Grande vitesse ferroviaire et développement économique local : une revue de la littérature

Many high-speed rail (HSR) projects exist in Europe and elsewhere in the world and generate many expectations: economic development, location of new firms and new population, development of tourism, effect on real estate. But these expectations are not always fulfilled. For academic researchers, the myth of the existence of a linear causality between transport infrastructures and spatial, social and economic transformations, according to which automatic effects will occur, has been challenged for a long time. But sometimes, new economic dynamism can be observed. The aim of this paper is to present a review of academic and non-academic literature in order to understand why there is a gap between the academic literature and the regional stakeholders’ expectations.     

Solutions to the optimal network design problem with shipments related to transportation cost

Two versions of an optimal network design problem with shipments proportional to transportation costs are formulated. Extensions of an algorithm developed in prior research for solving these problems are proposed and tested. The performance of the algorithms is found to improve substantially as the dependence of shipments on costs is increased. Moreover, the optimal solutions obtained are unexpectedly robust with respect to a wide range of transportation cost assumptions. These findings could have important computational and policy implications if applicable to larger networks.     

Paleoclimatic evolution of the Galician continental shelf (NW of Spain) during the last 3000 years: from a storm regime to present conditions

A multiproxy study of the sedimentary record carried out on gravity core CGPL00-1 retrieved from the outer Galician continental shelf (NW of Spain) has allowed us to establish the main climate fluctuations affecting the region during the Upper Holocene. Grain size, TOC, C/N ratio, biogenic opal and planktonic foraminifera are the main analysed parameters. Lithology and grain size distribution lead to identify two sedimentary sequences: a lower half mainly composed by glauconitic sand and a muddy upper half. A chronology has been established based on three AMS radiocarbon ages, 907 cal. BC, 898 cal. BC and 1399 AD, and the aforementioned sedimentary sequences. The obtained radiocarbon ages are the first dated sediment samples for the Galician continental shelf. Geochemical markers show different trends in both sequences: low and/or fluctuating values in the sandy sequence and high and relatively constant values in the upper muddy sequence. The whole sandy interval is interpreted to be a nearly instantaneous deposit from a distal storm ebb current. The muddy interval was deposited in a stable and low-energy marine environment, similar to that found on the present outer shelf. The shift from a storm-dominated shelf to a low-energy environment took place synchronous with the Subboreal/Subatlantic transition, when an increase in storminess appears related to climatic instability. Transitional planktonic foraminiferal assemblage dominates the whole record, although a change to more abundant cold water species at 1420 AD, may relate to an intense upwelling pulse, probably reinforced by colder atmospheric temperatures during the Little Ice Age (LIA). Despite the presence of an upwelling regime since 1420 AD, lesser amount of opal has accumulated in the outer shelf due to enhanced offshore transport and stronger remineralization.     

用于低压和高压器件的IGBT的额定过载特性

具有薄n基区和低掺杂场截止层新结构的非穿通绝缘栅双极型晶体管NPT IGBT明显降低了总损耗.特别是场截止概念与挖槽晶体管单元的结合能产生通态电压最小、开关损耗最低、载流子浓度近乎理想的器件.这种概念在600V～6.5 kV以上的IGBT和二极管中得到了发展.当折衷性能和总耐量与电压和电流额定值无关时,低压器件的开关特性与高压晶体管(VBr＞2 kV)的处理方法不同.采用HE-EMCON二极管和高达1 700 V的新型场截止NPT IGBT,几乎不受开关性能的限制,不过,需考虑的是外部栅极电阻必须取确定值.相比低压晶体管,高压器件的电流密度较低,因而高压二极管和IGBT中的"动态"电场强度更临界.     

An idealized model of interaction between fronds of the large seaweed Durvillaea antarctica

The effect of interactions between individual fronds in a bed of the large intertidal seaweed Durvillaea antarctica, when forced by breaking waves, is studied using a computational model. The model simulates the response of a seaweed bed using a sequence of connected oscillators which are excited by a propagating forcing function representing a breaking ocean wave. Two new facets of the interplay between seaweeds and hydrodynamics are considered: (i) wave forcing due to breaking waves is often not sinusoidal in the rocky intertidal zone and (ii) a frond interaction term is included. The addition of frond interaction reduces the maximum loading on individuals within the bed by around 30% using estimated biomechanical parameters. The rate of change of the loading on the holdfast (equivalent to the “jerk”) is affected in a similar or greater fashion.     

Public private partnerships in transportation: Some insights from the European experience

Most EU member states and the European Commission regard the PPP as an important tool to attract additional financial resources for high priority investments such as transport. The objective of this paper is to delineate the EU panorama of PPP markets and investigate the impacts of EU institutions in the development and success of this type of financial arrangement for the transport sector in Europe. We examine how the scope of the PPP in Europe is based on the flexibility and adaptability of the contract to the features of the project and to the economic and institutional environment. These issues are illustrated through a number of examples in the transport sector. We conclude by observing that the market for PPPs, although still fragmented nationally, is developing a European dimension and attracting resources from a variety of players.     

Establishment of Model for Tire Steady State Cornering Properties using Experimental Modal Parameters

Modeling of tire cornering properties using experimental modal parameters is studied. With tire lateral experimental modal parameters, the distribution of side force and lateral deformation under total adhesive and sliding conditions are obtained. Side force, self-aligning, cornering stiffness and relaxation length under different loads and friction coefficients are also calculated. The calculated results are in correspondence to experimental results in the references qualitatively. The non-dimensional side force obtained from the calculated results is compared with the Fiala model, its modified expression by experiments and also the widely used empirical Magic Formula model. The calculated results tally well with the fitted results obtained using Magic Formula model. It can be seen that the tire steady state cornering model using experimental modal parameters proposed in this paper is better for an in-depth study of tire natural characteristics, and the labored experimental work can be avoided.     

Dynamic system-optimal traffic assignment using a state space model

We propose a new mathematical formulation for the problem of optimal traffic assignment in dynamic networks with multiple origins and destinations. This problem is motivated by route guidance issues that arise in an Intelligent Vehicle-Highway Systems (IVHS) environment. We assume that the network is subject to known time-varying demands for travel between its origins and destinations during a given time horizon. The objective is to assign the vehicles to links over time so as to minimize the total travel time experienced by all the vehicles using the network. We model the traffic network over the time horizon as a discrete-time dynamical system. The system state at each time instant is defined in a way that, without loss of optimality, avoids complete microscopic detail by grouping vehicles into platoons irrespective of origin node and time of entry to network. Moreover, the formulation contains no explicit path enumeration. The state transition function can model link travel times by either impedance functions, link outflow functions, or by a combination of both. Two versions (with different boundary conditions) of the problem of optimal traffic assignment are studied in the context of this model. These optimization problems are optimal control problems for nonlinear discrete-time dynamical systems, and thus they are amenable to algorithmic solutions based on dynamic programming. The computational challenges associated with the exact solution of these problems are discussed and some heuristics are proposed.