Optimal Age Replacement Policy with Replacement Occurrence While the Warranty is in Effect

This study considers an age replacement policy(ARP) for a repairable product with an increasing failure rate with and without a product warranty. As for the warranty policy to consider in association with such an age replacement policy, we adapt a renewable minimal repair-replacement warrant(MRRW) policy with 2D factors of failure time of the product and its corresponding repair time. The expected cost rate during the life cycle of the product is utilized as a criterion to find the optimal policies for both with and without the product warranty. We determine the optimal replacement age that minimizes the objective function which evaluates the expected cost rate during the product cycle and investigate the impact of several factors on the optimal replacement age. The main objective of this study lies on the generalization of the classical age replacement policy to the situation where a renewable warranty depending on 2D factors is in effect. We present some interesting observations regarding the effect of relevant factors based on numerical analysis.     

Application of a Sustainable Fisheries Development Indicator System (SFDIS) for Better Management Outcomes in Taiwan Offshore and Coastal Fishery

A sustainable fisheries development indicator system (SFDIS) is proposed in this article to monitor management of Taiwan's offshore and coastal fisheries. Demonstration of its application shows that the ecological index is tending toward sustainability but to conserve fisheries’ resources it is necessary to strengthen habitat protection and management through a partnership approach. The economic index is tending toward unsustainability as a result of a decline in fisheries’ Gross Domestic Product (GDP), value, economic production, and investment. An aging fisherman population and decreasing social performance and resilience contribute to unsustainability of the social index. By contrast, the institutional index is sustainable because of improved management efficiency, ability, and capacity-building. However, some problems exist with regard to compliance and acceptability of institutional expense. Overall, the SFDIS suggests that an increase in employee number, incorrect statistical data, and unacceptable institutional expense will make Taiwan's offshore and coastal fisheries unsustainable in the long run.     

Modelling of high speed gas quenching

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结尾——Shanghai GM Buick Excelle station wagon

通用大宇GM Daewoo Auto and Technology Co.公司是在2002年10月17日成立的。新公司有多家股东，分别是General Motors（通用汽车）占42.1％；Suzuki（铃木汽车）占14．9％；Shanghai Automotive（上汽）占10％，以及Daewoo Motor Company（大宇汽车）占33％。     

Conflict Resolution through Negotiation in a Railway Open Access Market: a Multi-agent System Approach

Abstract

Open access reforms to railway regulations allow multiple train operators to provide rail services on a common infrastructure. As railway operations are now independently managed by different stakeholders, conflicts in operations may arise, and there have been attempts to derive an effective access charge regime so that these conflicts may be resolved. One approach is by direct negotiation between the infrastructure manager and the train service providers. Despite the substantial literature on the topic, few consider the benefits of employing computer simulation as an evaluation tool for railway operational activities such as access pricing. This article proposes a multi-agent system (MAS) framework for the railway open market and demonstrates its feasibility by modelling the negotiation between an infrastructure provider and a train service operator. Empirical results show that the model is capable of resolving operational conflicts according to market demand.     

Recent observations in the straits of the East/Japan Sea: A review of hydrography, currents and volume transports

Recent observations of hydrography, currents and volume transports in the straits of the East/Japan Sea are reviewed. It is newly found that bottom cold water in the Korea/Tsushima Strait originating from the northern region of the East/Japan Sea appears not only in summer and autumn but also in winter. Intensive observations in the Korea/Tsushima Strait revealed two distinct cores of northeastward currents in the upper layer of the western and eastern channels. Mean volume transport through the Korea/Tsushima Strait is calculated as 2.5 ± 0.5 Sv from four-year direct and indirect measurements. As continuous monitoring has started in the Tsugaru and Soya Straits, understanding of temporal variability of currents and volume transports through the straits is in progress. For the first time, simultaneous time series of volume transports are available in the Korea/Tsushima and Tsugaru Straits during the winter of 1999–2000. Ouflow through the Tsugaru Strait accounts for about 70% of inflow through the Korea/Tsushima Strait for this period.     

Investigation of turbulent flows in a waterjet intake duct using stereoscopic PIV measurements

Stereoscopic particle image velocimetry measurements were made in a wind tunnel using a prototype waterjet model. The main wind tunnel provided the vehicle velocity and a secondary wind tunnel was set up as the waterjet propulsion model. Pressure distributions along the ramp and lip sides inside the duct were measured for three jet velocity to vehicle velocity ratios. Three-dimensional velocity fields were obtained at the intake entrance and the nozzle exit of the waterjet system. The flow into the duct was faster in the lip region than on the ramp side. Because of the variation in intake geometry from a rectangular to a circular section and because of the sudden curvature change on the lip side, a pair of counter-rotating vortices was observed in the mean velocity field at the nozzle exit. In addition, the turbulent kinetic energy correlated with the vortex pair was stronger on the lip side than in other areas. Dominant large-scale structures were extracted by using a snapshot proper orthogonal decomposition analysis. It was found that most of the turbulent kinetic energy was attributed to at least three vortices near the nozzle exit. This detailed three-dimensional velocity field will be useful for the verification of CFD simulations applied to the waterjet system.     

Stated willingness to participate in travel surveys: a cross-country and cross-methods comparison

Transportation - Travel surveys are the primary source of data that feed into the analysis and modeling of travel behaviour. Numerous studies have found that the survey method, be it pen and paper,...     

Tour-based mode choice of joint household travel patterns on weekend and weekday

Joint household travel, with or without joint participation in an activity, constitutes a fundamental aspect in modelling activity-based travel behaviour. This paper examines joint household travel arrangements and mode choices using a utility maximising approach. An individual tour-based mode choice model is formulated contingent on the choice of joint tour patterns where joint household activities and shared ride arrangements are recognised as part of the joint household decision-making that influences the travel modes of each household member. Two models, one for weekend and one for weekday, are estimated using empirical data from the Sydney Household Travel Survey. The results show that weekend travel is characterised by a high joint household activity participation rate while weekday travel is distinguished by more intra-household shared ride arrangements. The arrangements of joint household travel are highly associated with travel purpose, social and mobility constraints and household resources. On weekends, public transport is mainly used by captive users (i.e., no-car households and students) and its share is about half of that on weekdays. Also, the value of travel time savings (VOTs) are found to be higher on weekends than on weekdays, running entirely counter to the common belief that weekend VOTs are lower than weekday VOTs. This paper highlights the importance of studying joint household travel and using different transport management measures for alleviating traffic congestion on weekdays and weekends.     

Lane change algorithm for autonomous vehicles via virtual curvature method

This paper addresses the lane changing problem of autonomous vehicles when there is no road infrastructure support. The autonomous vehicle should drive from the current lane to the adjacent lane in the absence of a reference path to guide the vehicle to the new lane. We suggest an algorithm that incorporates a virtual road curvature with bicycle model for lane change guidance. As the name suggests, the virtual road curvature does not physically exist. It is a user assigned radius of a curved path which connects the current lane to the adjacent lane. Since the lateral sensor readings during lane changing maneuver are erroneous, the steering angle along with the virtual curvature is fed into a bicycle model to estimate the lateral position during the transition to the next lane. Details of the algorithm and the virtual road curvature determination are presented in the paper. In contrast to other lane changing methods, controller switching is not required and the same controller is for both lane keeping and lane changing. The algorithm is verified experimentally and the results are comparable with lane changing with physical transition lane.