A decentralized control strategy for freeway regulation

A multilevel decentralized control scheme, the cascading technique, with application to the regulation of traffic on an urban freeway is presented. Performance of the decentralized system is compared to the performance of a centralized and a fixed time control structure. It is shown that the decentralized structure performs better than the centralized structure when incidents (lane closures) occur on the freeway. The freeway is modeled in terms of the aggregate variables section density and section speed, and is considered as a system of interconnected subsystems.     

The price-volume relationship in the sale and purchase market for dry bulk vessels

This paper investigates, for the first time, the relationship between prices and trading activity in a market where real assets are traded, i.e. in the sale and purchase market for second-hand dry bulk vessels. Investigation of this issue is of interest since the level of trading activity may contain information about the sentiment and the future direction of the prices in the market. Several important conclusions emerge from this analysis. It is found that price changes are useful in predicting trading volume, which suggests that higher capital gains encourage more transactions in the market. Additionally, it seems that volume has a negative impact on the volatility of price changes. More specifically, in contrast to what is reported for financial markets, we find evidence that, in the market for ships, increases in trading activity lead to a reduction in market volatility. This can be explained by the unique underlying characteristics of the market for ships, including thin trading, which imply that increases in trading activity result in price transparency and stability. These findings indicate that practitioners in the market may use the information contained in the level of trading activity so as to guide their market decisions in the sale and purchase market.     

Adaptive Control of 4WS System by Using Neural Network

An adaptive control system of the model following type is proposed for drive motion control of a four wheel steering (4WS) car with using neural network (NN) which has mastered nonlinear friction force between tire and road surface. A model of one rigid body is adopted which represents appropriately two kinds of car motion caused by steering action, namely the lateral displacement and the yawing rotation, and an equation of motion is described in a simplified form to make a system equation for motion control possible. Nonlinear relation between the cornering force of tire and the slip angle is obtained by numerical analysis with the tire model proposed by E. Fiala, taking friction coefficient and car speed as the parameters. The result is used as the teaching signal for NN. Three NN are used in the control system composed of both the feed-forward and the feedback circuits in order to realize adaptive control. Validity and usefulness of the proposed adaptive control system with NN are verified by three kinds of computer simulation.     

Closed-Loop Directional Stability of Car-Trailer Combinations in Straight-Line Motion

This work focuses on the interaction between a driver and a car-trailer combination. A model characterizing human operator behavior in regulation task is employed to study directional stability of the overall system. The vehicle-trailer model retains nonlinear cornering force and other kinematic nonlinearities. Linear stability of the straight line motion is analyzed by the application of Routh-Hurwitz criteria and stability boundaries in parameter space are constructed by setting appropriate Hurwitz determinant to zero. It is shown that two types of transition in stability are possible in the driver/car-trailer system. They correspond to one pair or two pairs of complex conjugate eigenvalues crossing the imaginary axis simultaneously. The implications in terms of resulting motions for the nonlinear system are also discussed. It is shown that stabilization of the combination can be achieved by adding a passive controller at the articulation point. Articulation damper turns out to be a more useful device for controlling trailer oscillations instability although a combination of damper and torsional spring would be a more ideal solution.     

Modelling of Driver/Vehicle Directional Control System

Different driver models and driver/vehicle/road closed-loop directional control systems are reviewed and compared. Evaluation methods of vehicle handling quality based on closed-loop system dynamics, stability of the closed-loop system, and optimization of vehicle design are discussed.     

Risk analysis of vessel traffic systems

A risk analysis approach to the capital planning of vessel traffic services (VTS) is embedded within the benefit-cost methodology. The method is discussed in the Canadian context, but has already been used to plan the Hong Kong VTS system. Recently, in response to the Exxon Valdez oil spill, the US Congress asked for a study of the requirements for VTS systems in American ports and waterways, and the US Coast Guard chose to apply our risk analysis approach to their study.     

Time series for sea water and seaweed of Tc and Sb originating from releases at La Hague

⁹⁹Tc and ¹²⁵Sb have been released in low level liquid waste at the reprocessing plant at La Hague (Fr). Over a number of years data have been obtained on the concentration of ⁹⁹Tc in sea water and in seaweed from sampling locations close to and at increasing distances north and east of the point of release into the English Channel.In addition such data have been obtained on ¹²⁵Sb for a small number of sampling points. These time series, and the information derived from their intercomparison and from comparison with the release data, are presented in this paper.Time series on ⁹⁹Tc as well as ¹²⁵Sb in sea water and seaweed clearly confirm a considerable decrease in release rates at La Hague over the years 1986–1993. Transit times and transfer factors derived from the series are generally in good agreement with the results of modelling efforts. The data do not provide evidence for a time lag between levels of the radionuclides in sea water and those in seaweed longer than a few months.The very high concentration factors for ⁹⁹Tc in brown seaweeds make these seaweeds very useful for environmental monitoring the radionuclide at low release rates and to trace releases in areas remote from the point of release.     

Rule-based optimization of midship structures

A rule-based overall design methodology for midship structures of small inland waterways vessels is presented. It is shown how the designer, under conflicting requirements, can select the optimum design by using a combined objective function with priority factors assigned to individual design criteria. The concept of optimization, in large-scale structural design problems, is extended to the local members (the stiffening elements) of the ship structure, so that the stiffeners can be specified by their actual dimensions instead of section moduli. The effects of price-structure (labour rate to material price ratio) and the choice of type of stiffener on design are investigated. Standard sections and optimized fabricated sections are taken as the alternative options for selecting the stiffeners. Conversion of exact mathematical optimum solutions into production-oriented designs is also demonstrated in a series of practical applications of the proposed method.     

Post OPA-90 vessel oil spill differentials: transfers versus vessel accidents

This study investigates vessel oil spill differentials for transfer and vessel-accident spills for the post Oil Pollution Act of 1990 (OPA-90) period. In-water and out-of-water transfer/vessel-accident oil spill equations are estimated, utilizing tobit regression analysis and data of individual vessel oil spills (of oil-cargo and non-oil-cargo vessels) investigated by the US Coast Guard for the 1991-1995 period. In the data, 47.5% (94.1%) of in-water (out-of-water) gallons of oil spilled were transfer spills; non-oil-cargo vessels accounted for 44.2% of all gallons spilled. The estimation results suggest that out-of-water transfer spills are larger in size than vessel-accident spills, but are similar in size for in-water spills. Transfer/vessel-accident spill differentials exist (do not exist) among determinants of in-water (out-of-water) spills. The policy implication of the results is that a vessel oil spill-reduction differentiation regulatory regime is needed that differentiates between transfer and vessel-accident spills and in-water and out-of-water spills for reducing vessel oil spills.     

Patterns of car usage and restraint modelling

Transport demand forecasting procedures have traditionally employed household based modal split models implicitly assuming a selection of mode for each trip based on relative generalised cost. A detailed examination of the trip patterns of a sample of household in West Yorkshire shows that in fact there is little discretionary choice of public transport; public transport trips in car owning households generally being explained in terms of the specific unavailability of the car for such trips. Two versions of a category analysis model for modal split are based on this observation and applied to household data for Glamorgan and Monmouthshire to show that such a procedure is workable and produces results comparing favourably with traditional approaches. The likely implications of three types of restraint policy are examined and it is concluded that the existing interdependence in trip patterns and modal choice within the household is of great significance in determining their effects. In particular it appears that positive attempts to increase vehicle occupancy at the peak are likely to be more favourable to public transport finances than the more negative policies to restrain use of the car for journey to work, or second car ownership.