Seaport research: A structured literature review on methodological issues since the 1980s

This study aims to investigate how seaport research has been conducted from the methodological perspective. To this end, this study reviews published port literature for the last three decades (1980-2000s). The investigation primarily categorises the literature according to various methodological issues such as research paradigm, research strategy, base-disciplines, research methods and analysis techniques in order to provide meaningful implications on methodological evolution in seaport research for the period. This study suggests methodological bias in port research to a positivistic paradigm, following a quantitative trajectory moving from conceptual to empirical studies. In addition, the increased use of mathematical modelling and advanced statistical analysis methods is clearly observed. The introduction of advanced analytical tools used in other academic disciplines facilitates discussions in particular research area and amplifies the literature in those areas. This paper also suggests research gaps from the methodological perspective and implications for future port research.     

The price of uncertainty in pavement infrastructure management planning: An integer programming approach

Currently there is a true dichotomy in the pavement maintenance and rehabilitation (M&R) literature. On the one hand, there are integer programming-based models that assume that parameters are deterministically known. On the other extreme, there are stochastic models, with the most popular class being based on the theory of Markov decision processes that are able to account for various sources of uncertainties observed in the real-world. In this paper, we present an integer programming-based alternative to account for these uncertainties. A critical feature of the proposed models is that they provide – a priori – probabilistic guarantees that the prescribed M&R decisions would result in pavement condition scores that are above their critical service levels, using minimal assumptions regarding the sources of uncertainty. By construction of the models, we can easily determine the additional budget requirements when additional sources of uncertainty are considered, starting from a fully deterministic model. We have coined this additional budget requirement the price of uncertainty to distinguish from previous related work where additional budget requirements were studied due to parameter uncertainties in stochastic models. A numerical case study presents valuable insights into the price of uncertainty and shows that it can be large.     

Railway wheel-flat detection and measurement by ultrasound

This work presents an innovative ultrasound technique designed to detect and quantify flats formed in the rolling surface of railway wheels. Differently from other approaches, ultrasonic pulses (Rayleigh waves) are sent over a measuring rail. The variations in the round-trip time of flight (RTOF) of the ultrasound pulse to the rail-wheel contact point allow detecting and quantifying the wheel-flats. In spite of the wear state of the irregularity, the method provides the loss of material and the length of the flat originally formed by abrasion. A theoretical background supports the technique which offers many advantages for railway maintenance. Simulations and experimental results match the expected ones.     

A network option portfolio management framework for adaptive transportation planning

A real option portfolio management framework is proposed to make use of an adaptive network design problem developed using stochastic dynamic programming methodologies. The framework is extended from Smit’s and Trigeorgis’ option portfolio framework to incorporate network synergies. The adaptive planning framework is defined and tested on a case study with time series origin-destination demand data. Historically, OD time series data is costly to obtain, and there has not been much need for it because most transportation models use a single time-invariant estimate based on deterministic forecasting of demand. Despite the high cost and institutional barriers of obtaining abundant OD time series data, we illustrate how having higher fidelity data along with an adaptive planning framework can result in a number of improved management strategies. An insertion heuristic is adopted to run the lower bound adaptive network design problem for a coarse Iran network with 834 nodes, 1121 links, and 10 years of time series data for 71,795 OD pairs.     

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.     

GPS-based optimization of plug-in hybrid electric vehicles’ power demands in a cold weather city

Using the WPG03 duty cycle developed from global positioning data collected in Winnipeg, Canada, real world energy demands and costs are modeled. Three types of plug-in hybrid electric vehicles, four temperatures and two charging scenarios are compared to a vehicle with an internal combustion engine. Cold temperatures are shown to greatly affect vehicle operation energy costs, which is an important consideration for cold weather cities such as Winnipeg. The largest energy cost savings are obtained for smaller-battery plug-in hybrids that had the opportunity to charge during the day.     

考虑最短距离作业的港口拖轮作业调度优化

为了合理调度拖轮作业,有效提高拖轮的利用率,减少船舶等待时间,针对拖轮作业特点,用多处理器任务调度理论分析了拖轮作业调度问题.在考虑拖轮最短距离作业的前提下,以最小化最大完工时间为优化目标建立了拖轮作业调度模型.采用演化策略算法对拖轮作业调度问题进行优化,提出了一种基于轮盘赌概率分配的编、解码方法,并设计了三点交叉互换的重组算子和个体基因交叉互换的变异算子.算例结果表明:用演化策略算法的优化结果优于仿真结果和粒子群算法的计算结果.采用实数编码时,通过优化算法得到的最大完工时间最小值为356 min,比仿真结果减少了117 min;而采用整数编码时,最大完工时间最小值为369 min,比仿真结果减少了104 min.验证了最短距离作业原则的有效性.     

交通拥堵反思

通过对交通拥堵进行反思,认为交通拥堵是充满活力的成功城市的伴生品,应从不同角度考虑拥堵问题.提出了十项有别于传统观点的提议,主要包括:机动性至关重要,交通拥堵是社会、经济活力的象征;道路扩容效果短暂,并会诱发潜在需求,但仍可带来一定的社会、经济效益;土地使用对出行行为的改变需要长期的努力;紧凑型发展会加剧交通拥堵;降低...     

公路平面交叉口安全评价指标及方法

为了快速地对公路平面交叉口安全状况进行评价,本文利用冲突指数、交叉口几何设计事故影响系数、安全设施事故影响系数建立了平面交叉口安全评价指标并分别给出了冲突指数、交叉口几何设计事故影响系数、安全设施事故影响系数的计算流程和方法。最后选取平面交叉口指标计算值和专家主观打分均值的相关性分析,对平面交叉口安全评价指标的有效性进...