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.     

Sustainability Challenges in the Geoduck Clam Fishery of British Columbia: Policy Perspectives

The geoduck clam fishery, worth approximately CDN $40 million ¹ US $ equivalence: 35 million (Bank of Canada exchange rate on February 1, 2006). in annual landed value, is British Columbia's most valuable invertebrate fishery. This fishery has been co-managed by the Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) and the Underwater Harvesters Association (UHA) since 1989. Earlier input control measures such as effort regulation, seasonal closures, and licenses failed to work effectively for more than ten years, resulting in excess fishing capacity, over harvesting, poor economic returns, and unsafe fishing practices. Output control measures such as the individual vessel quota system (IVQ) have, to some extent, proven successful in improving revenues, controlling excess fishing capacity, gaining compliance with regulations, and involving fishers in the joint decision-making processes. However, there are public concerns about a common property resource at risk of being dominated by a few UHA license holders. Additionally, there are concerns about the job losses resulting from IVQ implementation, as well as distribution and equity issues. This article traces and examines the policy context for fisheries management in the British Columbia (BC) geoduck fishery, discusses the major concerns surrounding the exploitation of long lived Methuselah's clams and concludes with areas for further research in sustaining this lucrative fishery.     

Uncertainty modeling for bus selection and allocation in a private transportation system

ABSTRACT

This paper describes the development of a probabilistic formulation that provides global optimum selection and allocation of a fleet of buses in a private transportation system of an organization where a third party is hired to provide transportation for its employees and their dependents. In this private transportation system, a fleet of buses is to be selected and allocated to serve employees and their independents on different prescheduled trips along different routes from the organization’s headquarters and residential compound where round-trip times of scheduled trips are subject to uncertainty due to random delays. We propose a probabilistic approach based on 0-1 integer programming for the selection and allocation to determine the optimal number and size of buses assigned to a set of prescheduled trips in a particular time interval. Examples and a case study are presented to illustrate the applicability and suitability of the proposed approach.     

How can we alter our carbon footprint? Estimating GHG emissions based on travel survey information

The city of Montreal has taken recent initiatives to significantly reduce overall greenhouse (GHG) emissions from the transport sector and has made large investments in alternative transportation. In particular, the city has called upon the participation of all businesses and institutions to further these goals. In light of these recent plans, this study identifies with two objectives: first, to develop a methodology for estimating GHG emissions generated by commuters to McGill University’s downtown campus; and secondly, to better understand who, how, and when each commuter to McGill generates travel-related GHG. Mode split, travel distance, age, gender and job category were uncovered by a 2011 travel survey that we conducted across the University, from which daily individual GHG emissions are estimated. Details about these trips not only reveal who the largest polluters are and where they are coming from, but also the seasonality of their emissions. These associations are then used to narrate scenarios which present alternatives to the structure of individuals’ commutes by examining the outcomes of selected shifts in travel behavior on total GHG emissions.     

Seventy Minutes Plus or Minus 10 — A Review of Travel Time Budget Studies

Abstract

This paper provides a comprehensive review of travel-time budget (TTB) studies in the literature for about the past four decades. Starting with the concept of TTBs, it discusses both the studies that support the existence of TTB and also those that deem the concept to be unfounded. Sociodemographic variables and their relation to TTB are also discussed briefly. However, as past studies use different data sources, survey techniques, and methodology for analysis, cross comparison of studies is not possible. Most importantly, the underlying cause of the regularity that is found at an aggregate level is still not known. The idea of TTB is important because, if it exists, it would mean that the total time spent on travelling per person per day will remain unchanged in spite of all improvements to transport. TTB has immense implications for transport policies and it is usually ignored. The paper also explores the available theoretical explanation of this concept, past research gaps and new analysis potentials. Recent directions in TTB studies are also discussed together with the potential use of multiday multiyear panel data in TTB research to explore the phenomenon better than before.     

Trace element levels in some commercially valuable fish species from coastal waters of Mediterranean Sea, Egypt

Concentrations of 5 trace elements (Cd, Pb, Cu, Cr, Zn) were determined in muscle of fishes collected from two coastal areas of the Egyptian coast of the Mediterranean Sea west of Alexandria (El-Mex Bay and Eastern Harbour). Sardinella aurita, Alepes djedaba, Siganus luridus, Siganus rivulatus, Sphyraena chrysotoenia, and Scomberomorus commerson were collected from El-Mex Bay. While Boops boops, Lithognathus mormyrus, Sparisoma cretense, Serranus cabrilla and Synodus saurus were collected from the E.H. In all fishes zinc was highest (up to 57 mg/kg) followed by Cr, Cu, Pb and Cd. The concentrations of several metals in fishes were significantly different among the species in each area. For all trace element examined, the concentrations decreased significantly with body weight of some fishes. In contrast, a positive correlation with body weight was found especially for Zn and Cu concentrations in 5 fish species and for Pb in 4 fish species. The concentrations of Cd, Pb and Zn were higher in fishes from El-Mex Bay (3.76, 6.49 and 57.21 mg/kg) than those from Eastern Harbour, whereas the opposite trend was observed for Cu and Cr, revealing the direct sources of trace metal pollution present in El-Mex coastal area. Levels of Cr surpassed the Maximum Permissible Concentration in most fish tissues, followed by Pb and Cd in some species. Cu and Zn presented concentrations below the maximum permissible levels in fish tissues.     

Platooning on two-lane two-way highways: An empirical investigation

This paper presents an empirical investigation into platooning on two-lane two-way highways. The main objective is to better understand this phenomenon that has important implications on traffic performance and safety. Field data from three study sites in the state of Montana were used in this study. Separate investigations were performed to examine the relationships among platoon-related variables, namely; time headway, travel speed, and platoon size. The study confirmed that interaction between successive vehicles in the traffic stream generally diminishes beyond a time headway threshold value that fell in the range of 5–7 seconds. Also, the study revealed that very short headways (less than one second) are more associated with aggressive driving and higher speeds than with slow-moving platoons due to lack of passing opportunities. Further, the study found that amount of impedance to traffic is proportional to the size of platoon as evidenced by the relative difference between mean speed of various size platoons and the mean speed of unimpeded vehicles. The study provided other valuable insights into the platooning phenomenon on two-lane highways that are essential in developing a better understanding of traffic operation on two-lane highways.