Methodology for ro-ro ship and fleet sizing with application to short sea shipping

A novel methodology is developed for determining the characteristics of a cargo roll-on/roll-off (ro-ro) ship and the fleet size required for a given short sea shipping route. The ship and required fleet size to satisfy the transportation demand (for each pair of speed and freight rate) are determined using a database of existing cargo ro-ro ships to obtain the main technical characteristics of the most suitable ship. The time charter, voyage costs and revenue are then calculated considering the technical characteristics of each ship. Fuel costs are corrected for the actual ship speed and loading condition. A number of restrictions in the transportation problem are considered leading to the exclusion of unfeasible solutions. The maximum profit over the period of a year is identified among the feasible pairs of speed and freight rate. This general methodology is applied in a case study that considers the route between Leixões (Portugal) and Rotterdam (Netherlands). The study allows the identification of the most suitable ship and fleet sizes for different market penetration levels and quantifies the impact on shipping company profit of changes in parameters such as fuel costs, time charter costs, emission control area, installed propulsion power and stacking factor.     

Sea Cucumber Moratorium and Livelihood Diversity in Papua New Guinea

Livelihood diversity factors such as flexibility within fisheries, geographical mobility, reallocation of fishing effort into the broader economy, and the non-material benefits that fisheries provide are important areas of research in marine policy. We use two small-scale fisheries related socio-economic surveys of communities in the Tigak Islands of Papua New Guinea. The first conducted 5 years before a ban on the harvesting of sea cucumbers was imposed and the second from the present day, 5 years after the initiation of the ban—with the objectives of exploring changes in household fishing strategies (types and numbers of species targeted) and to identify any important socioeconomic factors that help explain those changes. Fishing's contribution to total household income has increased significantly (p = 0.019) up from 61% in 2004 to 73% in 2014 with the percentage of female residents living in a household now positively and significantly (p = 0.018) associated with fishing income. The average number of species categories targeted per household increased insignificantly while households with more women are significantly (p = 0.018) less likely to target more species than households with more men. Moreover, customary management practices contribute to this difference. Together, these results show that households are not worse off financially 5 years after the ban on sea cucumber harvesting and that gendered seascape use has implications for the role of livelihood diversity as a marine policy tool.     

基于石墨烯的柔性薄膜电极进展

石墨烯具有诸多优异的物理、化学特性,在电化学储能领域得到了广泛的关注。本文综述了石墨烯薄膜以及石墨烯复合材料薄膜在锂离子电池以及超级电容器柔性电极中的应用进展。根据石墨烯在柔性电极中作用的不同分为三个部分结合研究实例分别论述,并对石墨烯基薄膜电极材料在柔性电化学储能器件中的应用前景进行了分析和展望。     

全固态锂离子电池的研究进展

本文着重介绍了固态电解质的特性,包括聚合物电解质、氧化物电解质、硫化物电解质;分析了固态电池的应用现状,指出了固态锂电池技术未来的发展趋势。     

基于STM32的蓄电池检测系统设计

蓄电池检测系统是蓄电池质量指标中非常重要的一环,直接影响蓄电池的性能和寿命。本文介绍一种以STM32微处理器STM32F103RCT6为核心的铅酸蓄电池高精度智能检测系统,可以同时检测电压、温度、液位,并根据神经网络计算得到电解液密度,用户在上位机完成测试参数设置,自动对电池的各项数据进行存储和报警。文中详细介绍了系统组成、硬件和软件设计。实践证明该检测系统满足实际需求。     

基于动态链接库的海上溢油数据库设计与研究

船舶海上溢油事故给国家财产和海洋环境造成巨大损失,有效的事故处理措施能够大大降低事故后果,而紧急处置综合指挥系统作为岸上人员调度和指挥的核心,合理和完整的指挥系统数据库的设计显得极其重要。为了对海上溢油事故进行综合指挥,在分析综合指挥系统数据库构成及关联关系的基础上,阐述了数据库设计的准则以及存在的关键技术,对健全我国海上溢油规章制度有着重要意义。     

The use of gait parameters to evaluate pedestrian behavior at scramble phase signalized intersections

Pedestrian scramble phasing is usually implemented to reduce pedestrian‐vehicle conflicts and therefore increase the safety of the intersection. However, to adequately determine the benefits of scramble phasing, it is necessary to understand how pedestrians react to such an unconventional design. This study investigates changes in pedestrian crossing behavior following the implementation of a scramble phase by examining the spatiotemporal gait parameters (step length and step frequency). This detailed microscopic‐level analysis provides insight into changes in pedestrian walking mechanisms as well as the effect of various pedestrian and intersection characteristics. The study uses video data collected at a scramble phase signalized intersection in Oakland, California. Gait parameters were found to be influenced by pedestrian gender, age, group size, crosswalk length, and pedestrian signal indications. Both average step length and walking speed were significantly higher for diagonally crossing pedestrians compared with pedestrians crossing on the conventional crosswalks. Pedestrians were found to have the tendency to increase their step length more than their step frequency to increase walking speed. It was also found that, compared with men, women generally increase their walking speed by increasing their step frequency more than step length. However, when in non‐compliance with signal indications, women increase their walking speed by increasing their step length more than step frequency. It was also found that older pedestrians do not significantly change their walking behavior when in non‐compliance with signal indications. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Modeling the interactions between car and bicycle in heterogeneous traffic

In this paper, a new cellular automata model is proposed to simulate the car and bicycle heterogeneous traffic on urban road. To capture the complex interactions between these two types of vehicles, a novel occupancy rule is adopted in the proposed model to consider the variable lateral distances of mixed vehicular traffic. Based on massive simulations, microscopic fundamental diagrams under different bicycle densities are devised. With these, the bicycle's spilling behavior is then investigated and discussed. In order to reflect the interference of a bicycle on a car, the interference transformation from friction state to block state is modeled explicitly. Finally, different simulation results under different occupancy rules indicate that the constant and fixed occupancy rule adopted in the previous studies might lead to overestimation of car flux in the heterogeneous traffic flows with different bicycle densities. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A comparison of modelled and real-life driving profiles for the simulation of railway vehicle operation

A key factor in determining the performance of a railway system is the speed profile of the trains within the network. There can be significant variation in this speed profile for identical trains on identical routes, depending on how the train is driven. A better understanding and control of speed profiles can therefore offer significant potential for improvements in the performance of railway systems. This paper develops a model to allow the variability of real-life driving profiles of railway vehicles to be quantitatively described and predicted, in order to better account for the effects on the speed profile of the train and hence the performance of the railway network as a whole. The model is validated against data from the Tyne and Wear Metro, and replicates the measured data to a good degree of accuracy.     

The planning and analysis of a new group rapid transit system: the SkyCabs monobeam system in Auckland

This paper examines a case study of the SkyCabs system as a way to alleviate some of the traffic problems of Auckland, New Zealand. SkyCabs is an elevated two-way monobeam carrying light eight-seater cabs on tracks on each side of the beam, available on demand, providing fast, pollution-free, unimpeded travel above the footpath with panoramic views of the city. The aim of this study is to investigate the attractiveness of implementing the SkyCabs system to and from Auckland central business district (CBD) and Auckland international airport by examining four variables: different routes, different number of stops/stations, different passenger demand levels, and different number of cabs in the system. The analysis utilizes geographical information system and simulation tools for the various scenarios considered. The results show that it is possible to assess the cost–benefit of alternative routes in terms of those four variables and rate of return on investment.