Impact of family in-home quality time on person travel demand

This paper introduces the concept of Primary Family Priority Time (PFPT), which represents a high priority household decision to spend time together for in-home activities. PFPT is incorporated into a fully specified and operational activity based discrete choice model system for Copenhagen, called COMPAS, using the DaySim software platform. Structural tests and estimation results identify two important findings. First, PFPT has a place high in the model hierarchy, and second, strong interactions exist between PFPT and the other day level activity components of the model system. Forecasts are generated for a road pricing and congestion scenario by COMPAS and a comparison version of the model system that excludes PFPT. COMPAS with PFPT exhibits less mode changing and time-of-day shifting in response to pricing and congestion than the comparison version.     

Precise estimation of connections of metro passengers from Smart Card data

The aim of this study is to estimate both the physical and schedule-based connections of metro passengers from their entry and exit times at the gates and the stations, a data set available from Smart Card transactions in a majority of train networks. By examining the Smart Card data, we will observe a set of transit behaviors of metro passengers, which is manifested by the time intervals that identifies the boarding, transferring, or alighting train at a station. The authenticity of the time intervals is ensured by separating a set of passengers whose trip has a unique connection that is predominantly better by all respects than any alternative connection. Since the connections of such passengers, known as reference passengers, can be readily determined and hence their gate times and stations can be used to derive reliable time intervals. To detect an unknown path of a passenger, the proposed method checks, for each alternative connection, if it admits a sequence of boarding, middle train(s), and alighting trains, whose time intervals are all consistent with the gate times and stations of the passenger, a necessary condition of a true connection. Tested on weekly 32 million trips, the proposed method detected unique connections satisfying the necessary condition, which are, therefore, most likely true physical and schedule-based connections in 92.6 and 83.4 %, respectively, of the cases.     

Travel mode choice and travel satisfaction: bridging the gap between decision utility and experienced utility

Over the past decades research on travel mode choice has evolved from work that is informed by utility theory, examining the effects of objective determinants, to studies incorporating more subjective variables such as habits and attitudes. Recently, the way people perceive their travel has been analyzed with transportation-oriented scales of subjective well-being, and particularly the satisfaction with travel scale. However, studies analyzing the link between travel mode choice (i.e., decision utility) and travel satisfaction (i.e., experienced utility) are limited. In this paper we will focus on the relation between mode choice and travel satisfaction for leisure trips (with travel-related attitudes and the built environment as explanatory variables) of study participants in urban and suburban neighborhoods in the city of Ghent, Belgium. It is shown that the built environment and travel-related attitudes—both important explanatory variables of travel mode choice—and mode choice itself affect travel satisfaction. Public transit users perceive their travel most negatively, while active travel results in the highest levels of travel satisfaction. Surprisingly, suburban dwellers perceive their travel more positively than urban dwellers, for all travel modes.     

海平面升高和离岸波高改变对近岸波浪和海岸结构的影响（英文）

In 1994, Townend proposed a method to calculate the relative changes in various wave characteristics and structure-related parameters due to sea level rise for regular waves. The method was extended to irregular waves by Cheon and Suh in 2016. In this study, this method is further extended to include the effect of future change in offshore wave height and the sea level rise. The relative changes in wavelength, refraction coefficient, shoaling coefficient, and wave height in nearshore area are presented as functions of the relative changes in water depth and offshore wave height. The calculated relative changes in wave characteristics are then used to estimate the effect of sea level rise and offshore wave height change on coastal structures by calculating the relative changes in wave run-up height, overtopping discharge, crest freeboard, and armor weight of the structures. The relative changes in wave characteristics and structure-related parameters are all expressed as a function of the relative water depth for various combinations of the relative changes in water depth and offshore wave height.     

采用自动识别系统对水下输气管线、离岸平台和船舶检验评分的实时监测（英文）

The aim of this research is to develop an algorithm and application that can perform real-time monitoring of the safety operation of offshore platforms and subsea gas pipelines as well as determine the need for ship inspection using data obtained from automatic identification system(AIS). The research also focuses on the integration of shipping database,AIS data, and others to develop a prototype for designing a real-time monitoring system of offshore platforms and pipelines. A simple concept is used in the development of this prototype, which is achieved by using an overlaying map that outlines the coordinates of the offshore platform and subsea gas pipeline with the ship's coordinates(longitude/latitude) as detected by AIS. Using such information, we can then build an early warning system(EWS) relayed through short message service(SMS), email, or other means when the ship enters the restricted and exclusion zone of platforms and pipelines. The ship inspection system is developed by combining several attributes. Then, decision analysis software is employed to prioritize the vessel's four attributes, including ship age, ship type, classification, and flag state.Results show that the EWS can increase the safety level of offshore platforms and pipelines, as well as the efficient use of patrol boats in monitoring the safety of the facilities. Meanwhile, ship inspection enables the port to prioritize the ship to be inspected in accordance with the priority ranking inspection score.     

