Economic policies and seaports: The economic functions of seaports

This paper argues that the economic functions of seaports are to benefit those whose trade passes through them, i.e. through providing increments to consumers' and producers' surpluses. Whilst recent developments in the technologies of seaports (containers, bigger ships, more rapid handling of bulk cargoes) have increased technical efficiency, they have also provided such economies of scale as to reduce some opportunities for competition and, therefore, the probability that cost reductions are actually passed on in this way. For this purpose port costs need to be considered in their entirety, i.e. as generalized transport costs per tonne, comprising money, time and the risks of loss, damage and delay. Such cost reductions will lead to expanded trade in a variety of ways.

This statement of the economic function of seaports is contrasted with views that they should try to increase employment in their locality, or that they should maximize profits.     

A conceptual framework of individual activity program generation

The research in this paper attempts to better understand the process by which activities are generated at an individual level. Activity-based travel analyses have gained popularity in recent years because they recognize the complexity of activity behavior and view travel as a derivative of this behavior. Most activity-based studies have focused on the spatial and temporal linkage of trips; that is, the scheduling of activities. They consider the agenda of activities for participation, and associated attributes of the activity participation (such as mode to activity and location of activity performance), as predetermined. This paper develops a comprehensive conceptual framework of the relatively unexplored area of activity agenda generation. Such a framework will be valuable in empirical modeling of activity generation behavior. A subsequent paper focuses on translating a part of this conceptual framework into an empirical model.     

用特性模型分析IGBT功耗

文章介绍了IGBT特性模型的建模技术.通过特性模型简化了IGBT功耗的分析和计算,评估了正弦电路应用中IGBT的结温和损耗.仿真结果证实了特性模型的可行性.     

Overview of Coupling of Multibody and Control Engineering Tools

The role of Computer Aided Engineering in vehicle development has been significantly increased during the last decade. Specialised simulation tools became very complex, however, growing demands on complexity and particularly interdisciplinarity of vehicles and their simulation models have led to a number of approaches trying either to develop multidisciplinary simulation tools or to connect various specialised simulation tools by interfaces. This paper addresses some aspects of interconnection of the specialised simulation tools as one possibility for simulating complex mechatronic vehicle systems. It classifies the interfaces between specialised software packages in general, mentions some historical development of the interfacing and further discusses the examples of the implemented couplings between the Multibody System codes and Computer Aided Control Engineering tools. Finally, the performance of selected interfaces is compared on an example simulation of a controlled vehicle suspension.     

基于DRNN神经网络的PD混合控制技术在船舶动力定位系统中的应用

船舶在海上运动是一种复杂的非线性运动，其水动力系数很难精确确定，而海洋环境的随机干扰因素也在不断地发生变化，因此需要研究具有鲁棒性和自适应能力的船舶动力定位控制技术。PID控制在优化参数的条件下，对于能够建立精确数学模型的确定性系统具有鲁棒性好和可靠性高的特点，但对于船舶运动这样复杂的非线性系统其控制效果不理想，而神经网络具有自学习和自适应能力，因此需要结合两者的特点，设计自适应能力强、鲁棒性好的控制技术。本文研究了基于DRNN神经网络的PD混合控制技术，并将其应用到船舶动力定位系统。仿真结果表明该方法有效，且具有较好的鲁棒性和自适应能力，提高了动力定位系统的精度和性能。