A case study related to the improvement of working and rest hours of oil tanker deck officers

Navigation safety on coastal waters is an extremely important issue. Fatigue is an important factor threatening navigation safety. Considering that the vessel type is an oil tanker, such a threat is not posed only to the crew but also to the environment. Most of the tankers navigating coastal waters are in the small tanker category. Therefore, this study examined the working and resting hours of the deck officers in the oil tankers navigating coastal waters. The study utilized the ISF Watchkeeper 3 program for assessing and interpreting the working periods. The study reached the conclusion that the first and second officers in particular are working under unsuitable conditions. To improve the working conditions of the deck officers, effects of additional cargo officer on board was investigated. This study is in quality of recommendation. The study elucidated that the cargo officer practice determines the working and resting hours of deck officers, in the work on the oil tankers, and compliance with the related conventions.     

基于小波和RBF神经网络的多传感器时间对准算法研究

提出利用小波降噪和RBF神经网络进行时间对准算法,该方法先对采集到的数据进行降噪处理,为下一步操作提供准确数据;然后利用RBF神经网络将不同传感器采集不同采样周期的数据对应到同一个时间点上,进行多传感器时间对准,为后面数据特征提取和数据融合提供高精度数据支持。通过仿真结果与其它方法的对比可得该方法运算速度快,具有数据修正能力和精确度高的特点,适用于多传感器的时间对准。     

Prediction of wave parameters by using fuzzy inference system and the parametric models along the south coasts of the Black Sea

Forecasting of sea-state characteristics has a great importance in coastal and ocean engineering studies. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to investigate performances of Adaptive-Network-Based Fuzzy Inference System (ANFIS) and several parametric methods in the Black Sea. For this purpose, different fuzzy models with different input combinations were developed for two different wind data sources (TSMS and ECMWF) at two offshore buoy stations. It also aimed to apply several approaches to event-based data sets for wave predictions. Generally, in literature the tendency is to use time series data for wave predictions. In this kind of prediction approach, lagged time series data are taken as inputs and current or future variables are taken as output. In this study, event-based data for each independent storm were extracted from time series data. Simultaneous or concurrent data of wind speed, blowing duration, fetch length and wave characteristics were detected for each single storm. These event data were then used to set up models. The hindcast results were validated with significant wave height and mean wave period data recorded in Hopa and Sinop buoy stations. The performance of developed fuzzy models were also compared with that of four different parametric methods (Wilson, SPM, Jonswap, and CEM methods) applied for two wind data sources at both buoy stations. Finally, it was determined that in the prediction of both wave parameters (H _s and T _z) the ANFIS models (R = 0.66, squared correlation coefficient, and MAE = 0.37 m, mean absolute error, for the best model in prediction of H _s) were more accurate than the parametric methods (R = 0.63 and MAE = 0.75 m for the best model in prediction of H _s).     

用于可靠性评估的软件架构描述语言研究

软件架构的设计正确与否直接影响着最终软件产品的质量,而软件架构描述语言(ADL)是设计软件架构的基础.通过对已有的ADL的研究,本文提出了一种用于可靠性评估的架构描述语言,该语言具备大多数ADL描述软件系统高层结构的能力,还支持便于可靠性评估的架构分割.     

A differential evolution approach for the vehicle routing problem with backhauls and time windows

This paper presents a differential evolution algorithm (DEA) to solve a vehicle routing problem with backhauls and time windows (VRPBTW) and applied for a catering firm. VRPBTW is an extension of the vehicle routing problem, which includes capacity and time window constraints. In this problem, customers are divided into two subsets: linehaul and backhaul. Each vehicle starts from a depot and goods are delivered from the depot to the linehaul customers. Goods are subsequently brought back to the depot from the backhaul customers. The objective is to minimize the total distance that satisfies all of the constraints. The problem is formulated using mixed integer programming and solved using DEA. Proposed algorithm is tested with several benchmark problems to demonstrate effectiveness and efficiency of the algorithm and results show that our proposed algorithm can find superior solutions for most of the problems in comparison with the best known solutions. Hence, DEA was carried out for catering firm to minimize total transportation costs. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

BL 3-5和CAP 437中船舶直升机甲板设计的差异分析

为探讨丹麦民航局BL 3-5和英国民航局CAP 437对船舶直升机甲板设计部分要求的差异，以公司建造的GM-J180A自升式平台为依托，对这两部标准进行差异化分析，总结船舶直升机甲板设计和设施配备的要求和要点并提供相应的解决方案。     

