Development of an IoT-based container tracking system for China’s Belt and Road (B&R) initiative

To ensure the successful implementation of China’s Belt and Road (B&R) Initiative, it is essential to enable the real-time monitoring of containers’ locations, prevent theft during cargo delivery, ensure more efficient logistics management and reduce carbon emissions. For this, it is vital to have an economic and effective system to track and control containers across multiple countries. However, this requirement cannot be met by today’s container tracking systems because they are either limited within the borders of each country or expensive to employ internationally. This study thus presents a framework for an IoT-based container tracking system that enables users not only to grasp the international flow of container movement with one check but also to achieve smooth cross-border procedures. To verify the system’s performance, an empirical test was made for an actual container shipped from Korea to Poland. The test results showed that the system could successfully track the location of the container in real time across international borders. Last, this study discusses the policy development and international cooperation that should take place to enable the introduction of this container tracking system.     

Estimation of the shore excursion expenditure function during cruise tourism in Korea

Recently, the number of foreign tourists to Korea via cruise ships has increased dramatically. We attempted to estimate the shore excursion expenditure function during cruise tourism in Korea. To this end, we collected data from a survey of foreign tourists who visited Korea via cruise ships and conducted the ordered probit model with sample selection to correct for the sample selection bias. Statistical tests indicate that the sample selection model provides unbiased estimates of the ordered probit model. The estimation results reveal that the coefficients of the experience of visiting Korea, job status, annual income, and nationality have statistically significant relationships with shopping expenditure. Further, it is likely that Chinese and Japanese passengers spend more money on shopping than passengers from other countries. This study is expected to provide the Korean government and port authorities with useful information for targeting passengers with high shore excursion expenditure. From a management perspective, the results of this analysis will enable cruise operators to design shore excursion programs that meet travelers’ needs.     

A review of port devolution and governance models with compound eyes approach

Port devolution and port governance are focal issues in port studies. This paper argues that the previous typology of port devolution and port governance, including port function matrix models, might have to be modified, in particular for Asian port cases, because they have not considered socio, economic, and political systems and historical aspects behind the port devolution continuum. This paper uses the “compound eyes” approach comprising of many similar, closely-packed facets called ommatidia, with a multiple angle view, to revisit and review previous port devolution and governance models. The paper aims to identify the limitations and rectify fallacies in previous port studies by conducting a critical review and taking a couple of Asian container port cases as examples. This paper contributes to the literature of port devolution and governance, illuminating crucial gaps that the previous studies have not addressed.     

The use of a hazard-based duration model for imputation of missing personal income data

This paper suggests using a proportional hazard model to predict personal income, for the purpose of imputing missing income data in household travel surveys. The model has a hazard function that comprises two multiplicative components: (1) a non-parametric baseline hazard function that is dependent only on the income level and (2) a function that is dependent only on the other personal attributes of the survey respondents (excluding income). To estimate and validate the model, data is drawn from a travel characteristics survey conducted in Hong Kong in year 2001. The model is found to have a much higher accuracy when compared with a conventional ordered probit model based on the assumption that the logarithm of income is normally distributed.

An intersection turning movement estimation procedure based on path flow estimator

Estimation of intersection turning movements is one of the key inputs required for a variety of transportation analysis, including intersection geometric design, signal timing design, traffic impact assessment, and transportation planning. Conventional approaches that use manual techniques for estimation of turning movements are insensitive to congestion. The drawbacks of the manual techniques can be amended by integrating a network traffic model with a computation procedure capable of estimating turning movements from a set of link traffic counts and intersection turning movement counts. This study proposes using the path flow estimator, originally used to estimate path flows (hence origin–destination flows), to derive not only complete link flows, but also turning movements for the whole road network given some counts at selected roads and intersections. Two case studies using actual traffic counts are used to demonstrate the proposed intersection turning movement estimation procedure. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

