Productivity assessment of African seaports with biased technological change

Abstract

This paper analyses the productivity of a representative sample of African seaports from 2002 to 2008. Productivity scores are decomposed, based on the Luenberger productivity indicator, and the nature of technological change is analysed. The paper finds that Nigerian seaports are the most efficient, followed by Angola and Mozambique. Discussions of the results as well as related policy implications are provided.     

The smoothing effect of carpool lanes on freeway bottlenecks

Real data show that reserving a lane for carpools on congested freeways induces a smoothing effect that is characterized by significantly higher bottleneck discharge flows (capacities) in adjacent lanes. The effect is reproducible across days and freeway sites: it was observed, without exception, in all cases tested. Predicted by an earlier theory, the effect arises because disruptive vehicle lane changing diminishes in the presence of a carpool lane. We therefore conjecture that smoothing can also be induced by other means that would reduce lane changing.The benefits can be large. Queueing analysis shows that the smoothing effect greatly reduces the times spent by people and vehicles in queues. For example, by ignoring the smoothing effect at one of the sites we analyzed one would predict that its carpool lane increased both the people-hours and the vehicle-hours traveled by well over 300%. In reality, the carpool lane reduced both measures due to smoothing. The effect is so significant that even a severely underused carpool lane can in some instances increase a freeway bottleneck’s total discharge flow. This happens for the site we analyzed when carpool demand is as low as 1200 vph.     

Reducing bunching with bus-to-bus cooperation

Schedule-based or headway-based control schemes to reduce bus bunching are not resilient because they cannot prevent buses from losing ground to the buses they follow when disruptions increase the gaps separating them beyond a critical value. (Following buses are then overwhelmed with passengers and cannot process their work quick enough to catch up.) This critical gap problem can be avoided, however, if buses at the leading end of such gaps are given information to cooperate with the ones behind by slowing down.This paper builds on this idea. It proposes an adaptive control scheme that adjusts a bus cruising speed in real-time based on both, its front and rear spacings much as if successive bus pairs were connected by springs. The scheme is shown to yield regular headways with faster bus travel than existing control methods. Its simple and decentralized logic automatically compensates for traffic disruptions and inaccurate bus driver actions. Its hardware and data requirements are minimal.     

Hub location in the South-Atlantic airline market: A spatial competition game

The paper analyzes the airlines’ hub location problem through a spatial competition game played in two stages. First, airlines sequentially choose the location of their hub and second, they compete offering direct or connecting services between each city-pair. Different outcomes in the first stage will affect competition in the second, and as a consequence, the market share that airlines can obtain.Given actual demand patterns, results of the model are applied to the South-Atlantic airline market. We study the subgame perfect equilibriums obtained as a result of competition in each city-pair to anticipate where airlines will probably locate their hubs once an “open skies” policy is adopted in this market.     

Risk-Sharing in Seaport Terminal Concessions

Over the last two decades, infrastructure development has often been supported by public–private partnerships, particularly under concession arrangements. This paper addresses terminal concession contracts in the seaport sector, and especially the problem of risk-sharing. An effective allocation of risks is the base for the well functioning of the market, and for the success of the ‘landlord’ model. Under this model, the relationship between concessionaires and port authorities is fully dependent on a contract that should be in force for the period of the concession (20, 30 or more years). Based on several Portuguese concession contracts, this paper addresses the issue of risk-sharing agreements. Some policy implications are drawn, namely, alternative contract arrangements to decrease opportunistic behaviour by concessionaires, and to provide incentives to improve efficiency.     

A fuel tankering model applied to a domestic airline network

This paper presents a linear programming model designed to determine the optimum fuel loading quantities along a route network for a Brazilian domestic airline. Assuming that there are no volume purchase or storage capacity restrictions on each station, the analysis is carried out for one aircraft on one day of its schedule. Results are extrapolated for a monthly and yearly basis. Through the proposed model, it is seen that such a fuel tankering technique leads to a 5% economical saving, but produces a 1% additional fuel burn. A discussion on the environmental impact for this procedure is also proposed. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The Importance of Brokers in Collaborative Marine Ecosystem-Based Management of Social Ecological Systems

Abstract

Practitioners play a critical yet largely unexamined role in translating collaborative, ecosystem-based management (EBM) for social-ecological systems from theory to practice. We paired mental models and social network analytical methods and applied them to two cases of marine EBM in Rhode Island and New York, focusing on practitioners themselves, to understand the relationship between practitioners’ mental models of marine ecosystems and the extent and nature of collaboration within each network. Mental models analysis was used to assess the comprehensiveness and balance of practitioners’ mental models, and social network analysis was used to assess the role and influence of practitioners within each network. A comparative statistical analysis was then performed to understand the relationship between mental models and network measures. Research revealed a statistically significant correlation between practitioners’ mental model comprehensiveness and practitioners’ influence within the network. In other words, practitioners with comprehensive mental models of the ecosystem for which they were planning were found to act as “brokers,” connecting those who were not otherwise connected, bridging jurisdictions, sectors, and disciplines. Results underscore the importance of brokers in achieving the collaborative and integrated goals of EBM and suggest the need for greater attention to practitioners’ role in EBM implementation.     

Dynamic Friction Models for Road/Tire Longitudinal Interaction

Summary In this paper we derive a new dynamic friction force model for the longitudinal road/tire interaction for wheeled ground vehicles. The model is based on a dynamic friction model developed previously for contact-point friction problems, called the LuGre model. By assuming a contact patch between the tire and the ground we develop a partial differential equation for the distribution of the friction force along the patch. An ordinary differential equation (the lumped model) for the friction force is developed, based on the patch boundary conditions and the normal force distribution along the contact patch. This lumped model is derived to approximate closely the distributed friction model. Contrary to common static friction/slip maps, it is shown that this new dynamic friction model is able to capture accurately the transient behaviour of the friction force observed during transitions between braking and acceleration. A velocity-dependent, steady-state expression of the friction force versus the slip coefficient is also developed that allows easy tuning of the model parameters by comparison with steady-state experimental data. Experimental results validate the accuracy of the new tire friction model in predicting the friction force during transient vehicle motion. It is expected that this new model will be very helpful for tire friction modeling as well as for anti-lock braking (ABS) and traction control design.