Influence of varying restoring moment curve on parametric roll motion of ships in regular longitudinal waves

This paper examines the influence of stability characteristics on roll motion in the main parametric resonance region. For this purpose, parametrically exited roll motion was modeled as a single degree of freedom system considering heave and pitch effects by means of time varying restoring moment. In addition, restoring moment variations in waves with respect to time and instantaneous roll angle was modeled analytically using the restoring moment curves for the wave crest and wave trough conditions. Roll responses were evaluated in frequency domain by solving the model with an averaging method. Notable correlation between the stability of roll responses and moment curves were observed. The results revealed that, the ratio of metacentric height (GM)between the wave trough and wave crest affects the stability of the trivial solution. Furthermore, the shape of the restoring moment curves in wave trough and wave crest conditions affects the stability of the non-trivial solution or, in other words, the pitchfork bifurcations.     

Electric vehicles and the urban environment

Abstract

Due to the increased traffic volume, especially in urban areas, cars have become the dominant source of atmospheric pollution. Actions taken to limit the pollution have not been able to counteract the polluting effect of this increase in cars. Limited petroleum resources have initiated the search for alternative fuels for vehicles. These alternatives, except for hydrogen and electricity, will however only give a limited decrease of pollution and for some components, such as aldehydes, the pollution will increase.

Electric vehicles are attractive from both energy and environmental points of view and substantial development programmes are devoted to high energy density batteries which are expected to increase the range and market for this alternative.

The scope of this paper is to compare the overall atmospheric pollution for electric vehicles with the corresponding figures for internal combustion engined (ICE) vehicles using either gasoline or such alternatives as methanol and liquid petroleum gas.

It is shown that the total atmospheric emission for electric vehicles, including what is produced from the power plant, would on a per mile basis be 20% of the comparative figure for an ICE vehicle meeting Californian legislation, which is among the most stringent in the world. For ground emission, which is the most important parameter regarding influence on man and environment the corresponding figure will be substantially lower. Also, the noise level for electric vehicles is radically lower than for cars with internal combustion engines.     

Predictors of car use habit strength in an urban Norwegian public

Car use in urban areas carries well known risks for negative effects on urban quality of life, the environment and land use. Previous psychological work has mainly studied the habit of using a car as a predictor variable, whereas only a few studies have focused on psychological factors that may underlie and shape the habit. The aim of the present study is to examine demographic characteristics, spatial variables and social–psychological factors associated with car habit use strength. The results are based on a survey conducted in a random urban population-based sample with car access recruited from the Norwegian population registry (n = 878). Car use habit strength was stronger among male than female respondents and tended to be weak with a lower income. Multivariate logistic regression showed that reporting pro-environmental attitudes and personal norms predicted a weak car use habit strength, while reporting strong priority of flexibility and a long distance from home to work predicted a strong car use habit strength. Car use habit is influenced by multiple demographic, spatial and social–psychological factors, which should be carefully addressed in interventions aimed at reducing the likelihood of developing a strong car habit strength.     

Simulation optimization of the berth allocation in a container terminal with flexible vessel priority management

ABSTRACT

Solving the berth allocation problem (BAP) in ports is not trivial where the berth resources are limited and various sizes of vessels arrive with dramatically dissimilar loads. Especially in real scenarios, arriving vessels are accepted for a berth with the first come first served (FCFS) priority rule. This study proposes a decision support system coupled with a simulation optimization module based on the swarm-based Artificial Bee Colony optimization algorithm for solving the BAP. The proposed methodology was implemented for the Izmir port in Turkey. To investigate the influences of the vessel priorities on the BAP, four different experimental scenarios based on the single (SQM) and multiple queue models (MQM) were coupled with FCFS and proposed hybrid queue priority (HQP) rule. The results indicated that SQM scenarios were superior to MQM scenarios in a manner of minimizing the average vessel waiting times and the implementation of a dynamic berth allocation strategy for the MQM significantly decreases the vessel waiting times. Results of the SQM also imply that utilization of the HQP approach further minimizes the average vessel waiting times and increases the berth utilization and port throughput without yielding excessive waiting times for the larger vessels compared with the FCFS priority rule.