Exposure of urban populations to road traffic noise in Hong Kong

This article examines the exposure of Hong Kong’s population to road traffic noise and whether there is class-biased inequality in this. The socio-economic characteristics of residents of public and private building are taken from census data and the noise exposure levels from 3-D noise mapping. Using decile plots and binary logistic regression analysis, we find that in general the socially deprived groups tend to live in building groups exposed to higher noise levels. This is particularly pronounced in private housing estates where older, less educated, those engaged in craftsman and elementary jobs, and non-owners of their dwellings are exposing to higher levels of traffic noise. Inequality is less conspicuous in public housing estates.     

Development of a Model for Enhancing Justice in MPA Designation and Zoning and its Application to Taiwan’s South Penghu Marine National Park

Abstract

Multi-purpose marine protected areas (MPAs) are prevalent world-wide as institutional mechanisms deployed in the marine environment to manage multiple uses, conserve resources and protect ecosystems. Yet some people may experience disadvantage following the implementation of new MPAs. One understudied aspect of MPAs is the distribution of advantages and disadvantages and how best to address the “justice” concerns that they raise. This article identifies a framework of principles, methods and tools to address these concerns. It devises a “MPA justice model” and demonstrates its applicability to a Taiwanese case study. In 2014, Taiwan proclaimed its first multiple-purpose MPA, the South Penghu Marine National Park and the case study shows ways that the MPA’s socio-economic sustainability could have been better accomplished. The article focuses on future MPA establishment that incorporates distributional fairness and procedural legitimacy into MPA site designation and zoning design - but might also be adapted to use retrospectively in MPA review processes.     

Relationships among service quality,corporate image,customer satisfaction,and behavioral intention for the elderly in high speed rail services

Since the Taiwan High Speed Rail operations, Taiwan's transportation market entered into a new era. Because of its competitive service of speed, convenience, environmental concerns and comfort, the High Speed Rail has not only made significant changes but has played a significant role in Taiwan's transportation. However, Taiwan now is an aging society. Due to the physical constraints among the elderly, demands to redesign the traffic system and maintain transportation safety are essential considerations. In the current market, Taiwan's transportation construction is facing fewer barriers; however, it must still improve, especially considering the health of the elderly. Thus, this study investigates elderly passengers' demands and further examined the relationships among service quality, corporate image, customer satisfaction, and behavioral intention. According to empirical analytical results based on structural equation modeling (N = 341), satisfaction directly affected travel behaviors, while service quality and corporate image played indirect roles. In addition, service quality plays a significant role on the effect of satisfaction. This study provides empirical evidence to indicate the quality of the accessible environment affects not only the effectiveness and efficiency of service quality, but also, the corporate image. The results provide valuable references for critically managing the elderly's usage of the high speed rail transportation service. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Characteristics of speed dispersion and its relationship to fundamental traffic flow parameters

Speed dispersion is essential for transportation research but inaccessible to certain sensors that simply record density, mean speed, and/or flow. An alternative is to relate speed dispersion with these available parameters. This paper is compiled from nearly a quarter million observations on an urban freeway and a resulting data-set with two speed dispersion measures and the three fundamental parameters. Data are examined individually by lane and aggregately by direction. The first dispersion measure, coefficient of variation of speed, is found to be exponential with density, negative exponential with mean speed, and two-phase linear to flow. These empirical relationships are proven to be general for a variety of coefficient ranges under the above function forms. The second measure, standard deviation of speed, does not present any simple relationships to the fundamental parameters, and its maximum occurs at around a half to two-thirds of the free flow speed. Speed dispersion may be significantly different by lane.     

Driving Pattern Recognition for Control of Hybrid Electric Trucks

The design procedure for an adaptive power management control strategy, based on a driving pattern recognition algorithm is proposed. The design goal of the control strategy is to minimize fuel consumption and engine-out NOx and PM emissions on a set of diversified driving schedules. Six representative driving patterns (RDP) are designed to represent different driving scenarios. For each RDP, the Dynamic Programming (DP) technique is used to find the global optimal control actions. Implementable, sub-optimal control algorithms are then extracted by analyzing the behavior of the DP control actions. A driving pattern recognition (DPR) algorithm is subsequently developed and used to classify the current driving pattern into one of the RDPs; thus, the most appropriate control algorithm is selected adaptively. This 'multi-mode' control scheme was tested on several driving cycles and was found to work satisfactorily.     

