Thermo-oxidative degradation of a carbon black compounded EPDM rubber hose

A method to measure the crosslink density of carbon black was used to analyze the aging behavior of a radiator hose made of carbon black filled EPDM (ethylene-propylene diene monomer) rubber under thermo-oxidative stresses. The crosslink density and the strength of the skin of the rubber specimens initially decreased slightly but then increased over time. The elongation at the break considerably reduced and did not show any similarity to the behaviors of the crosslink density. A possible cause of this reaction might be from the formation of rigid sulphoxide crosslinks and the crosslinks produced by the reaction of unvalcunized sulfurs. Aging the rubber specimens at 180°C caused a slight increase in the crosslink density and a large decrease in tensile strength and elongation. The aging experiment also caused a rapid increase of microhardness in the surface skin region. The formation of carbonyl groups in EPDM molecule chains and the formation of rigid sulphoxide crosslink, rather than the crosslink density variation, may have had a large influence. The changing behaviours of the mechanical properties, molecule chains and crosslinks showed significantly different characteristics in the skin and the interior with aging temperature and time.     

La diffusion du permis de conduire en France

Transportation has undergone extraordinary growth during the last century, and has continued to do so throughout the twenty-first century. The knowledge of mobility in France is partly based on National Travel Surveys. These surveys have been conducted on five occasions in France (1966–1967, 1973–1974, 1981–1982, 1993–1994 and 2007–2008), and have provided five photographies of the level of mobility for French households. The paper aims at analyzing the distribution of driving licenses amongst the French population during the past 40 years, and to study the inequality of access to driving licenses according to several socio-demographic criteria. The results emphasize, firstly, the increase in the number of driving license holders from among the elderly and a decrease for those under 25 years and, secondly, the reduction in gender inequalities, whilst these however continue to exist. The paper additionally highlights that the area of residence played a bigger role in 2007 compared to 1993.     

Effect of fuel metering on combustion and emissions of a PFI gasoline engine during fast startup under an HEV-like mode

In this paper, the transient conditions during fast startup are investigated to develop a fuel metering strategy under HEV-like mode. The fuel mixture preparation and its effects on the combustion are analyzed in detail. Specifically, the combustion in the first cycle is characterized under both conventional low-speed cranking startup and HEV-like fast startup modes. The test results show that the enhancement of cranking speed has marginal effects on mixture preparation in the first cycle. However, it prolongs the combustion duration and reduces HC emissions. The sensitivity of the fuel metering is evaluated for the initial cycles. The combustion in the 3rd ~ 5th cycles during startup is found to be fairly sensitive to the fuel metering due to the effects of transient fuel film vaporization. The fuel metering in the first cycle has the most significant effect on the combustion and emissions during fast startup. Optimized fuel metering in the first cycle shows effective reduction of HC emissions during fast startup process.     

Safety, security, the environment and shipping: The problem of making effective policies

This paper examines where problems of shipping policy jurisdiction between international, supra-national and national levels have occurred. These range across the issues of public goods — safety, security and environment— and show up inadequacies in the current shipping policy-making processes. New frameworks — commonly termed “polycentric governance” and “multi-level governance”— sensitive to the complexities of the maritime industry and its associated political structure urgently need to be adopted. The paper is based upon research work recently carried out across the European Union supported by a number of publications and will include examples from Greece, the United Kingdom, Spain, France and also the new member states. Suggestions for improvements in policy-making structures will be made and recommendations put forward for consideration by policy-makers in the maritime sector at all jurisdictional levels     

Th-derived particulate organic carbon fluxes in the northern Barents Sea with comparison to drifting sediment trap fluxes

