The relationship between the built environment and nonwork travel: A case study of Northern California

Many studies have found that residents living in suburban neighborhoods drive more and walk less than their counterparts in traditional neighborhoods. This evidence supports the advocacy of smart growth strategies to alter individuals’ travel behavior. However, the observed differences in travel behavior may be more of a residential choice than a travel choice. Applying the seemingly unrelated regression approach to a sample from Northern California, we explored the relationship between the residential environment and nonwork travel frequencies by auto, transit, and walk/bicycle modes, controlling for residential self-selection. We found that residential preferences and travel attitudes (self-selection) significantly influenced tripmaking by all three modes, and also that neighborhood characteristics (the built environment and its perception) retained a separate influence on behavior after controlling for self-selection. Both preferences/attitudes and the built environment itself played a more prominent role in explaining the variation in non-motorized travel than for auto and transit travel. Taken together, our results suggest that if cities use land use policies to offer options to drive less and use transit and non-motorized modes more, many residents will tend to do so.     

A micro-analysis of land use and travel in five neighborhoods in the San Francisco Bay Area

This study examined the effects of land use and attitudinal characteristics on travel behavior for five diverse San Francisco Bay Area neighborhoods. First, socio-economic and neighborhood characteristics were regressed against number and proportion of trips by various modes. The best models for each measure of travel behavior confirmed that neighborhood characteristics add significant explanatory power when socio-economic differences are controlled for. Specifically, measures of residential density, public transit accessibility, mixed land use, and the presence of sidewalks are significantly associated with trip generation by mode and modal split. Second, 39 attitude statements relating to urban life were factor analyzed into eight factors: pro-environment, pro-transit, suburbanite, automotive mobility, time pressure, urban villager, TCM, and workaholic. Scores on these factors were introduced into the six best models discussed above. The relative contributions of the socio-economic, neighborhood, and attitudinal blocks of variables were assessed. While each block of variables offers some significant explanatory power to the models, the attitudinal variables explained the highest proportion of the variation in the data. The finding that attitudes are more strongly associated with travel than are land use characteristics suggests that land use policies promoting higher densities and mixtures may not alter travel demand materially unless residents' attitudes are also changed.     

A fuzzy measure based solution approach to a multimodal analysis problem

This paper discusses the factors that determine the utility of a mode and attempts to suggest and investigate a novel fuzzy measure based solution approach to the problem of multimodal analysis in a multicriteria context. The paper expands on the notions of fuzzy logic and in particular, fuzzy measures. The approach attempts to estimate the probabilities of the “overall system” from a group of eight experts who are experienced in transport planning. The data is used to ascertain the relative utility of various modes in a competitive environment. It explains the application of fuzzy measures to provide guidance information for a transport planning agency.     

Mixed assembly line rebalancing: A binary integer approach applied to real world problems in the automotive industry

Industrial organizations have increasingly sought to optimize the resources needed for the manufacture of its products from the competition, in order to maintain their profit margins. The search for balance of resources and balanced distribution of tasks in various types of industrial environments is called balancing. When adjustments are made and adequacy of an assembly line that is already in operation, this process is called rebalancing. This paper presents a case study involving a problem of rebalancing of automotive assembly line in an environment of arbitrarily mixed models of products, also known as mix. The proposed procedure for solving the rebalancing in the company in question is based on Binary Integer Programming, in particular the branch and bound algorithm. For comparison, we used a heuristic method based on precedence diagrams for solving the rebalancing of lines. To evaluate the results obtained between the two procedures were used performance indicators such as number of workstations created, average load of work and level of unbalance. The proposed algorithm has resulted in significant improvements in the production line capacity.     

高绝缘能力的高效冷却大功率高频变压器

讨论了一种用于大功率多级变流器的高绝缘能力的高效冷却大功率高频变压器.该变压器是按350 kW的功率级设计的,并且用无定形铁心材料和同轴绕组制成.为了保证装置有较长的寿命,详细研究了介电损耗和具有陡沿的电压波形的影响,为此特别注重绝缘问题.     

