Forecasting fishing vessel responses in coastal areas

A system for forecasting the operability of ships was developed by extending a wave forecasting system with the ship responses to the forecast sea states. The system produces 4-day wave forecasts in an implementation for the Portuguese Exclusive Economic Zone, where the vessels’ seakeeping performance is forecast, although the method presented could well be applied to any other coastal region. The proposed procedure requires the knowledge of the transfer functions for different ship speeds and headings. The computations are made for two different types of fishing vessels that currently operate in the Portuguese coast. Ship motions and derived responses are evaluated with a strip theory code and compared with the prescribed values of relevant seakeeping criteria that represent the limit conditions that still allow standard operational conditions for those vessels. For each forecast sea state at each grid point at a given time, the response spectrum is calculated and operability indexes are computed and compared with the maximum allowed values for a specific operation criterion. The results are presented as operational index maps for various areas of the Portuguese coast, and the information provided by system will help ship masters to plan the operation of their ships, namely to decide the areas to operate in anticipation. In this way, they can identify areas in which the level of operationally of their ships will be degraded due to weather conditions and avoid them.     

分布式消磁系统控制系统实时性和同步性研究

为确保消磁系统技术指标的实现必须保证系统实时性和同步性.本文介绍了一种含时间向量的数据信息传输与处理的CAN总线项层标准框架,本协议应用于分布式消磁系统,能够确保各分区消磁绕组所产生的磁场同步性;分析了消磁系统响应延时的原因,针对原因提出措施能够确保消磁系统的实时性.     

Establishing performance targets for shipbuilding policies

Shipbuilding is the subject of public policies in a number of countries, as it is considered a strategic industry and has an impact on employment levels in many regions. Establishing performance targets can be a challenge to shipbuilding policy makers. This paper suggests an approach to this problem, based on the Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) technique. This approach makes it feasible to estimate productivity and building time potential, taking into account the output pattern, technological level and quality of the industrial environment of the country or region. The methodology is applied to the analysis of the competitive potential of some Brazilian shipyard models. The benchmarking analysis was carried out for a sample of shipyards from the world's principal shipbuilding blocks.     

Emergence of ‘new professionalism’ among Chinese seafarers: empirical evidence and policy implications

In this paper some of the factors that were influential in establishing a Canadian shipping policy position à proposissues raised by the UNCTAD V meeting are examined. The first of these issues was the question of early ratification and entry in force of the Conventin on a Code of Conduct for Liner Conferences. The second involved the relationship between flages of convenience and fleet expansion in the developing countries (LDCs). The third concerned LDC participation in the carriage of bulk cargoes. The author concludes that Canada's stance was determined by the fact that she was a major user of shipping withouta significant fleet of her own, and shows how she attempted to balance her sympathy with Third World aspirations with the demands of her own national interests.     

Analyzing aviation safety: Problems,challenges, opportunities

This paper reviews the economic literature relating to aviation safety; analyzes the safety record of commercial passenger aviation in the United States and abroad; examines aviation security as a growing dimension of aviation safety; and identifies emerging issues in airline safety and challenges for aviation safety research. Commercial airline safety has improved dramatically since the industry's birth over a century ago. Fatal accident rates for large scheduled jet airlines have fallen to the level where (along many dimensions) aviation is now the safest mode of commercial transportation. However, safety performance has not been evenly distributed across all segments of commercial aviation, nor among all countries and regions of the world. The finding that developing countries have much poorer safety records has been a persistent conclusion in aviation safety research and continues to be the case. Unfortunately, operations data are not available for many of the airlines that experience fatal accidents, so it is not possible to calculate reliable fatality rates for many segments of the worldwide aviation industry. Without more complete information, it will likely be difficult to make substantial improvements in the safety of these operations. Challenges to improving aviation security include: how much to focus on identifying the terrorists as opposed to identifying the tools they might use; determining how to respond to terrorist threats; and determining the public versus private roles in providing aviation security. The next generation of safety challenges now require development and understanding of new forms of data to improve safety in other segments of commercial aviation, and moving from a reactive, incident-based approach toward a more proactive, predictive and systems-based approach.     

Book reviews

Practice, Politics and Policies—"The Politics of Transport”. By Enid Wistrich. (Harlow, Essex: Longman Group Limited, 1983.) [Pp. 185, with index.] £4·25.

Econometric Analysis and Railway Costing. By W. G. Waters, II and A. D. Woodland. (North Oxford Academic, 1984.) [Pp.132.] £12·95.     

