Mobility, social exclusion and well-being: Exploring the links

Building on a growing research foundation, transport policy makers have begun to associate the ability to be mobile with having a role in the facilitation of social inclusion. However, the further connection to well-being is not as well understood. This paper explores the association between a person’s travel patterns, their risk of social exclusion and self-assessed well-being. Key influences on social exclusion are discussed, with trip making emerging as a significant influence. Trip making is not a significant direct influence on well-being but does exercise an indirect influence through the impact on risk of social exclusion. The modelling process enables a value for additional trips to be estimated, the value being about four times the values derived from conventional generated traffic approaches. Similar high values are found in separate metropolitan and regional case studies, confirming the significance of the results.     

中国城市道路规划方位性问题研究

文章结合中国的传统建筑文化理念和现代科学原理,从历史文化、能源节约、环境保护、房地产定价、交通安全等多方面分析研究了城市道路在规划和设计时所应遵从的定向规则。     

Location of bus garages

The location of bus garages is a complex issue that has received recent attention in the literature. Given a bus system, the number of bus garages and their locations depend on garage cost, deadheading cost and environmental impacts. An approximate analytical model is used to determine the number of bus garages that minimizes the above costs. The concept of a slowly varying density of bus-route origins (hence deadheads) per unit area is used to model deadheading costs. The increased deadheading caused by breakdowns and accidents is also considered. The garage cost is modeled as a function of the number of buses stored. A closed-form solution is obtained for the optimal density of garages, when the garage cost function is linear. The actual locations of garages and the allocations of buses to the garages are found using a discrete space location-allocation model formulated so as to consider the environmental impact associated with buses deadheading through populated neighborhoods.     

Improvement of long-term lives of rubber gaskets of polyacrylate (ACM) by employing carboxyl cure sites

Rubber gaskets are used widely in many industries. An evaluation of the material properties and an accurate lifetime prediction of rubber are very important in the design process to ensure the durability and reliability of rubber components. The properties of rubber-like materials are sensitive to ambient conditions, such as temperature, environment and mechanical load. Moreover, the initial properties of rubber gaskets must be sustained under working conditions to maintain its sealing function. To perform tests within a reasonable time, the highly accelerated life test (HALT) is generally used to predict the long-term lifetime of rubber materials. Polyacrylate (ACM) with chlorine cure sites is generally used for engine head gaskets. An ACM with carboxyl cure sites was developed to improve the lifetime of the gaskets. A four-parameter method representing the recovery behavior of the gaskets was published recently, and two revised methods for obtaining the recovery were proposed. The mean squared errors (MSEs) of the regression methods and experimental data were compared. The life of a gasket for the target recovery (60%) of a compressed gasket was calculated somewhat differently depending on the selected regression model to predict a considerably different long-term life. The parameters in the regression models were obtained using the successive zooming genetic algorithm (SZGA), and the lives of ACM with a carboxyl cure site and ACM with a chlorine cure site were compared.     

A Novel Image Encryption Technique Based on Inter Block Difference

Data security plays a vital role in the current scenario due to the advanced and sophisticated data access techniques.Present development in data access is alwa...     

Dynamic Performance of a Bulkhead Flat Car

The dynamic performance of a flat car is studied herein. The performance indices include roll angles, lateral accelerations, center plate loads, side bearing loads, wheel loads and spring deflections. These variables are maximum when the car is running at its critical speed, corresponding to either the rock and roll, or the bounce mode. The Association of American Railroads' (AAR) Flexible Carbody Model was used. The input for vertical track irregularities used in the simulation was generated from published spectra for U.S. Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) Class 4 track. After studying the car's performance with various column loads and spring suspensions, it was found that the most commonly used column load of 4,000 lbs. (17.8 kN) should be used. The spring suspension used in the original car design should also be adopted, in order to avoid spring bottoming.     

Computer-Simulation of the Dynamical Curving Behaviour of a Railway-Bogie

This paper describes the modelling of a two axle railway-bogie with variable design configurations and its application in the investigation of the behaviour in transitional and circular curves. Several results indicate possibilities to improve the curving properties and recommend the usage of forced-steering bogies, which show better performance in narrow curves without unbearable sacrifices to high-speed-behaviour on straight track.     

Development of an LIF image processing technique for measuring drop sizes in a pre-swirl spray

Depth of field effects in laser sheet imaging were considered for droplet sizing of a pre-swirl spray. A pre-swirl spray is formed before the hollow-cone type main-swirl spray from a D.I. gasoline injector, and shows transient characteristics with high axial velocity. A microscopic imaging technique was applied to obtain high spatial resolution LIF tomograms of the pre-swirl spray. A 1 mm thick Nd:YAG laser sheet was used as a light source to make the LIF tomograms that were imaged using a high-resolution CCD camera. The droplet sizing of the pre-swirl spray was carried out using an image processing technique. In the image processing procedure, the laser sheet-straddling large-sized droplets were carefully taken into account to remove the errors caused by the depth of field effects from the limited thickness and the energy distribution of the laser sheet. The mean intensity of the individual droplets and the line profile of the LIF signal around the droplet edge were inspected to screen the laser sheet-straddling large-sized droplets. In order to consider the effects of the size-dependent LIF signal intensity, the size-classified or ensemble-averaged mean intensity of the individual droplets was introduced. The mean droplet sizes such as AMD and SMD were calculated using only screened droplets, and they slightly increase before considering the depth of field effects.     

Links between subjective and objective evaluations regarding the steering character of automobiles

This work presents an experiment on the relationships between subjective and objective evaluations of vehicle handling. Ten cars were examined objectively in several open-loop driving dynamics manoeuvres and subjectively by test persons in typical traffic situations. Results are extracted from a stationary test (the Slowly Increasing Steer Test), and a dynamical test (the Frequency Response Test). The subjective measurements are obtained from drivers on a rural road course via a questionnaire, which was developed to separately investigate the quantity level perception, the so-called “Niveau”, and the more qualitative “Liking”. These subjective “measurements” are embedded into a two-channel definition of “Steering Comfort” as a genus for “Steering Discomfort” and “Character”. The article concentrates on developing a statistical method for the consideration of correlations amongst the subjective/objective data. In doing so, the variance in example subjective Niveau ratings can be significantly explained by several objective quantities. Indicators for co-domains of validated discomfort characteristics and hints for endeavouring character Liking ranges are detected.