An analysis of Metro ridership at the station-to-station level in Seoul

While most aggregate studies of transit ridership are conducted at either the stop or the route level, the present study focused on factors affecting Metro ridership in the Seoul metropolitan area at the station-to-station level. The station-to-station analysis made it possible to distinguish the effect of origin factors on Metro ridership from that of destination factors and to cut down the errors caused by the aggregation of travel impedance-related variables. After adopting two types of direct-demand patronage forecasting models, the multiplicative model and the Poisson regression model, the former was found to be superior to the latter because it clearly identified the negative influences of competing modes on Metro ridership. Such results are rarely found with aggregate level analyses. Moreover, the importance of built environment in explaining Metro demand was confirmed by separating built environment variables for origin and destination stations and by differentiating ridership by the time of day. For morning peak hours, the population-related variables of the origin stations played a key role in accounting for Metro ridership, while employment-related variables prevailed in destination stations. In evening peak hours, both employment- and population-related variables were significant in accounting for the Metro ridership at the destination station. This showed that a significant number of people in the Seoul metropolitan area appear to take various non-home-based trips after work, which is consistent with the results from direct household travel surveys.     

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.     

Integrated expression method for technical mapping of traffic parameters using RGB color model

In the field of traffic flow, speed, density, time, and distance are fundamental variables analyzed to predict traffic conditions. Reliable sources of information are gauged using tested mathematical approaches that have been developed. However, a fundamental diagram that could serve as a basis for expression techniques has not been devised. Red–green–blue (RGB) color modeling was used to overcome this limitation in traffic flow. The purpose of this study is to provide a way to understand traffic flow conditions based on features of three traffic flow elements simultaneously. The limitation of three‐dimensional expressions in two‐dimensional paper was extended to multi‐dimensional information. Information on speed, density, and flow were combined into a single RGB color and given the name RGB flow‐density space time‐distance space. This cancels out the effect of each individual's vehicular trajectories and contains five major components of a specific road section. The new gizmo aims to provide information on traffic flow conditions in transition and to stimulate further approaches related to the predictions and understanding of traffic flow. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Numerical study of a light-duty diesel engine with a dual-loop EGR system under frequent engine operating conditions using the doe method

Exhaust gas recirculation (EGR) is an emission control technology that allows for a significant reduction in NOx emissions from light- and heavy-duty diesel engines. The primary effects of EGR are a lower flame temperature and a lower oxygen concentration of the working fluid in the combustion chamber. A high pressure loop (HPL) EGR is characterized by a fast response, especially at lower speeds, but is only applicable if the turbine upstream pressure is sufficiently higher than the boost pressure. On the contrary, for the low pressure loop (LPL) EGR, a positive differential pressure between the turbine outlet and the compressor inlet is generally available. However, a LPL EGR is characterized by a slow response, especially at low and moderate speeds. In this study, of the future types of EGR systems, the dual-loop EGR system (which has the combined features of the high-pressure loop EGR and the low-pressure loop EGR) was developed and was optimized under five selected operating conditions using a commercial engine simulation program (GT-POWER) and the DOE method. Finally, significant improvements in the engine exhaust emissions and performance were obtained by controlling several major variables.     

Low cost design of parallel parking assist system based on an ultrasonic sensor

This paper presents a low cost design and implementation of a parallel parking assist system (PPAS) based on ultrasonic sensors. Generally, a PPAS requires several types of sensors, such as an ultrasonic sensor, camera sensor, radar sensor and laser sensor for parking space detection. However, our proposed PPAS only requires two ultrasonic sensors on the front and lateral sides for parking space detection. Moreover, a steering angle sensor and wheel speed sensor installed in the vehicle are used to obtain vehicle position information for localization in ultrasonic range data. The hardware architecture of the PPAS based on an electronic control unit (ECU) module, sensor modules and a human machine interface (HMI) module was proposed. Moreover, the software architecture of the PPAS is based on system initialization, scheduling, recognition and a control algorithm. In particular, a novel sensor algorithm was proposed to minimize the vehicle corner error of the ultrasonic sensor. A prototype of the PPAS based on the proposed architecture was constructed. The experimental results demonstrate that the implemented prototype is robust and successfully performs parking space detection and automatic steering control. Finally, the low cost design and implementation of the PPAS was possible due to the cheap ultrasonic sensors, simple hardware design and low computational complexity of the proposed algorithm.