A multi-criteria decision support methodology for implementing truck operation strategies

This study proposes a multi-criteria decision support methodology to enable the prioritization of potential alternative transportation system operations strategies and then demonstrates the effectiveness of the methodology using a case study involving truck operations. The primary feature of this methodology is its ability to help policymakers consider economic, public, and private sector standpoints simultaneously. The economic criterion is cost to the public sector where four criteria related to truck impacts on the transportation system are incorporated. These are traffic congestion, safety hazards, air pollution, and pavement damage. In addition, reliability and productivity are regarded as metrics representing the private sector viewpoint since they can significantly affect profitability. The methodology combines qualitative and quantitative aspects of these standpoints. In order to demonstrate the applicability of this methodology, a corridor with some of the highest truck traffic in the US is selected as a case study and three forms of left lane restrictions for trucks are considered. For qualitative analysis, survey data were collected from two groups classified as public agency and transportation industry professionals who are experts in trucking. In addition, a micro traffic simulation model was used to produce various performance measurements that can describe quantitative impacts. As a result, the methodology provides a rational argument for prioritizing potential alternative truck strategies.     

Investigation of regenerative and Anti-lock Braking interaction

The use of a regenerative braking mode can reduce overall vehicle energy usage for most of the most common drive cycles. However, a number of technical issues restrict the use of regenerative braking for all possible braking situations. These issues are concerned with two key limitations. The first is related to physical limitations of the applied regenerative braking system, e.g. Electric Motor (E-Motor) power limits; energy storage device capacity and vehicle load transfer etc. The second limitation results from the potentially detrimental interaction between regenerative braking and the Anti-locking Braking System (ABS). The first type of limitation can, to some extent, be alleviated by suitable choice of hardware and, as a consequence, will not be discussed further in this paper. The second type of limitation concerns the regenerative braking strategies during an ABS event. Some of the regenerative braking strategies designed and investigated within the Low Carbon Vehicle Technology Project (LCVTP) will be described and analyzed in this paper. A comparison of competing strategies is made and conclusions are drawn together with suggestions for further research. The work has been progressed as a part of a major research programme; namely the LCVTP, which has been conducted within an extensive industrial and academic partnership, mutually funded by the European Regional Development Found and Advantage West Midlands.     

Optimal fuel-cut driving method for better fuel economy

Eco-drive methods are being applied in modern passenger cars in the form of LCD displays showing real-time fuel consumption rates. The eco-drive is one of the most promising methods to enhance the fuel economy of vehicles. The ecodrive method can be made more effective by using the fuel-cut function. The fuel is not injected when the driver does not depress the gas pedal of a vehicle with engine speeds higher than approximately 1,500 rpm above the mid-vehicle speed range. This function is known as the fuel-cut function, and almost every modern vehicle is equipped with this function. The fuel-cut is most frequently activated on downhill sections of highway. Therefore, the CO₂ exhausted from the vehicle can be zero in this downhill section. In this study, the fuel-cut function is simulated with CRUISE of AVL to find the most effective driving pattern in downhill sections. Simulations with the CRUISE software showed that the lower limit of the vehicle speed for fuelcut should be raised to improve fuel economy on steeper downhill sections. The fuel economy can be optimized when the fuelcut coasting and reacceleration is completed in the downhill part of the road. The simulation result was also compared to previous test results. Fuel consumption was reduced by approximately 4% in both the experimental and simulated results for the West Coast Highway in South Korea.     

Comparison of driving characteristics between drivers in Korea and in the united states of America based on driver-vehicle interaction field database

Research and development involving intelligent vehicles of today is geared to safe, driver-friendly and sensitive vehicles that provide a driver with a pleasant and convenient driving environment while preventing him or her from possible risks of accident. In developing convenient and safe vehicles, research on drivers’ driving patterns, reactions and state characteristics depending on road conditions in actual field is essential in order to devise more driver-friendly intelligent vehicles. This paper describes how a driver-vehicle interaction (DVI) field database is built in order to obtain a driver’s input in normal road driving condition on highways, country roads, and city roads, and his or her state information, as well as data on the vehicle and traffic conditions. And the newly built database is compared with the RDCW FOT database established by UMTRI of the US for analysis to suggest that the driving tendencies of drivers in Korea and the road driving conditions are not the same as those in the US, reconfirming the need to establish a DVI field database, which will be used for the development of intelligent vehicles suitable for the Korean environment. The DVI data collected from actual driving in field are anticipated to be widely utilized as basic data for research on various intelligent driving safety systems, advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) and human-vehicle interface (HVI) that are suitable for the driving environment in Korea.