Driver recruitability for advanced traveler information system experiments

A number of Advanced Traveler Information System (ATIS) field experiments are being undertaken to study the effectiveness of the ATIS concept in ameliorating traffic congestion and reducing delays. Many of these experiments require the participation of private drivers willing to allow in-vehicle navigation units to be installed in their vehicles over an extended period of time. A critical part of any ATIS field experiment is the selection or recruitment of private drivers to fulfill the multi-purpose participation needs of the ATIS experiment. To provide an informed basis for designing such a driver recruitment effort, it is important to understand the factors affecting driver recruitability or “willingness to participate.” This research presents the results of a quantitative analysis of driver recruitability conducted to aid in the design of recruitment procedures for ADVANCE (Advanced Driver and Vehicle Advisory Navigation Concept), the largest ATIS field experiment of its kind. The approach used a telephone survey to assess driver willingness to participate in the ADVANCE field experiment and to explore variations in that willingness among different drivers and across characteristics of the ADVANCE system and experimental design. The results indicate that the willingness to participate in the ADVANCE field test is greater for men, persons who hold executive or managerial occupations, individuals who drive extensively, persons who use electronic devices such as personal computers and car phones regularly, and persons who have positive beliefs regarding the usefulness of the ADVANCE concept. The result also suggest that drivers' willingness to participate is not strongly affected by monitoring/reporting requirements such as responding to surveys, mailing electronically stored records of system operation, and periodic service requirements. However, the willingness decreases considerably if drivers have to bear the financial responsibility for damage of the navigation equipment and any equipment-caused electrical failures to the car. Finally, the incentive of a lottery prize raises the level of participation willingness. These results have important implications for the recruitment effort, both in terms of recruiting drivers for participation in the demonstration and specifying the operational details of the field test.     

贵州地区石灰改良膨胀土无侧限抗压强度的试验研究

以贵州地区某工程的膨胀土为研究对象,通过室内试验,研究石灰掺入率、压实系数及养护龄期对改良土无侧限抗压强度的影响。试验结果表明：改良土无侧限抗压强度随着压实系数的增大而增大,随着龄期的增长而增大,随着石灰掺入率的增加先增大后减小,最佳掺灰率为9％。无侧限抗压强度影响因素的灰色关联度分析结果表明,压实系数对改良土无侧限抗压强度的影响最大,其次是养护龄期,而掺灰率的影响最小。改良土的应力应变关系曲线呈应变软化模型,试样的破坏模式为脆性破坏。本文的研究结果可为类似工程提供借鉴。     

Generalized magnetorheological (MR) damper model and its application in semi-active control of vehicle suspension system

In this paper, analytical characterization of the magneto-rheological (MR) damper is done using a new modified algebraic model. Algebraic model is also more preferable because of its low computational expenses compared to differential Bouc-Wen’s model which is highly computationally demanding. This model along with the obtained model parameters is used as a semi-active suspension device in a quarter car model and the stationary response of the vehicle traversing on a rough road is obtained. The control part consists of two nested controllers. One of them is the system controller which generates the desired damping force and the other is the damper controller which adjusts the voltage level to MR damper so as to track the desired damping force. For the system controller a model reference skyhook Sliding Mode Controller (SMC) is used and for the damper controller a continuous state algorithm is built to determine the input voltage so as to gain the desired damping force. The analytical model is subsequently used in the quarter car vehicle model and the vehicular responses are studied. A simulation study is performed to prove the effectiveness and robustness of the semi-active control approach. Results show that the semi-active controller can achieve compatible performance as that of active suspension controller except for a little deterioration.     

Links between subjective assessments and objective metrics for steering

The characteristics of steering perception are decisive factors for overall driver preference and for vehicle safety. Car manufacturers are continuously required to tune the characteristics of the vehicle and have a strong need to be more effective in the design and evaluation of cars. Using only objective metrics (OM) can result in unwanted steering feel and using only subjective assessments (SA) is time-consuming, costly and non-repetitive. Before a tool can be built to predict the steering feel in front-end development and to improve design knowledge from the full vehicle level to the component level, links between subjective assessments and objective metrics must be found and analysed. The data collected for the study presented in this paper include subjective ratings from expert drivers and objective measurements made with steering robots, involving twelve expert drivers and over twenty vehicles across four different vehicle classes. Linear regression and neural network analysis (NN) have been used to explore reliable subjective-objective links. The tools and methods used in this research showed promising results. Most of the links found concern response and torque feedback. The preferred ranges of some crucial objective metrics leading to more desirable steering feel have been defined and presented. The results indicate that it would be possible for car manufacturers to develop new vehicles more effectively with a steering feel in line with the design criteria by using the tools and methods investigated in this paper.