A comparison between PARAMICS and VISSIM in estimating automated field‐measured traffic conflicts at signalized intersections

The main objective of this study is to investigate the relationship between field‐measured conflicts and simulated conflicts estimated from microsimulation model (PARAMICS) using the surrogate safety assessment model. An urban signalized intersection was selected for analysis. Automated video‐based computer vision techniques were used to identify field conflicts. The applicability of a two‐step model calibration procedure applied to VISSIM in a recent study was investigated using PARAMICS. In the first calibration step, the PARAMICS model was calibrated to ensure that the simulation gives reasonable results of average delay times. The second calibration step used a genetic algorithm procedure to calibrate PARAMICS parameters to enhance the correlation between simulated and field‐measured conflicts. Finally, the results obtained from PARAMICS were compared with results obtained from VISSIM. The comparison included three aspects: (i) the car‐following model and safety‐related parameters; (ii) the correlation between simulated and field‐measured conflicts; and (iii) the conflict spatial distributions. The results show that the default simulation model parameters give poor correlation with the field‐measured data, and therefore, using simulation models without a proper calibration should be avoided. Overall, good correlation between field‐measured and simulated conflicts was obtained after calibration for both models, especially at higher time‐to‐collision (TTC) values. At TTC threshold of 1.5 s, PARAMICS overestimates the number of conflicts and VISSIM underestimates it. Both models overestimated the number of conflicts at TTC threshold of 3.00 s. There were major differences between field‐measured and simulated conflicts spatial distributions for both simulation models. This indicates that despite the good correlation obtained from the calibration process, both PARAMICS and VISSIM do not capture the actual conflict occurrence mechanism. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

中美植筋锚固技术对比分析

为了对比中美植筋锚固技术规范中的异同,并为今后国际结构加固工程设计提供参考经验,结合摩洛哥某电厂改造项目,从植筋锚固构造要求和承载力设计值两个方面进行对比分析,并介绍了按美标规范进行的植筋锚固施工。研究结果发现:中美规范对植筋锚固技术的构造要求大体相同;但与美标相比,按中标计算的抗拉和抗剪承载力设计值偏保守。     

分布式MAS 在飞行冲突解脱中的应用研究

在自由飞行的环境下,为解决飞行冲突探测与解脱（conflict detection and resolution,CDR）问题,提出一种基于高度层、航向和速度调配的综合解脱方法,并将多 agent 系统(multi-agent system, MAS) 的分布式技术与启发式算法相结合,进行问题求解. 首先设计了分布式MAS框架结构,然后建立了飞行冲突探测模型,高度层调配模型及航向、速度调配模型,最后,综合运用了基于合同网协议的分布式算法和自适应遗传算法进行问题求解.仿真实验表明,所设计的MAS框架是可行的,同时分布式算法和自适应遗传算法的综合应用能很快找到基于高度层、航向和速度分配的近似最优解,为CDR问题提供了新的解决思路.     

A detailed analysis of how an urban trail system affects cyclists’ travel

Transportation specialists, urban planners, and public health officials have been steadfast in encouraging active modes of transportation over the past decades. Conventional thinking, however, suggests that providing infrastructure for cycling and walking in the form of off-street trails is critically important. An outstanding question in the literature is how one’s travel is affected by the use of such facilities and specifically, the role of distance to the trail in using such facilities. This research describes a highly detailed analysis of use along an off-street facility in Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA. The core questions addressed in this investigation aim to understand relationships between: (1) the propensity of using the trail based on distance from the trip origin and destination, and (2) how far out of their way trail users travel for the benefit of using the trail and explanatory factors for doing so. The data used in the analysis for this research was collected as a human intercept survey along a section of an off-street facility. The analysis demonstrates that a cogent distance decay pattern exists and that the decay function varies by trip purpose. Furthermore, we find that bicyclists travel, on average, 67% longer in order to include the trail facility on their route. The paper concludes by explaining how the distance decay and shortest path versus taken path analysis can aid in the planning and analysis of new trail systems.

基于双群进化策略的多项式近似因式分解

针对传统算法在解决多项式的因式分解过程中,存在着只适用于精确分解而不适合系数为浮点数的多项式的因式分解问题,文中提出一种应用双种群双突变进化策略来对浮点数多项式近似分解的算法,克服了传统算法不能解决浮点数多项式的因式分解的弊端.数值计算结果表明该算法收敛速度快、精度高、稳定性强.     

