Driving environment assessment using fusion of in- and out-of-vehicle vision systems

Because the overall driving environment consists of a complex combination of the traffic Environment, Vehicle, and Driver (EVD), Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) must consider not only events from each component of the EVD but also the interactions between them. Although previous researchers focused on the fusion of the states from the EVD (EVD states), they estimated and fused the simple EVD states for a single function system such as the lane change intent analysis. To overcome the current limitations, first, this paper defines the EVD states as driver’s gazing region, time to lane crossing, and time to collision. These states are estimated by enhanced detection and tracking methods from in- and out-of-vehicle vision systems. Second, it proposes a long-term prediction method of the EVD states using a time delayed neural network to fuse these states and a fuzzy inference system to assess the driving situation. When tested with real driving data, our system reduced false environment assessments and provided accurate lane departure, vehicle collision, and visual inattention warning signals.     

Physical-chemical properties of ethanol-diesel blend fuel and its effect on the performance and emissions of a turbocharged diesel engine

This paper deals with the main physical-chemical properties of ethanol-diesel blend and the effects of ethanoldiesel blends (up to 15% volume) on engine performance (full load torque vs. engine speed, BSEC vs. torque at 1400 r/min and 2300 r/min, and effect of start of injection angle) and emissions in ECE R49 tests (steady 13 points) using a 6.6 L inline 6-cylinder turbocharged direct injection diesel engine. The results show that an increase in ethanol fraction results in decreased viscosity of the blend fuel and very high distillation characteristics in the low temperature range. Solvents can improve the solubility of ethanol-diesel blends. The engine power was degraded proportional to the ethanol content (10% and 15%) due to the LHV (low heating value) of the blends. The higher latent heat of vaporization and lower CN (cetane number) of ethanol, which results from the steady state emissions of CO, HC, and SOF (soluble organic fraction), were much higher in the ECE R49 tests at low loads. Soot (solid mass) emissions were improved. The particulate matter emissions were significantly increased with higher blend volumes, and NOx emissions slightly increased with higher ethanol volumes. By increasing the injection angle properly, the performance parameters of the diesel engine were improved, but NOx emissions were deteriorated slightly.     

Analysis of intended bus usage

In order to plan bus operations, it is necessary for transit planners to understand what factors may influence travelers’ choice of buses for travels within a city. The proposed method involves various scenarios of a hypothetical bus operation which was rated by a group of individuals.

Analysis of Covariance technique is employed to analyze people's sensitivities to their perceived levels of bus service characteristics. The technique involves:

1. testing for the significant effects of varying levels of service characteristics upon people's intentions to use bus service, and

2. assessing differences among various population segments in their sensitivity patterns towards bus service characteristics.

Results from the application of the technique to attitudinal data collected by the Orange County Transit District indicate that bus service characteristics do influence, independently and jointly, respondents’ stated intentions to use buses.

Sensitivity pattern differed across the five homogeneous segments identified in an earlier research based on socioeconomic characteristics.

One segment (an older, predominatly male population segment with higher home ownership level and lower income than the rest of the sample) was relatively insensitive to changes in bus fare and was influenced by changes in headway independent of changes in access distance. Another segment consisting of fewer registered voters with lower education also exhibited similar independent impact of headway and access distance.

The technique is especially useful in reducing a large number of proposed alternative bus systems to a smaller set for further planning considerations by specifying the ranges within which variation of service characteristic would cause substantial changes in the intended usage responses.     

Exploring the effects of passenger rail franchising in Britain: Evidence from the first two rounds of franchising (1997-2008)

This paper provides an up-to-date review of the previous literature concerning the impact of passenger rail franchising on productivity and costs in Britain, and also presents important new evidence. In particular, the extension in time of previously-used datasets offers the first opportunity to study the impacts of re-franchising. The previous literature emphasised the failure of franchising to produce sustained productivity gains, with a sharp deterioration in productivity after 2000. The new evidence presented offers a somewhat more positive view of the British experience. It suggests that part of what was previously considered to be falling productivity may in fact be due to exogenous changes in diesel prices. Further, new data suggests that the recent increases in costs have resulted in higher quality of service. Finally, competitive re-franchising, and the associated unwinding of short-term management and re-negotiated contracts, seems to have led to improvements in productivity between 2006 and 2008. Nevertheless, it remains the case that passenger rail franchising in Britain has failed to reduce costs in the way experienced in many other industries and in rail in other European countries. The evidence is that somewhat larger franchises, avoiding overlapping and optimising train density and length, should reduce costs. We also speculate that the major increase in wages and conditions of staff might be moderated by longer franchises, although that remains to be proved. This re-appraisal of the British case is important in the context of the wider international interest in the use of franchising in passenger rail, and its relevance to the current review of ways of introducing competition into the domestic rail passenger market in Europe.     

Analysis of the Stability of the Shield Tunnel Excavation Face Considering Fluid-Solid Coupling Effect北大核心CSCD

