Investigation of carriers’ ability to transfer toll increases: an empirical analysis of freight agents’ relative market power

Transportation - Design of effective freight policies requires a comprehensive understanding of freight agents’ interactions. A critical component of the interaction is the freight...     

图像测量技术在汽车轴距差检测中的应用研究

通过采集汽车直行中轮胎印迹图像 ,利用偏差相对测量法 ,即先测出汽车单轴的偏斜量 ,然后计算出汽车轴距左右差。通过开发的检测系统进行试验 ,结果表明 ,检测精度满足汽车轴距左右差在线检测要求。     

Users’ perceptions and willingness to pay in interurban toll roads: identifying differences across regions from a nationwide survey in Spain

Users’ acceptability is considered one of the key drivers for the successful implementation of transport policy measures. This is especially crucial in the case of toll roads since they are financed through drivers’ contributions. Previous literature in this field has mainly focused on measuring users’ attitudes towards urban congestion pricing strategies. However limited research has been developed concerning interurban toll roads. Previous research shows that socioeconomic variables are not conclusive to explain users’ perceptions towards tolls. By contrast, other drivers such as regional differences seem to play a more important role, especially when charging conditions within the same nation greatly vary across regions. This paper analyzes regional differences in users’ attitudes within an asymmetrical distribution of the toll road network across regions. Based on a nationwide survey conducted to road users in interurban toll roads in Spain, we develop both a binomial logit and a censored regression (tobit) model to explore drivers’ perceptions and willingness to pay. The research concludes that users from regions with a more extensive tolled network generally show a more negative attitude towards charges, but not necessarily a lower willingness to pay. The paper also points out that an asymmetrical distribution of toll roads across regions may result in negative perceptions among those users perceiving to be unfairly treated when compared to citizens in other regions.     

Numerical study on active wave devouring propulsion

The possibility of extracting energy from gravity waves for marine propulsion was numerically studied by a two-dimensional oscillating hydrofoil in this study. The commercially available computational fluid dynamics software FLUENT was used for the unstructured grid based on the Reynolds-average Navier?CStokes equation. The free surface waves and motion of the flapping foil were implemented by customizing the FLUENT solver using a user-defined function technique. In addition, dynamic mesh technology and post processing capabilities were fully utilized. The validation of the model was carried out using experimental data for an oscillation hydrofoil under the waves. The results of the simulation were investigated in detail in order to explain the increase of propeller efficiency in gravity waves. Eight design parameters were identified and it was found that some of them greatly affected the performance of wave energy extraction by the active oscillating hydrofoil. Finally, the overall results suggested that when the design parameters are correctly maintained, the present approach can increase the performance of the oscillating hydrofoil by absorbing energy from sea waves.     

非对称结构活塞的有限元计算

为精确地反映出在工作状态时所受负荷对非对称结构活塞的影响 ,采用了装有活塞销的三维整体活塞有限元模型 ,应用包括接触单元算法在内的有限元计算 ,找出了其危险应力的部位 ,为活塞结构的改进提供了理论依据。     

Optimal tolls for multi-class traffic: Analytical formulations and policy implications

