Policy making and planning for the port sector: paradigms in conflict

The UK has a requirement for people with seafaring expertise to fill a wide range of jobs in the maritime-related sector of the economy ashore. The pool of seagoing ships' officers has now reached the level where shore-based demand for such officers cannot be satisfied by natural wastage from this pool alone. This paper considers the implications of this for the Government's recently announced strategy for maintaining the maritime skills base. The paper concludes that it is inevitable that the Government's present strategy will fail, and suggests what measures need to be taken if the skills base is to be saved.     

Discrete dynamic models for freeway incident detection systems

This paper considers the problem of freeway incident detection within the general framework of computer‐based freeway surveillance and control. A new approach to the detection of freeway traffic incidents is presented based on a discrete‐time stochastic model of the form ARIMA (0, 1, 3) that describes the dynamics of traffic occupancy observations. This approach utilizes real‐time estimates of the variability in traffic occupancies as detection thresholds, thus eliminating the need for threshold calibration and lessening the problem of false‐alarms. Because the moving average parameters of the ARIMA (0, 1, 3) model change over time, these parameters can be updated occasionally. The performance of the developed detection algorithm has been evaluated in terms of detection rate, false‐alarm rate, and average time‐lag to detection, using a total of 1692 minutes of occupancy observations recorded during 50 representative traffic incidents.     

Performance evaluation of energy meters under nonlinear loads

Due to rapid advancements in power electronics, the utilization of electronically switched loads and nonlinear loads is increasing gradually in the electrical power system. These loads create problems of measuring instruments, when connected to the power distribution systems. In this paper, an experimental investigation has been carried out to analyze the performance of single-phase watt-hour (induction and electronic types) energy meters that are being used in Pakistan. The accuracy of the energy meters has been tested under different household nonlinear loads, at various power factors and also at different supply voltage levels. Power factor and total harmonic distortion (THD) of different household loads are also recorded in the experimental work. A hardware based experimental setup has been designed to perform the experimental work. The experimental results have been compared to Water and Power Development Authority (WAPDA) standards for energy meters.     

The effect of neighbourhood characteristics,accessibility, home–work location,and demographics on commuting distances

The goal of this paper is to better understand home-to-work travel distances throughout the Montréal Metropolitan region. A simultaneous equation modelling analysis is carried out to jointly explain commuter trip length and home–work location as a function of neighbourhood typologies, commuter socio-demographics and measures of job and worker accessibility. First, a factor and cluster analysis of urban form is performed over the entire region on a fine-scale grid pattern. The outcome of this analysis is the classification of typologies at both home and job locations. Different measures of accessibility and commuter socio-demographics are then incorporated into the analysis. Varied data sources including a detailed Montréal Origin–Destination Survey on over 30,000 home-to-work automobile trips are analyzed. Among other results, commuters that live and work in a different sub-region almost double the average trip distance and although socio-economic factors have a statistically significant correlation with commuter distance, these factors have a marginal effect. Interestingly, our results highlight the importance of urban form and job accessibility. Deciding on whether to live and work in the same sub-region was modelled as an endogenous binary random utility model; unobserved heterogeneities seem to be simultaneously influencing both the home–work location choice and trip-to-work distances. Our results underscore the importance of home–work location with respect to urban form and job accessibility. Hence, policies that support more dense and mixed land-use in suburban areas would not be enough to reduce commuter distances. These actions should be accompanied by other policy initiatives to discourage long car trips.     

Experimental Investigation of a Hydraulic Turbine for Hydrokinetic Power Generation in Irrigation/Rainfall Channels

The development of microchannels with open flow for use in irrigation and rainy areas is challenged by electricity generation via hydrokinetic devices in shallo...     