In order to study the impacts of the transient seepage on the stability of tunnel excavation face during the installation of lining segments, the fluid-solid coupling effect based numerical model of the tunnel excavation face was developed by the finite element software PLAXIS. With adoption of the variablecontrolling approach, the influences of the depth/diameter ratio (the ratio of the buried depth to diameter of the tunnel) and the support pressure ratio (the ratio of the face support pressure to water and soil pressures ahead of the excavation face) on the face stability and ground settlement were investigated, respectively. At same time, the failure modes of the excavation face under the fluid-solid coupling analysis were also discussed. The results show that:1) the transient seepage leads to the development of the soil arching at the front of the excavation face, in which the smaller deformation at the excavation face is achieved, and so less support pressure for the face stability is allowed. While for the plastic analysis without taking into account the effect of transient seepage, a higher support pressure is required to maintain the stability of the excavation face; 2) in the fluid-solid coupling analysis, the depth/diameter ratio has less impacts on the stability of the excavation surface, but has larger impacts on the ground settlement. The larger the depth/diameter ratio, the larger the ground surface settlement and the settlement profile; 3) however, with the combination of the decrease of the support pressure and the impact of transient seepage on the settlement of ground surface, the soil arching effect in front of the excavation face is gradually reduced. The deformation zone at the ground surface is then connected with the deformed part ahead of the tunnel face to form a wedge-shaped soil sliding zone. It is also observed that the wedge-shaped body tends to have a larger funnel-shaped failure mode than that in the plastic analysis without considering the transient seepage. The results show that the transient seepage has a great impact on the stability of tunnel excavation face in the soil condition with high permeability ratio. The fluid-solid coupling analysis should be adopted to evaluate the deformation of excavation face and ground settlement. © 2018, Editorial Office of "Modern Tunnelling Technology". All right reserved.     

Model Test on Mechanism of Shear Resistance Borne by Concrete Shear Key and Friction of Element Joint of the Immersed Tunnel北大核心CSCD

By scale model tests, it proves the mechanism mode of shear resistance borne by friction of contact area and concrete shear key in different contact stress states and cushion thicknesses of shear key. The results show that friction plays a significant role on shear resistance of element joint. © 2018, Editorial Office of "Modern Tunnelling Technology". All right reserved.     

Multi-agent system with iterative auction mechanism for master bay plan problem in marine logistics

The support of containerization to trade development demands an efficient solution method for the container loading problem in order to reduce shipment and handling time. Hence, the stowage planning of containers is critical to provide speedy delivery of resources from the area of supply to the area of demand. Moreover, information on container terminal activities, structure of ship, and characteristics of containers is distributed among stowage planners. This information imposes constraints, and so the master bay plan problem (MBPP) becomes NP-hard. Therefore, a multi-agent systems (MAS) methodology is designed to effectively communicate the information and solve the MBPP sustainably. In the designed MAS methodology, an information exchange system (IES) is created for stowage planners to bid for ship slots in each experimental iterative combinatorial auction (ICA) market. The winner in the ICA experiments is provided with the ship slots, and the entire bay plan is prepared. Further, the ship-turnaround time is validated using the data obtained from the benchmark problem.     

A dichotomous choice survey for quantifying option and non-use values of bus services in Korea

The total economic value for a transportation service consists of use, option, and non-use value. The use benefit is based on a traveler’s willingness to pay for usual consumption of the service. The optional value, on the other hand, is related to the possible use of the service for trips not yet anticipated or currently accommodated by other travel modes. The non-use value, however, is derived from the intrinsic merit of the service, even though a trip-maker never actually or potentially depends on the mode. A closed-ended contingent valuation method is considered for the quantification of the option and non-use values. A survey of single- and double-bounded dichotomous choices is conducted with a case study of South Korean bus operations. A logistic regression model and a survival analysis for the single- and double-bounded approaches, respectively, are applied. The estimation result is examined according to the statistical property required and the behavioral validity expected. In particular, three issues from the output are discussed. First, the results help to show the preferable framework between single- and double-bounded surveys for addressing an individual’s option and non-use values. Second, the differences in the absolute values of option and non-use values are compared. Thirdly, the relationship between trip-makers’ willingness to pay and the level of service of their primary travel modes are investigated. In conclusion, the summary of research and the possibilities for future studies are given.     

Modeling intermodal equilibrium for bimodal transportation system design problems in a linear monocentric city

This paper investigates the intermodal equilibrium, road toll pricing, and bus system design issues in a congested highway corridor with two alternative modes - auto and bus - which share the same roadway along this corridor. On the basis of an in-depth analysis of the demand and supply sides of the bimodal transportation system, the mode choice equilibrium of travelers along the continuum corridor is first presented and formulated as an equivalent variational inequality problem. The solution properties of the bimodal continuum equilibrium formulation are analytically explored. Two models, which account for different infrastructure/system regulatory regimes (public and private), are then proposed. In the public regulatory model, the road toll location and charge level are simultaneously optimized together with the bus service fare and frequency. In the private regulatory model, the fare and frequency of bus services, which are operated by a profit-driven private operator, are optimized for exogenously given toll pricing schemes. Finally, an illustrative example is given to demonstrate the application of the proposed models. Sensitivity analysis of residential/household distribution along the corridor is carried out together with a comparison of four different toll pricing schemes (no toll, first best, distance based, and location based). Insightful findings are reported on the interrelationships among modal competition, market regulatory regimes, toll pricing schemes, and urban configurations as well as their implications in practice.     

Micro-simulation modelling for traffic safety: A review and potential application to heterogeneous traffic environment

This paper critically reviews micro-simulation modelling applications for traffic safety evaluation with respect to the use of different simulation tools, the application of surrogate safety indicators under different aspects of road environments and crash considerations. General input variables used to develop the models; key parameters for crash prediction; and calibration and validation approaches are explored in the paper. The strengths and weaknesses of used simulation packages for traffic safety evaluation are also pointed out. Moreover, recent advancements in the development and application of traffic safety micro-simulation model for safety assessment are also discussed.Despite having a number of studies, there is still a significant void in the development and application of simulation model to evaluate traffic safety of non-lane based heterogeneous traffic environments that predominate in many developing countries. The paper assessed the potential application of traffic safety micro-simulation model in heterogeneous traffic environments. Finally, a number of potentially fruitful future research directions are highlighted.