The impact of strategic management and fleet planning on airline efficiency - A random effects Tobit model based on DEA efficiency scores

As a result of the liberalisation of airline markets; the strong growth of low cost carriers; the high volatility in fuel prices; and the recent global financial crisis, the cost pressure that airlines face is very substantial. In order to survive in these very competitive environments, information on what factors impact on costs and efficiency of airlines is crucial in guiding strategic change. To evaluate key determinants of 58 passenger airlines’ efficiency, this paper applies a two-stage Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) approach, with partially bootstrapped random effects Tobit regressions in the second stage. Our results suggest that the effects of route optimisation, in the sense of average stage length of the fleet, are limited to airline technical efficiency. We show that airline size and key fleet mix characteristics, such as aircraft size and number of different aircraft families in the fleet, are more relevant to successful cost management of airlines since they have significant impacts on all three types of airline efficiency: technical, allocative and, ultimately, cost efficiency. Our results also show that despite the fuel saving benefits of younger aircraft, the age of an airline’s fleet has no significant impact on its technical efficiency, but does have a positive impact on its allocative and cost efficiency.     

Scientific research about climate change mitigation in transport: A critical review

This paper seeks to develop a deeper understanding of the research on climate change mitigation in transport. We suggest that work to date has focused on the effects of improvements in transport technologies, changes in the price of transport, physical infrastructure provision, behavioural change and alternative institutional arrangements for governing transport systems. In terms of research methodologies, positivist and quantitative analysis prevails, although there are signs of experimentation with non-positivist epistemologies and participatory methods. These particular engagements with climate change mitigation reflect mutually reinforcing tendencies within and beyond the academic transport community. We first draw on a revised version of Thomas Kuhn’s philosophy of science to explore the path dependencies within transport studies, which are at least partly responsible for the predisposition towards quantitative modelling and technology, pricing and infrastructure oriented interventions in transport systems. We then employ the governmentality perspective to examine how transport academics’ engagements with climate change mitigation depend on and align with more general understandings of climate change in UK society and beyond. The analysis makes clear that ecological modernisation and neo-liberal governmentality more generally provide the context for the current focus on and belief in technological, behaviour change, and especially market-based mitigation strategies. While current research trajectories are important and insightful, we believe that a deeper engagement with theoretical insights from the social sciences will produce richer understandings of transport mitigation in transport and briefly outline some of the contributions thinking on socio-technical transitions and practice theories can make.     

From suspended particles to strata: The fate of terrestrial substances in the Gaoping (Kaoping) submarine canyon

The river–sea system consisting of the Gaoping (new spelling according to the latest government's directive, formerly spelled Kaoping) River (KPR), shelf, and Submarine Canyon (KPRSC) located off southern Taiwan is an ideal natural laboratory to study the source, pathway, transport, and fate of terrestrial substances. In 2004 during the flood season of the KPR, a system-wide comprehensive field experiment was conducted to investigate particle dynamics from a source-to-sink perspective in the KPRSC with the emphasis on the effect of particle size on the transport, settling, and sedimentation along the pathway. This paper reports the findings from (1) two sediment trap moorings each configured with a Technicap PPS 3/3 sediment trap, and an acoustic current meter (Aquadopp); (2) concurrent hydrographic profiling and water sampling was conducted over 8 h next to the sediment trap moorings; and (3) box-coring in the head region of the submarine canyon near the mooring sites. Particle samples from sediment traps were analyzed for mass fluxes, grain-size composition, total organic carbon (TOC) and nitrogen (TN), organic matter (OM), carbonate, biogenic opal, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH), lithogenic silica and aluminum, and foraminiferal abundance. Samples from box cores were analyzed for grain-size distribution, TOC, particulate organic matter (POM), carbonate, biogenic opal, water content, and ²¹⁰Pb_ex. Water samples were filtered through 500, 250, 63, 10 µm sieves and 0.4 µm filter for the suspended sediment concentration of different size-classes.Results show that the river and shelf do not supply all the suspended particles near the canyon floor. The estimated mass flux near the canyon floor exceeds 800 g/m²/day, whose values are 2–7 times higher than those at the upper rim of the canyon. Most of the suspended particles in the canyon are fine-grained (finer than medium silt) lithogenic sediments whose percentages are 90.2% at the upper rim and 93.6% in the deeper part of the canyon.As suspended particles settle through the canyon, their size-composition shows a downward fining trend. The average percentage of clay-to-fine-silt particles (0.4–10 µm) in the water samples increases from 22.7% above the upper rim of the canyon to 56.0% near the bottom of the canyon. Conversely, the average percentage of the sand-sized (> 63 µm) suspended particles decreases downward from 32.0% above the canyon to 12.0% in the deeper part of the canyon. Correspondingly, the substrate of the canyon is composed largely of hemipelagic lithogenic mud. Parallel to this downward fining trend is the downward decrease of concentrations of suspended nonlithogenic substances such as TOC and PAH, despite of their affinity to fine-grained particles.On the surface of the canyon, down-core variables (grain size, ²¹⁰Pb_ex activity, TOC, water content) near the head region of the canyon show post-depositional disturbances such as hyperpycnite and turbiditic deposits. These deposits point to the occurrences of erosion and deposition related to high-density flows such as turbidity currents, which might be an important process in submarine canyon sedimentation.     