A dynamic approach to road freight flows modeling in Spain

This paper presents an innovative approach to analyzing road vehicle freight traffic that uses a dynamic panel data specification derived from a gravity model. This dynamic approach, which has recently been employed in international goods trade models in lieu of the traditional static specification, is applied to the case of Spain using data for the countrys 15 NUTS-3 regions between 1999 and 2009. Using the system general method of moments approach, we obtained significant evidence that the flow of vehicles carrying commodities by road has a strong persistence effect when controlling for unobserved heterogeneity. We also found that the quality of road transport infrastructure has a significant impact on vehicle trips. According to our findings, we suggest that this type of specification be employed in distribution models in which fixed effects and lags of the dependent variable are included to account for unobserved heterogeneity and persistence effects, respectively.     

Open-type ferry safety system design for using LNG fuel

In this feasibility study, we investigate the viability of using Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) fuel in an open type Ro-Ro passenger ferry and the associated potential challenges with regard to the vessel safety systems. We recommend an appropriate methodology for converting existing ships to run on LNG fuel, discuss all the necessary modifications to the ship’s safety systems, and also evaluate the relevant ship evacuation procedures. We outline the basic requirements with which the ship already complies for each safety system and analyze the additional restrictions that must be taken into consideration for the use of LNG fuel. Appropriate actions are recommended. Furthermore, we carry out a hazard identification study. Overall, we clearly demonstrate the technical feasibility of the investigated scenario. Minimal modifications to the ship’s safety systems are required to comply with existing safety rules for this specific type of ship.     

Decision fusion of a multi-sensing embedded system for occupant safety measures

The need for an embedded system that can fuse incomplete, inconsistent, and imprecise decisions from several sensing systems is a crucial step in achieving an effective decision for occupant safety measures. This paper deals with the decision fusion strategies of a multi-sensing embedded system to achieve significant enhancement in the reliability of occupant safety through the fused decisions. Multi-sensing approaches to determine weight, vision, and crash sensing are developed for occupant detection, classification, position calculation, and crash detection. A rule-based decision fusion algorithm is then developed to fuse the multi-sensing decisions. The developed sensing systems are incorporated into an embedded device. To execute the embedded system, a system interface between the software and hardware is developed using Lab Window/CVI with the C programming language. The experimental results demonstrated that the real time operation of the embedded system validate the effectiveness of the decision fusion algorithm, characterize the safety measures and monitor the decision application. Several events were tested that prove the performance of the embedded system is robust towards occupant safety measures.     

Numerical investigation of turbolag reduction in HD CNG engines by means of exhaust valve variable actuation and spark timing control

Turbocharging port-injected Natural Gas (NG) engines allows them to recover gaseous-fuel related power gap with respect to gasoline engines. However, turbolag reduction is necessary to achieve high performance during engine transient operations and to improve vehicle fun-to-drive characteristics. Significant support for the study of turbocharged Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) engines and guidelines for the turbo-matching process can be provided by 1-D numerical simulation tools. However, 1-D models are predictive only when a careful tuning procedure is set-up and carried out on the basis of the experimental data. In this paper, a 1-D model of a Heavy-Duty (HD) turbocharged CNG engine was set up in the GT-POWER (Gamma Technologies Inc., Westmont, IL, US) environment to simulate transient operations and to evaluate the turbolag. An extensive experimental activity was carried out to provide experimental data for model tuning. The model buildup and tuning processes are described in detail with specific reference to the turbocharger model, whose correct calibration is a key factor in accounting for the effects of turbine flow pulsations. The second part of the paper focuses on the evaluation of different strategies for turbolag reduction, namely, exhaust valve variable actuation and spark timing control. Such strategies were aimed at increasing the engine exhaust-gas power transferred to the turbine, thus reducing the time required to accelerate the turbocharger group. The effects of these strategies were examined for tip-in maneuvers at a fixed engine speed. Depending on the engine speed and the applied turbolag reduction strategy, turbolag reductions from 70% to 10% were achieved.     

Multi-body elastic simulation of a go-kart: Correlation between frame stiffness and dynamic performance

The elastic response of a vehicle to an applied force determines the dynamic performance, comfort, and support of the vehicle, where the elastic response depends primarily on the stiffness of the frame/chassis. Significant variations in the dynamic response of a vehicle are typically achieved with suitable shock absorbing systems, which contribute significantly to whole body flexibility. The defining feature of a go-kart is the lack of devices capable of absorbing shock and dampening vibration. The tires and body of a go-kart, which consist of a frame of welded beams, must also function as a shock absorption system. The objective of this study was to reproduce the elastic behavior of a commercially available Italian go-kart by modeling the frame in a multibody ADAMS environment and to determine the effect of elastic features on the dynamic performance of the vehicle. Frame stiffness was assessed by applying a static torsion moment, while the circular trajectory of the go-kart was evaluated at different speeds and steering wheel angles. The proposed multibody, flexible model was validated by comparing the static and dynamic response of the go-kart in simulated and experimental analyses. The results of numerical simulations demonstrated that this method may be extended to the design of customized go-kart frames and to the tuning of go-karts for specific racing conditions.