Experimental investigation on the drag reducing efficiency of the outer-layer vertical blades

An experimental assessment has been made of the drag reducing efficiency of the outer-layer vertical blades, which were first devised by Hutchins and Choi (Proceedings of ASME FEDSM’02 2002 ASME Fluids Engineering Division Summer Meeting, Montreal) and Hutchins (An investigation of larger-scale coherent structures in fully developed turbulent boundary layers, Hutchins N (2003), PhD thesis, University of Nottingham). The reported drag reduction efficiency, which was as much as 30%, was quantified only in terms of the reduction in the local skin-friction coefficient. The assessment of the drag reducing efficiency did not take the side effects of the inclusion of the blades into considerations. Those effects are the increase in the wetted surface area and the flow disturbances due to the presence of the blades. In the present study, a series of drag force measurements in towing tank has been performed toward the assessments of the total drag reduction efficiency of the outer-layer vertical blades. It was found that for the case of h 4.0 × z 4.0 (h/δ = 1.04), the outer-layer vertical blades array achieved about 9.6% drag reduction without considering the increase in the wetted surface area. A proper scaling method to give collapsed plot of drag reduction efficiency C _F/C _F0 was attempted, but the correlation remained limited. Of the two scaling methods, the outer scaling is found to be relevant one.     

Experimental and numerical investigation of fuel mixing effects on soot structures in counterflow diffusion flames

Experimental and numerical analyses of laminar diffusion flames were performed to identify the effect of fuel mixing on soot formation in a counterflow burner. In this experiment, the volume fraction, number density, and particle size of soot were investigated using light extinction/scattering systems. The experimental results showed that the synergistic effect of an ethylene-propane flame is appreciable. Numerical simulations showed that the benzene (C₆H₆) concentration in mixture flames was higher than in ethylene-base flames because of the increase in the concentration of propargyl radicals. Methyl radicals were found to play an important role in the formation of propargyl, and the recombination of propargyl with benzene was found to lead to an increase in the number density for cases exhibiting synergistic effects. These results imply that methyl radicals play an important role in soot formation, particularly with regard to the number density.     

Development of an electric active rollcontrol (ARC) algorithm for a SUV

Cornering maneuvers with reduced body roll and without loss in comfort are leading requirements for car manufacturers. An electric active roll control (ARC) system controls body roll angle with motor-driven actuators installed in the centers of the front and rear stabilizer bars. A vehicle analysis model developed using a CarSim S/W was validated using vehicle test data. Two ARC algorithms for a sports utility vehicle (SUV) were designed using a sliding-mode control algorithm based on a nonlinear roll model and an estimated lateral acceleration based on a linearized roll model. Co-simulation with the Matlab simulink controller model and the CarSim vehicle model were conducted to evaluate the performance of two ARC control algorithms. To validate the ARC performance in a real vehicle, vehicle tests were conducted at KATECH proving ground using a small SUV equipped with two ARC actuators, upper and lower controllers and a few subsystems. From the simulation and vehicle validation test results, the proposed ARC control algorithm for the developed ARC actuator prototypes improves the vehicle’s dynamic performance.     

Cold performance of various biodiesel fuel blends at low temperature

This study examines the cold performance of biodiesel blends in a passenger car and a light duty truck at −16 °C and −20 °C. Six different types of biodiesels derived from soybean oil, waste cooking oil, rapeseed oil, cottonseed oil, palm oil and jatropha oil were blended with different volume ratios (B5 (5 vol. % biodiesel — 95 vol. % diesel), B10 and B20). The cold filter plugging point (CFPP) and the cloud point had an effect on the startability and driveability of both the passenger car and the light duty truck. The startability and driveability of the passenger car with all biodiesel blends (B5) were generally good at −20 °C. In the light duty truck, biodiesel blends (B10 and B20) of soybean, waste cooking, rapeseed and jatropha tended to be good at −20 °C in the startability and driveability tests than the biodiesel blends (B10 and B20) of cottonseed and palm. In particular, the palm biodiesel blend (B10) failed at −20 °C, and the palm biodiesel blend (B20) also failed at −16 °C in the startability test. The cold flow properties of biodiesel dictate that the length of the hydrocarbon chains and the presence of unsaturated structures significantly affect the low temperature properties of biodiesel.     

Economic value and utility of a powertrain system for a plug-in parallel diesel hybrid electric bus

This research is the first to develop a design for a powertain system of a plug-in parallel diesel hybrid electric bus equipped with a continuously variable transmission (CVT) and presents a new design paradigm of the plug-in hybrid electric bus (HEB). The criteria and method for selecting and sizing powertrain components equipped in the plug-in HEB are presented. The plug-in HEB is designed to overcome the vulnerable limitations of driving range and performance of a purely electric vehicle (EV) and to improve fuel economy and exhaust emissions of conventional bus and conventional HEBs. The control strategy of the complicated connected propulsion system in the plug-in parallel HEB is one of the most significant factors in achieving higher fuel economy and lower exhaust emissions of the HEV. In this research, a new optimal control strategy concept is proposed against existing rule-based control strategies. The optimal powertrain control strategy is obtained through two steps of optimizations: tradeoff optimization for emission control and energy flow optimization based on the instantaneous optimization technique. The proposed powertrain control strategy has the flexibility to adapt to battery SOC, exhaust emission amount, classified driving pattern, driving condition, and engine temperature. The objective of the optimal control strategy is to optimize the fuel consumption, electricity use, and exhaust emissions proper to the performance targets. The proposed control strategy was simulated to prove its validity by using analysis simulation tool ADVISOR (advanced vehicle simulator).