Multidimensional visualization of transit smartcard data using space–time plots and data cubes

Given the wide application of automatic fare collection systems in transit systems across the globe, smartcard data with on- and/or off-boarding information has become a new source of data to understand passenger flow patterns. This paper uses Nanjing, China as a case study and examines the possibility of using the data cube technique in data mining to understand space–time travel patterns of Nanjing rail transit users. One month of smartcard data in October, 2013 was obtained from Nanjing rail transit system, with a total of over 22 million transaction records. We define the original data cube for the smartcard data based on four dimensions—Space, Date, Time, and User, design a hierarchy for each dimension, and use the total number of transactions as the quantitative measure. We develop modules using the programming language Python and share them as open-source on GitHub to enable peer production and advancement in the field. The visualizations of two-dimensional slices of the data cube show some interesting patterns such as different travel behaviors across user groups (e.g. students vs. elders), and irregular peak hours during National Holiday (October 1st–7th) compared to regular morning and afternoon peak hours during regular working weeks. Spatially, multidimensional visualizations show concentrations of various activity opportunities near metro rail stations and the changing popularities of rail stations through time accordingly. These findings support the feasibility and efficiency of the data cube technique as a mean of visual exploratory analysis for massive smart-card data, and can contribute to the evaluation and planning of public transit systems.     

Mode choice and travel distance joint models in school trips

We test a copula-based joint discrete–continuous model to unravel mode choice and travel distance decisions in a joint framework for school trips. This framework explicitly accounts for common unobserved factors that may affect both the mode choice and travel distance. Joint estimation of the models makes a significant difference in the effect of travel distance on willingness to walk to school. The absolute value of the travel distance coefficient in the mode choice model increases by 22% when a joint formulation is adopted instead of the conventional single estimations. We find a significant decrease of 19% in the coefficient of travel safety perception in the joint mode choice model compared to the single model. This underscores the impact of model specification, in terms of the variable effect interpretation and policy assessments. The effect magnitude of several policy-sensitive variables is discussed and compared with previous studies. Particularly, we indicate that the probability of walking is reduced by 0.85% due to a 1% increase in travel distance; accordingly, it propels parents to select non-active modes, particularly school bus. This study also demonstrates how addressing parental concerns about travel safety could double the propensity to walk to school.     

How the longer term success of a social marketing program is influenced by socio-demographics and the built environment

Urban sprawl is pervasive in Australian cities arising from the low density development of dwellings with the consequence that private vehicle use dominates daily travel in Australia. This paper examines a community based social marketing program, TravelSmart, which targeted reducing vehicle kilometres travelled as part of a transport demand management strategy. This paper uses 3-year panel data collected by GPS tracking and a conventional survey methodology in northern Adelaide, South Australia, to examine whether TravelSmart had a sustained impact and whether this was impacted by socio-economic and built-environment factors. A latent growth model is employed and demonstrates TravelSmart led to a declining trend in private car driving over the 3 years at both individual and household levels with effects being sustained beyond 1 year and up to 2 years. There is some evidence of compensatory behaviour between household members. Socio-demographic factors are significant with males decreasing their driving times faster than females. Built environment impacts were also significant with different levels of walkability showing different trajectories in the reduction of car trips after the implementation of TravelSmart, suggesting social marketing interventions work better when supported by hard policies such as a supportive built environment.     

The role of individual characteristics in car ownership shortly after relationship dissolution

The dissolution of a relationship is a life event that often coincides with many other changes in life, such as a decline in income level or household size or a change in place of residence. This study aims to provide more insight into the ways in which circumstances shortly following the disruption of a relationship affect travel behaviour. Register data that combines information on the Dutch population, income and vehicle registration are used to understand how personal situations that are closely related to relationship disruption affect car ownership. The study shows that several characteristics of singles and single partners shortly after a breakup negatively affect car ownership. For instance, a relatively low income level, unemployment, living in a city or a residential move all affect car ownership negatively. This study focuses on the role of circumstances shortly after relationship disruption, demonstrating the importance of such an event.     

Model-based fault detection and isolation in automotive yaw moment control system

This paper presents a model-based fault detection and isolation technique for automotive yaw moment control system. For this purpose, a novel fault detection and isolation algorithm for a class of actuator-plant systems is proposed. Compared with the existing fault detection and isolation techniques that can only isolate a target fault or require multiple observers to isolate multiple faults, a unique strength of the proposed algorithm is its ability to isolate faults at the component level solely based on the residuals generated by a single observer. The validity of the proposed algorithm, applied to automotive yaw moment control system, is investigated via a simulation study based on a realistic vehicle dynamics model. The results suggest that the proposed algorithm can isolate the component subject to fault while effectively handling two perennial nuisances: sensitivity to disturbances and false alarms due to uncertainties.     

Logical control approach to fuel efficiency optimization for commuting vehicles

A novel gearshift control approach for improving the fuel efficiency of the conventional commuting vehicles is addressed in this paper, where the optimization problem for gear control is formulated in the framework of stochastic logical dynamic system. By extracting the stochastic features of the driver acceleration intention in the specific route, the Markov process model is deduced and then applied for the optimization algorithm. Based on the logical system framework, the finite horizon optimization problem is solved by means of the algebraic expression of the dynamic programming algorithm with a lower computational complexity, thereby resulting in an optimal gearshift decision law in statistical sense. The software simulation and engine-in-the-loop based experiment results demonstrate the better fuel economy performance can be achieved by the proposed logic control scheme.     

Investigation of improved approaches to bayes risk decoding

Bayes risk (BR) decoding methods have been widely investigated in the speech recognition area due to its flexibility and complexity compared with the maximum a posteriori (MAP) method regarding to minimum word error (MWE) optimization. This paper investigates two improved approaches to the BR decoding, aiming at minimizing word error. The novelty of the proposed methods is shown in the explicit optimization of the objective function, the value of which is calculated by an improved forward algorithm on the lattice. However, the result of the first method is obtained by an expectation maximization (EM) like iteration, while the result of the second one is achieved by traversing the confusion network (CN), both of which lead to an optimized objective function value with distinct approaches. Experimental results indicate that the proposed methods result in an error reduction for lattice rescoring, compared with the traditional CN method for lattice rescoring.     

Security analysis of application layer protocols on wireless local area networks

This paper aims at analyzing the security issues that lie in the application layer (AL) protocols when users connect to the Internet via a wireless local area network (WLAN) through an access point. When adversaries launch deauthentication flood attacks cutting users’ connection, the connection managers will automatically research the last access point’s extended service set identifier (ESSID) and then re-establish connection. However, such re-connection can lead the users to a fake access point with the same ESSID set by attackers. As the attackers hide behind users’ access points, they can pass AL’s authentication and security schemes, e.g. secure socket layer (SSL). We have proved that they can even spy on users’ account details, passwords, data and privacy.