The importance of time in transit and reliability of transit time for shippers,receivers, and carriers

Reliability of transit time is reputed to be the most important variable influencing freight transport today, according to shipper surveys. Average transit time also plays a major role. A model is developed that shows how a cost-minimizing shipper will adjust its economic order quantity as reliability and/or time in transit changes. Such changes impact on average inventory costs, ordering costs, expected shortage costs and expected excess costs. The model is developed for both discrete and continuous transit time distributions. Reliability is defined as the variance of transit time. A matrix is prepared for some sample data, which shows the minimum cost attainable with each mean/variance of transit time distribution. Comparing across rows and columns of the matrix enables one to show the value (reduction in total cost) obtainable by improving reliability and/or mean transit time. In addition, value can be obtained by improving reliability while increasing average transit time. It is suggested that the model can be used for shippers in negotiating service improvements with carriers and by carriers in negotiating service improvements with shippers. In the former case, the carrier can determine how much they are willing to pay for the improvement, whereas in the latter case, the carriers can determine how much they are able to charge for the improvement.     

非惯性坐标在列车纵向力分析中的运用

考虑车体与钩缓系统位移而造成的钩缓系统各部件间几何非线性特点,本文提出一种新的非线性列车车钩缓冲系统模型。忽略钩缓系统各部件惯性,将系统坐标分成惯性坐标和非惯性坐标:惯性坐标描述有惯性力作用其上的车体运动,与惯性力无关的非惯性坐标描述钩缓系统各部件的运动。在不增加状态方程数量、系统惯性坐标数量和约束方程数量的前提下,建立一个较为详细的钩缓系统模型,以体现系统各部件的运动自由度。本模型可在车体任意三维运动时捕捉钩缓系统各部位的运动自由度,而既有的简化钩缓系统模型则未能体现这一点。该方法还可避免由于过小质量的引入而带来系统微分方程组的刚性问题。最后,本文给出一个简化的列车模型算例来展示所述方法的运用。     

Cooling Efficiency According to Shape Changes to the Straight Ventilation Hole in Carbon-Ceramic Brake Disks

In this study, in order to examine the cooling efficiency of a carbon-ceramic brake disk, the temperature distribution of the disk, depending on the AMS (Auto-Motor-Sport) Fade mode, was analyzed using a numerical method. Two brake disks with different straight ventilation hole shapes were considered. The ventilation holes configuration was changed from base models in order to find a higher cooling efficiency disk design. In the Model A disk, the mean temperatures of the mid-plane and the entire disk, at the AMS Fade mode end time decreased 1.9 oC and 3 oC, hole length respectively. This was done by decreasing the length of the a2 hole from 94 mm to 59 mm. When a₂ hole length was increased from 94 mm to 128 mm, the mean temperature of the entire disk and the disk mid-plane increased 3.7 oC and 16.2 oC, respectively. This was due to the increased affined air stagnation in the disk. In the Model B disk, after removing stagnation region of the b₂ hole, the hole diameter expanded from 13 mm to 17.6 mm. As a result, the mean temperature of the entre disk and the mid-plane decreased 2.8 oC and 18.7 oC, respectively, (compared to the base model). As a result, increasing the surface area of the ventilation holes gave a higher cooling efficiency.     

基于自适应谐振理论的Web文档聚类集成方法

提出了基于自适应谐振理论的Web文档聚类集成方法．该方法先用蚁群算法对Web文档进行聚类,再用ART神经网络对聚类结果集成．实验结果表明,集成后的聚类综合质量高于集成前的聚类综合质量．     

Rescuing the captive [mode] user: an alternative approach to transport market segmentation

The prevailing approach to transport market segmentation which identifies two distinct groups, “captive” and “choice” users, has widely been used by professionals and scholars despite the ambiguity associated with these terms. Furthermore, conflicting interpretations from the point of view of decision makers and individuals may result in negative policy implications where the needs of captive users are neglected in favour of attracting new users. This study attempts to address these concerns by proposing an alternative segmentation framework that could be applied to any mode of transport, in any regional context, by users and decision makers alike to better guide the development of transport policies. Using the results of a large-scale transportation survey, a series of clustering techniques are employed to derive this alternative approach for segmenting walkers, cyclists, transit and automobile users. The main factors considered in the final clustering analysis are the level of trip satisfaction and practicality. The analysis yielded four market segments: captivity, utilitarianism, dedication and convenience. Using this theoretical framework to understand the distribution of travellers among market segments is essential in identifying distinct and appropriate policy interventions to improve trip conditions. It is hoped that the segmentation approach and policy framework proposed here will encourage a better balance between pragmatic and idealistic goals in transportation policy.