Analysis of impact damage characteristics of marine carbon fiber composite laminates embedded with PEI film北大核心CSCD

[目的]在传统船用碳纤维复合材料层合板层间添加热塑性相材料能有效提升船用复合材料的抗冲击性能,为探究其冲击损伤特性,开展实验研究。[方法]使用光学显微镜观察层合板的热塑性/热固性界面,分析两相材料的结合方式;对不同结构的复合材料层合板进行低、中、高3种不同能量的低速冲击;通过超声C扫描与电子显微镜,对各试件的损伤形貌进行观测,以研究各试件的冲击响应及损伤机理。[结果]结果显示,相较于碳纤维层合板,含热塑性相的船用复合材料层合板具有更好的损伤阻抗;内部嵌膜层合板试件在冲击能量为8和12 J的冲击下,内部分层损伤分别减少了19%和39%,且受到12 J冲击后,内部结构损伤较小,完整性较好。[结论]将PEI热塑性膜嵌于内部能提升层合板的韧性,显著减少内部分层损伤,明显提升内部嵌膜层合板的抗冲击性能。     

Uncertainty analysis of propulsion shafting vibration北大核心CSCD

［Objective］In view of the insufficient safety and reliability of the traditional deterministic vibration analysis of ship propulsion shafting system, the vibration response analysis of the shafting system under uncertain excitation conditions is carried out. ［Methods］Using non-random vibration analysis based on non-probabilistic convex model process, the uncertain excitation and vibration response are described in the form of the upper and lower bounds of the interval to reduce dependence on a large amount of excitation sample data. Compared with the calculation results in the relevant literature, the validity of the program for solving the response bound of the two-degrees-of-freedom (2-DOFs) system is verified, and the uncertain vibration problem of the shafting system is then explored on this basis. ［Results］The results show that when the shafting system is excited by [−30 N, 30 N] propeller laterally, a displacement response of the magnitude of about 10−6 m is generated at the bearing. It is also indicate that the shafting system is excited in a certain interval, so a certain interval response must be produced. ［Conclusions］Applying the non-probabilistic convex model process and non-random vibration analysis to the field of the uncertain vibration analysis of ship propulsion shafting system, the vibration displacement response bound of the shafting under uncertain excitation conditions can be obtained with fewer excitation samples, thereby providing useful references for improving the robustness of the dynamic response prediction of ship propulsion shafting systems. © 2023 Chinese Journal of Ship Research. All rights reserved.     

Finite-time ship formation control based on extended state observer北大核心CSCD

[目的]为了解决大多数船舶编队控制算法控制周期长和时效性差的问题,提出一种基于扩张状态观测器(ESO)的有限时间控制策略。[方法]采用一种非线性终端滑模算法,通过对控制律分区域设计,克服传统终端滑模存在的奇异性问题;将非线性终端滑模与图论结合,实现有限时间的船舶编队控制;利用扩张状态观测器观测并补偿船舶模型中的不确定性及外界的干扰,以保证船舶编队控制的精确性;运用Lyapunov理论验证船舶编队控制律的稳定性。[结果]仿真结果表明,采用所提控制策略使整个编队系统误差在5 s左右趋近于0,从而实现了稳定。[结论]该控制策略能有效控制船舶编队,且控制速度快、时效性好。     

Analysis of characteristics of foreign unmanned surface vehicle swarm combat application and proposed countermeasures北大核心CSCD

无人船(USV)集群作为未来海上军事运用的重要组成力量,是各国海上无人装备的重要发展方向。首先,通过梳理总结当前国外无人船集群发展战略规划与运用现状,对无人船集群作战关键技术进行归纳分析,从集群自组网通信、战场态势感知、集群协同任务分配等3个方面剖析无人船集群相关技术的研究进展;然后,对无人船集群在军事上运用的典型样式和主要效益进行分析及研判;最后,总结分析当前应对无人船集群的难点,并对无人船集群应对的技术发展予以展望。