Blood Pressure Change in Intrafascicular Vagal Activities

Baroreflex plays a significant role in modulating blood pressure for the human body.It is known that activation of the vagal nerve related to baroreflex can lea...     

Marketing management at the world's major ports

Recent technological developments in maritime transport, particularly in container shipping and larger vessels, are having major repercussions at ports the world over. The latest wave of innovations has increased the level of competition in maritime transport, in particular in port activities. Shippers have many more alternatives available, something that tends to increase the hinterland of each port, precisely by reducing captive hinterlands. Ports are now generally moving towards formulas in which private initiative has a bigger role to play. Increases in competition combined with growth in private initiatives highlight the usefulness of marketing tools in two ways. Externally, because they help to achieve throughputs from remote points of origin and destination, and internally, by aiding the proper coordination of business and organizational activity at a commercial port. The present paper is a transversal study of the current situation of marketing and quality tools at major ports, including the opinions of a range of port commercial and marketing managers. We have also tried to describe the differentiated groups to be found at ports, as a useful methodology for identifying the nearest competition or ports with similar characteristics.     

Indirect estimation of interregional freight flows with a real-valued genetic algorithm

Transportation - This paper introduces a method for estimating the interregional transportation of certain commodities in those cases where the commodity flows are not readily available and only...     

Influence of the weather on mode choice in corridors with time-varying congestion: a mixed data study

Studies that link human behaviour to the influence of weather have historically been conducted in such fields as tourism, marketing and leisure. In most studies that jointly examine weather and the mode of transport, only open-air transportation has been considered (for example, bicycle, motorcycle or walking). This focus, together with the habitual use of data collected with automatic devices and a lack of studies that analyse this issue using stated preference data, are the main reasons motivating this paper. This paper aims to analyse the influence of weather and the density of traffic on the choice of transport mode. A case study is conducted in an access/egress corridor located in the city of Barcelona (Spain). Two data sources were used: revealed preference and stated preference data. Modelling techniques using mixed data enabled the stronger features from both data sources to be captured. Finally, we discuss how the selection of different alternative specific constants in models estimated using mixed data could generate unrealistic forecasting results if environmental changes are expected in the actual market.     

Stochastic Monte Carlo simulations of the pantograph–catenary dynamic interaction to allow for uncertainties introduced during catenary installation

The simulation of the pantograph–catenary dynamic interaction is at present mainly based on deterministic approaches. However, any errors made during the catenary stringing process are sources of variability that can affect the dynamic performance of the system. In this paper, we analyse the influence of dropper length, dropper spacing and support height errors on the current collection quality by applying a classic Monte Carlo method to obtain the probability density functions of several output quantities. The effects of installation errors are also studied for a range of train speeds. Finally, the pre-sag that, on average, produces the best behaviour of the system is identified, allowing for the uncertainty in the catenary installation. The results obtained show the convenience to consider variability in pantograph–catenary dynamic simulations.     

Preference Heterogeneity and Willingness to Pay for Travel Time Savings

We examined different model specifications to detect the presence of preference heterogeneity in a mode choice context. The specification that worked best allows for both systematic and random variations in tastes, with parameters obtained at the individual level using Bayesian methods. Subjective values of travel time (SVT) and expected individual compensated variation were derived and aggregated to obtain measures of social welfare. Results suggest that the benefit measures, both at the individual and at the social level, are sensitive to preference heterogeneity assumptions. SVT and welfare changes derived from travel time reductions could be underestimated if the traditional assumption of taste homogeneity is made (we detected differences up to 30% in both types of measures). We also obtained an empirical value for the error made when evaluating changes in social welfare using an approximation of the expected individual compensated variation (expressed as a function of individual SVT) rather than its exact expression.     

Determinants of the willingness-to-pay for reducing the environmental impacts of road transportation

This paper examines the willingness-to-pay of people living in a number of villages in Navarre, in the Spanish Pyrenees to reduce noise and air pollution. Several models are used for estimation based on contingent valuation, noting that those living near roads are willing to pay more to reduce air and noise pollution. In addition, younger people, the better educated, and the more environmentally aware individuals are also willing to pay more to reduce those externalities.     

Modelling with joint choice of ports and countries of origin and destination: application to Colombian ports

Literature has focused on studying port choice independently or as an element of a supply chain without considering the joint selection with the country of origin/destination of the imports/exports. However, the characteristics and location of a port may make it more attractive to mobilise more freight from/to some particular countries rather than others, making the port choice decision dependent on the country of origin/destination of the cargo. This article proposes advanced econometric models to evaluate simultaneously port choice and the country of origin/destination choice for Colombian imports and exports. Findings suggest that for imports and exports domestic freight rate is the most important variable for the joint choice process. Also, for exports, maritime transit time is more relevant than for imports, while for the frequency of shipping lines the opposite is true. The existence of a trade agreement and the gross domestic product per capita also have a significant influence on the election of a country for exports/imports.     

城市干路拥堵社会经济评价方法

为评估城市干路交通拥堵导致的经济、环境成本和公众利益损失及其对区域架构的影响,设计了一种定量与定性相结合的分析方法.给出了因交通拥堵产生的八类损失,包括:出行时间损失、燃油损失及车辆损耗、交通事故损失、噪声损失及尾气排放增加的损失等五类从经济或环境、技术角度可量化的损失,以及交通拥堵导致机构搬迁对当地经济的影响、危险品...     

Research on the Brayton cycle design conditions for reliquefaction cooling of LNG boil off

This paper analyses the Brayton cooling cycle for the reliquefaction of the boil off on liquefied natural gas (LNG) vessels. By performing a thermodynamic study, we analysed and evaluated the conditions, parameters and energy consumption required in the process, including the influence of the choice and variation of diverse factors on the operating conditions and power.