scenario analyses show that improving shipment time variability at seaports has more impact on cost reduction compared to improving border reliability. As for seaport choice, both cases of seaport and border reliability indicate similar trends. Cargo volumes decrease at Laem Chabang seaport in Thailand and increase at Vietnamese seaports as reliability at each identified bottleneck is improved.     

Large-scale network partitioning for decentralized traffic management and other transportation applications

For numerous large-scale engineering and science problems, domain decomposition (DD) has generally been accepted by research communities as among the most attractive methods to obtain solutions efficiently. As a prerequisite for the DD solution process, a large domain must be partitioned into several smaller subdomains, with the key to success (of any DD partitioning algorithm) being the number of system boundary nodes. The lower this number, the more efficiently the subdomains can be processed. Although various transportation researchers have hinted at the use of DD, for example, in intelligent transportation systems-enabled decentralized traffic management, it is assumed that the partition is given. This article presents a simple, efficient, and effective algorithm to decompose a transportation network into a predefined number of interconnected subdomains such that the number of system boundary nodes is small (first priority) and the number of nodes in each subdomain is of similar size (second priority). To assess the effectiveness (in terms of minimizing the number of system boundary nodes) of the proposed Shortest Distance Decomposition Algorithm, it is compared with METIS version 5.1.0, currently among the most widely used graph partitioning algorithms worldwide. Using large-scale, real-world transportation test networks, it was found that the Shortest Distance Decomposition Algorithm is better than METIS in 21 of the 27 examples tested; on average, it provided (approximately) 42.0% of the system boundary nodes (as compared to METIS results) in our large-scale examples.     

Influential factors in the design of port infrastructure tariffs

ABSTRACT

The main aim of this article is to examine the factors influential to the practical process of port infrastructure tariff design. The analysis is based on the survey data of 67 seaports representing the Australasian, East Asian, European, North American and South American regions. Exploratory factor analysis (EFA) was first carried out to identify the factors influential to the selection of the infrastructure tariff design model. Subsequently, confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was used to confirm the relationship between the variables. The findings showed that demand, knowledge about pricing theories, the dynamics of port and shipping sectors (including competition and ship size), pricing objectives and port cost consideration are influential factors in infrastructure tariff design. Most ports use a mix of pricing approaches including price discrimination, cost-based pricing and market-based pricing. Ports are aware of the basic pricing approaches but have limited knowledge of their application. Based on the results of analysis, policy implications for port management in designing port infrastructure tariffs, limitations and recommendations for future research are discussed.     

Haptic interface for intuitive teleoperation of wheeled and tracked vehicles

In this paper, a novel haptic interface is proposed for general teleoperation of wheeled and tracked vehicles. The new mechanism of the proposed haptic interface, shown in Figure 1, not only allows human operators to easily teleoperate various types of target vehicles, including car-like vehicles, mobile robots, and tracked vehicles, but also improves the operator??s perception of the target vehicle??s operating status and its environment by introducing a ??cornering feel?? to the field of vehicle teleoperation. In addition, the proposed interface enables human operators to give commands to (or drive) the target vehicle in a way that is traditionally carried out by direct control or driving. Experiments were completed to carefully evaluate and test the performance of the proposed interface. The results show that the developed haptic master device is sufficient and suitable for general wheeled and tracked-vehicle teleoperation.     

Modeling cyclists' facility choice and its application in bike lane usage forecasting

In some circumstances on streets equipped with new bike facilities, cyclists are not interested in using them. Instead, they continue to use shared spaces with pedestrians or motor vehicles. Thus, simply adding a bike facility does not guarantee that cyclists will switch to using it. Owing to the considerable development of bike facilities, the investigation of facility preference, particularly focusing on facility choice forecast, has become increasingly important. This study developed a model for predicting the facility choice of cyclists between on-street facilities (curb, traffic lane, and bike lane (BL)) and off-street facilities (sidewalks). Initially, the optimal model was selected using Bayesian Model Averaging method. Then, it was validated by both internal and external validations. Apart from the aforementioned factors, several other exogenous variables were also found to be significant predictors of bike facility choice, including the width of traffic lanes, existence of real-time stopping vehicle, type of bike, bus stop existence, and in-group cycling. Analysis of the relative importance of predictors indicated that bus stop existence, effective sidewalk width, and type of bike were the potential predictors. A framework for predicting BL usage, if it is present, was also developed. A test for the predictive performance of the application at a real site was carried out. By comparing predicted and actual BL usage figures, the analysis showed good predictive performance. The results of this study can help developers, planners, and designers to adopt reasonable investment decisions as well as better designs in developing new bike facilities.     

Assessment of the pedestrian friendliness of a vechicle using subsystem impact tests

Annually, thousands of unprotected pedestrians are killed or suffer serious injuries in accidents with moving vehicles. Numerous automobile organizations have performed research on pedestrian safety. The European Enhanced Vehicle- Safety Committee (EEVC), Working Group 17 (WG17) proposed three component subsystem tests to evaluate the friendliness of a vehicle to pedestrians: the legform to hood test, the upper legform to bonnet leading edge test and the headform to bonnet top test. In assessing the pedestrian friendliness of a vehicle, the present study adopted the WG17 regulations of the three component subsystem tests. We herein describe in detail a finite element subsystem model built to analyze the pedestrian friendliness of a vehicle using LS-DYNA. The first objective of this study was to simulate these three component subsystem impact tests and evaluate car front aggressiveness. The second objective was to analyze the frontal structures of a vehicle and, based on the simulation results, identify dangerous areas and provide suggestions for vehicle front design that may decrease pedestrian injuries. The analysis of these models and the results obtained may be used to help evaluate the pedestrian friendliness of a vehicle and guide the future development of pedestrian-friendly vehicle technologies.     

Prioritizing mechanism of low carbon shipping measures using a combination of FQFD and FTOPSIS

As technical incentives, Ship Energy Efficiency Management Plan and Energy Efficiency Design Index, became the guidance for shipping companies in low-carbon shipping (LCS) integration. Despite the diversity of LCS measures, a mechanism to prioritize them is still urgently required from the view of shipping stakeholders. This paper developed a LCS measures prioritization mechanism for vessels relied on the combination of Fuzzy-based Technique for Order Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution (FTOPSIS) and Fuzzy Quality Function Deployment (FQFD) so as to facilitate the treatment of uncertainties, thus realizing effective quantitative analysis of the LCS measures. Four performance aspects of LCS measures including ecological, reputation and competitive advantage, economic, and certainty level were analyzed and used for suitableness assessment, whereas weights of prioritizing criteria were determined by FQFD, alternatives were prioritized by FTOPSIS to build up a list of ranked LCS measures. The illustration example based on collected data of six alternatives was carried out to validate the feasibility of the methodology in prioritizing LCS measures. The outcomes can be used either as a stand-alone technique for prioritizing or as part of an integrated decision-making method for evaluating the effectiveness of chosen LCS measures.