Investigating the effects of psychological factors on commuting mode choice behaviour

This paper utilizes socio-psychometric survey data to investigate the influence of attitudes, affective appraisal and habit formation on commuting mode choice. The data-set was collected in 2009–2010 in Edmonton, Alberta. In addition to conventional socio-economic, demographic and modal attributes, the survey gathered psychological information regarding habitual behaviour, affective appraisal and personal attitudes. Different psychometric tools were used to capture psychological factors affecting mode choice. Habitual behaviour was measured using Verplanken's response-frequency questionnaire. Affective appraisal was indirectly estimated using the Osgood's semantic differential. Five-point Likert scales were used to measure attitude. The structural equation modelling (SEM) approach was used to investigate the effects of psychological factors on mode choice behaviour. SEM captures the latent nature of psychological factors and uses path diagrams to identify the directionality as well as intensity of the relationships. The investigation reveals that passengers have positive emotions towards their chosen mode. Further, evidence of the superiority of the car as a travel alternative was established in terms of strong habit towards it, such that passengers would use the car for almost every single trip.     

Developing evasive action‐based indicators for identifying pedestrian conflicts in less organized traffic environments

There has been a growing interest in using surrogate safety measures such as traffic conflicts to analyse road safety from a broader perspective than collision data alone. This growing interest has been aided by recent advances in automated video‐based traffic conflict analysis. The automation enables accurate calculation of various conflict indicators such as time‐to‐collision and post‐encroachment time. These indicators rely on road users getting within specific temporal and spatial proximity from each other and therefore assume that proximity is a surrogate for conflict severity. However, this assumption may not be valid in many driving environments where close interactions between road users are common. The objective of this paper is to investigate the applicability of time proximity conflict indicators for evaluating pedestrian safety in less‐organized traffic environments with a high mix of road users. Several alternative behavioural conflict indicators based on detecting pedestrian evasive actions are recommended to better measure traffic conflicts in such traffic environments. These indicators represent variations in the spatio‐temporal gait parameters (step length, step frequency and walk ratio) immediately before the conflict point. A highly congested shared intersection in Shanghai, China, with frequent pedestrian conflicts is used as a case study. Traffic conflicts are analysed with the use of automated video‐based analysis techniques. The results showed that evasive action‐based indicators have higher potential to identify pedestrian conflicts and measure their severity in high mix less organized traffic environments than time proximity measures such as time‐to‐collision and post‐encroachment time. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Short‐term prediction of traffic parameters—performance comparison of a data‐driven and less‐data‐required approaches

The travel decisions made by road users are more affected by the traffic conditions when they travel than the current conditions. Thus, accurate prediction of traffic parameters for giving reliable information about the future state of traffic conditions is very important. Mainly, this is an essential component of many advanced traveller information systems coming under the intelligent transportation systems umbrella. In India, the automated traffic data collection is in the beginning stage, with many of the cities still struggling with database generation and processing, and hence, a less‐data‐demanding approach will be attractive for such applications, if it is not going to reduce the prediction accuracy to a great extent. The present study explores this area and tries to answer this question using automated data collected from field. A data‐driven technique, namely, artificial neural networks (ANN), which is shown to be a good tool for prediction problems, is taken as an example for data‐driven approach. Grey model, GM(1,1), which is also reported as a good prediction tool, is selected as the less‐data‐demanding approach. Volume, classified volume, average speed and classified speed at a particular location were selected for the prediction. The results showed comparable performance by both the methods. However, ANN required around seven times data compared with GM for comparable performance. Thus, considering the comparatively lesser input requirement of GM, it can be considered over ANN in situations where the historic database is limited. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Decision fusion of a multi-sensing embedded system for occupant safety measures

The need for an embedded system that can fuse incomplete, inconsistent, and imprecise decisions from several sensing systems is a crucial step in achieving an effective decision for occupant safety measures. This paper deals with the decision fusion strategies of a multi-sensing embedded system to achieve significant enhancement in the reliability of occupant safety through the fused decisions. Multi-sensing approaches to determine weight, vision, and crash sensing are developed for occupant detection, classification, position calculation, and crash detection. A rule-based decision fusion algorithm is then developed to fuse the multi-sensing decisions. The developed sensing systems are incorporated into an embedded device. To execute the embedded system, a system interface between the software and hardware is developed using Lab Window/CVI with the C programming language. The experimental results demonstrated that the real time operation of the embedded system validate the effectiveness of the decision fusion algorithm, characterize the safety measures and monitor the decision application. Several events were tested that prove the performance of the embedded system is robust towards occupant safety measures.     

Thermodynamic analysis of alternative marine fuels for marine gas turbine power plants

The marine shipping industry faces challenges to reduce engine exhaust emissions and greenhouse gases (GHGs) from ships, and in particular, carbon dioxide. International regulatory bodies such as the International Maritime Organization and National Environmental Agencies of many countries have issued rules and regulations to drastically reduce GHG and emissions emanating from marine sources. This study investigates the possibility of using natural gas and hydrogen as alternative fuels to diesel oil for marine gas turbines and uses a mathematical model to assess the effect of these alternative fuels on gas turbine thermodynamic performance. Results show that since natural gas is categorized as a hydrocarbon fuel, the thermodynamic performance of the gas turbine cycle using natural gas was close to that of the diesel case. However, the gas turbine thermal efficiency was found to be slightly lower for natural gas and hydrogen fuels compared to diesel fuel.