Large-volume sampling of ²³⁴Th was conducted to estimate particulate organic carbon (POC) export in conjunction with drifting sediment trap deployments in the northern Barents Sea in July 2003 and May 2005. ²³⁴Th-derived POC fluxes averaged 42.3 ± 39.7 mmol C m^− 2 d^− 1 in 2003 and 47.1 ± 30.6 mmol C m^− 2 d^− 1 in 2005. Sediment trap POC fluxes averaged 13.1 ± 8.2 mmol C m^− 2 d^− 1 in 2003 and 17.3 ± 11.4 mmol C m^− 2 d^− 1 in 2005, but better reflected the transient bloom conditions that were observed at each station within a season. Although ²³⁴Th fluxes agreed within a factor 2 at most stations and depths sampled, sediment trap POC fluxes were lower than large-volume POC flux estimates at almost every station. This may represent an under-collection of POC by the drifting sediment traps or, conversely, an over-collection of POC by the large-volume sampling of ²³⁴Th. It is hypothesized that the offset between the two methods is partly due to the presence of the prymnesiophyte Phaeocystis pouchetii, which potentially causes a large variation in > 53-μm POC/²³⁴Th ratios. Due to the large proportion of dissolved carbon or mucilage released by P. pouchetii, and because it is thought that P. pouchetii does not contribute significantly to the vertical export of biogenic matter in the Barents Sea, the application of large-volume sampling of ²³⁴Th may yield relatively high, and possibly inaccurate POC/²³⁴Th ratios. Hence, POC fluxes derived from ²³⁴Th sampling may be inappropriate and drifting sediment traps might be a more reliable method to measure the vertical export of biogenic matter in regions that have recurrent P. pouchetii blooms, such as the Barents Sea.     

Simulating pedestrian movements at signalized crosswalks in Hong Kong

This paper presents a new pedestrian simulation (PS) model for signalized crosswalks in Hong Kong. This PS model is capable of estimating the variations of walking speed particularly on the effects of bi-directional pedestrian flows so as to determine the minimum required duration of pedestrian crossing time. Video records taken from the observational surveys at the selected crosswalk in urban area were used to extract the required data for model calibration. It was found that the design walking speed for signalized crosswalks should be varied by the effects of the bi-directional pedestrian flows. It was also interesting to note that the negative impact of the bi-directional flow effects (ranging from uni-directional to bi-directional pedestrian flows) on the chance of pedestrian crossing the crosswalk is increasing from free-flow to at-capacity flow conditions. The new PS model is also validated using an independent data set so as to examine the reliability of the simulation results. The validation results show that the new PS model can provide an accurate evaluation on the changes of walking speed and its standard deviation under different scenarios with particular emphasis on the effects of the bi-directional pedestrian flows. The advancement of this PS model can be applied to assess the effects of each improvement measure and to evaluate the benefits of each scenario in practice.     

On the convergence of Bell's logit assignment formulation

In Bell M.G.H. (1995. Transportation Research B 29, 287–295), a new logit assignment formulation was developed, which considered all possible paths in the network while still retaining the absence of a need for path enumeration. In his formulation, it presumes that the sum of a geometric series of the weights matrix always converges and hence can be computed as the inversion of a matrix. In this paper, we investigate the convergence properties of this geometric series by means of an eigensystem interpretation which states that the series converges if and only if all the eigenvalues associated with the weights matrix fall into the unit circle in a complex plane. It is found that the geometric series converges unconditionally for acyclic networks, but not necessarily does so for general networks.     

Modeling urban taxi services in road networks: Progress,problem and prospect

Traditionally, many economists have examined the models and economics of urban taxi services under various types of regulation such as entry restriction and price control in an aggregate way. Only recently have we modeled urban taxi services in a network context. A realistic method has been proposed to describe vacant and occupied taxi movements in a road network and taxi drivers' search behavior for customers. A few extensions have been made to deal with demand elasticity and congestion effects together with development of efficient solution algorithms. Calibration and validation of the network taxi service models have been conducted towards their practical applications. This paper presents an overview of the research that has been carried out by the authors to develop network equilibrium models and solution algorithms for urban taxi services, and offers perspectives for future researches.     

Comparison of two injection systems in an HSDI diesel engine using split injection and different injector nozzles

The demand for reduced pollutant emissions has motivated various technological advances in passenger car diesel engines. This paper presents a study comparing two fuel injection systems and analyzing their combustion noise and pollutant emissions. The abilities of different injection strategies to meet strict regulations were evaluated. The difficult task of maintaining a constant specific fuel consumption while trying to reduce pollutant emissions was the aim of this study. The engine being tested was a 0.287-liter single-cylinder engine equipped with a common-rail injection system. A solenoid and a piezoelectric injector were tested in the engine. The engine was operated under low load conditions using two injection events, high EGR rates, no swirl, three injection pressures and eight different dwell times. Four injector nozzles with approximately the same fuel injection rate were tested using the solenoid injection system (10 and 12 orifice configuration) and piezoelectric system (6 and 12 orifice design). The injection system had a significant influence on pollutant emissions and combustion noise. The piezoelectric injector presented the best characteristics for future studies since it allows for shorter injection durations and greater precision, which means smaller fuel mass deliveries with faster responses.     

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.