This paper puts together an analytical formulation to compute optimal tolls for multi-class traffic. The formulation is comprised of two major modules. The first one is an optimization component aimed at computing optimal tolls assuming a Stackelberg game in which the toll agency sets the tolls, and the equilibrating traffic plays the role of the followers. The optimization component is supported by a set of cost models that estimate the externalities as a function of a multivariate vector of traffic flows. These models were estimated using Taylor series expansions of the output obtained from traffic simulations of a hypothetical test case. Of importance to the paper is the total travel time function estimated using this approach that expresses total travel time as a multivariate function of the traffic volumes. The formulation presented in the paper is then applied to a variety of scenarios to gain insight into the optimality of current toll policies. The optimal tolls are computed for two different cases: independent tolls, and tolls proportional to passenger car equivalencies (PCE).The numerical results clearly show that setting tolls proportional to PCEs leads to lower values of welfare that are on average 15% lower than when using independent tolls, though, in some cases the total welfare could be up to 33% lower. This is a consequence of two factors. First, the case of independent tolls has more degrees of freedom than the case of tolls proportional to PCEs. Second, tolls proportional to PCEs do not account for externalities other than congestion, which is likely to lead to lower welfare values.The analytical formulations and numerical results indicate that, because the total travel time is a non-linear function of the traffic volumes, the marginal social costs and thus the optimal congestion tolls also depend on the traffic volumes for each vehicle class. As a result of this, for the relatively low volumes of truck traffic observed in real life, the optimal congestion tolls for trucks could indeed be either lower or about the same as for passenger cars. This stand in sharp contrast with what is implied in the use of PCEs, i.e., that the contribution to congestion are constant. This latter assumption leads to optimal truck congestion tolls that are always proportional to the PCE values.The comparison of the toll ratios (truck tolls divided by passenger car tolls) for both observed and optimal conditions suggests that the tolls for small trucks are about the right level, maybe a slightly lower than optimal. However, the analysis of the toll ratio for large trucks seems to indicate a significant overcharge. The estimates show that the average observed toll ratio for large trucks is even higher than the maximum optimal toll ratio found in the numerical experiments. This suggests that the tolls for large trucks are set on the basis of revenue generation principles while the passenger car tolls are being set based on a mild form of welfare maximization. This leads to a suboptimal cross-subsidization of passenger car traffic in detriment of an important sector of the economy.     

On the observability of the fortnightly cycle of the Tagus estuary turbid plume using MODIS ocean colour images

Using three years (2003 to 2005) of MODIS-Aqua normalized water-leaving radiance at 551 nm this paper shows a fortnightly cycle in the Tagus estuary turbid plume. The Tagus estuary is one of the largest estuaries of the west coast of Europe and is located in the most populated area of Portugal, including the capital Lisbon. The turbid plume has been detected by the backscattering characteristics of the surface waters in the vicinity of the estuary mouth. In fortnightly scales, the turbid plume has smaller dimensions during and after neap tides and higher dimensions during and after spring tides. This is most probably associated with the fortnightly spring–neap tidal cycle and the consequent increase in turbidity inside the estuary during spring tides. During the summer weak spring tides (tidal amplitude approximately 2.5 m) no turbid plume is observed for an entire fortnightly cycle. Outside the summer months, precipitation, river discharge and winds, were found to increase the turbid area, but the fortnightly cycle appears to be superimposed on the large time-scale variability, and present throughout the year.     

Belief and fuzzy theories for driving behavior assessment in case of accident scenarios

The estimation of the overspeed risk before the accident is among the main goals of this paper. The proposed method uses the Energy Equivalent Speed (EES) to assess the severity of an eventual accident. However, the driver behavior evaluation should take into account the parameters related to the Driver, the Vehicle and the Environment (DVE) system. For this purpose, this paper considers a two-level strategy to predict the global risk of an event using the Dempster-Shafer Theory (DST) and the Fuzzy Theory (FT). This paper presents two methods to develop the Expert Model-based Basic Probability Assignment (EM based BPA), which is the most important task in the DST. The first one is based on the accident statistics and the second method deals with the relationship between the Fuzzy and Belief measurements. The experimental data is collected by one driver using our test vehicle and a Micro-intelligent Black Box (Micro-iBB) to collect the driving data. The sensitivity of the developed models is analysed. Our main evaluation concerns the Usage Based Insurance (UBI) applications based on the driving behavior. So, the obtained masses over the defined referential subsets in the DST are used as a score to compute the driver’s insurance premium.     

Use of the analytic hierarchy process to evaluate transit fare system

The transportation fare system influences the mobility of a region and the life quality of its inhabitants. This study aims to evaluate a region's optimal fare system by using the analytic hierarchy process, based on a survey among transportation experts, divided into three categories: operators, professors/consultants and government officials. The results are presented divided by category and overall, and the performance of the most important relative criteria to establish a fare system is determined. The most important criterion according to all the selected experts was the fare price, with 21.5%. The fare system determined as the best was distance/zone (31.1%) and the worst was a flat fare system (7.2%). In addition, we show the influence of the fare price criterion in each fare system through sensitivity charts and highlight its importance for all three groups of experts to evaluate the fare system.     

Urban cycling mobility: management and urban institutional arrangements to support bicycle tourism activities—case study from Curitiba,Brazil

Transportation - Simultaneously addressing micro-mobility and urban tourism has been a challenge for urban managers formulating cycle-inclusive urban policies in different countries. In this...