Energy-saving reputation method for wireless sensor networks

Reputation mechanism has been recently introduced into wireless sensor networks (WSNs) to overcome the deficiencies incurred by cryptography alone. Unlike most current reputation mechanisms that are based on binomial distribution and to some extent, do not give due attention to the aspect of energy constraint of WSNs, this research deduces and proves the feasibility that negative binomial distribution can well be used in the reputation update with distinctive energy-saving features. Comparison tests with respect to the energy consumption in terms of reputation computing frequencies are done between the traditional reputation method and the one in this study. Results show that our method can save more energy for the reputation update and thus can better meet the power constraints of WSNs.     

Simulation of temperature distribution in hot filament chemical vapor deposition diamond films growth on SiC seals

In this study, the temperature and gas velocity distributions in hot filament chemical vapor deposition(HFCVD) diamond film growth on the end surfaces of seals are simulated by the finite volume method. The influence of filament diameter, filament separation and rotational speed of the substrates is considered. Firstly,the simulation model is established by simplifying operating conditions to simulate the temperature and gas velocity distributions. Thereafter, the deposition parameters are optimized as 0.6 mm filament diameter, 18 mm filament separation and 5 r/min rotational speed to get the uniform temperature distribution. Under the influence of the rotational speed, the difference between temperature gradients along the directions perpendicular to the filament and parallel to the filament becomes narrow, it is consistent with the actual condition, and the maximum temperature difference on the substrates decreases to 7.4?C. Furthermore, the effect of the rotational speed on the gas velocity distribution is studied. Finally, diamond films are deposited on the end surfaces of Si C seals with the optimized deposition parameters. The characterizations by scanning electron microscopy(SEM) and Raman spectroscopy exhibit a layer of homogeneous diamond films with fine-faceted crystals and uniform thickness. The results validate the simulation model.     

重庆市轨道交通网络化新形势下的地面常规公交转型发展对策研究

近年来,随着轨道交通的大规模建设和交通出行方式的多样化,给地面常规公交带来了前所未有的挑战和压力,常规公交客流呈现下降趋势已经成为普遍现象.本文主要以重庆为例,基于轨道交通网络化发展,探究在轨道网发展过程中常规公交面临的困境,提出在新常态下常规公交的发展定位和发展策略,构建以轨道为骨干,常规公交为基础的公共交通一体...     

Analysis of travel activity determinants using robust statistics

This study investigates travel behavior determinants based on a multiday travel survey conducted in the region of Ghent, Belgium. Due to the limited data reliability of the data sample and the influence of outliers exerted on classical principal component analysis, robust principal component analysis (ROBPCA) is employed in order to reveal the explanatory variables responsible for most of the variability. Interpretation of the results is eased by utilizing ROSPCA. The application of ROSPCA reveals six distinct principal components where each is determined by a few variables. Among others, our results suggest a key role of variable categories such as journey purpose-related impedance and journey inherent constraints. Surprisingly, the variables associated with journey timing turn out to be less important. Finally, our findings reveal the critical role of outliers in travel behavior analysis. This suggests that a systematic understanding of how outliers contribute to observed mobility behavior patterns, as derived from travel surveys, is needed. In this regard, the proposed methods serve for processing raw data typically used in activity-based modelling.     

Safety culture on board six Swedish passenger ships

This paper presents the results of a Swedish study on maritime safety culture. The study aims to increase knowledge about the characteristics of safety culture in the maritime setting and about the relationship between safety culture and organizational climate. Such knowledge can be vital in the process of developing and improving safety culture. The paper reports the results of safety culture assessments on board six Swedish passenger ships in international traffic, using observations, questionnaires, and interviews focussing on 508 employees who completed the questionnaires. The results of the assessments revealed a generally good existing safety culture. Differences in individuals' safety culture perceptions were found between ships, vessel type (high-speed craft versus Ropax), and hierarchical working position. Important relationships between organizational climate and safety culture were also found. A comparison with other transport sectors where the same safety culture assessment had been applied yielded that passenger shipping has an average safety culture score level that falls between air traffic control and airport ground handling. The method of assessment, which can be used by shipping companies and vessel crews, identified specific areas of concern in the safety culture that could support continuous improvements of safety and safety culture.     

Small Vibrations of Nonlinear Dynamic Systems Containing Non-Rigid Bodies Excited by Stationary Stochastic Processes

From a vibrational point of view, real vehicles form dynamic systems containing non-rigid bodies and nonlinear two-force elements, often excited by stationary random processes. Their theoretical investigation in a broader frequency range is practically possible in the frequency domain only. In the treatment of nonlinearities second-order stochastical linearization methods can be used advantageously. The amount of necessary computations can be vastly reduced by using known receptance matrices of all bodies in the system in its equations of motion after Fourier transformation. The article describes the receptance properties of non-rigid bodies, their use for the determination of the dynamic system's transfer functions and the determination of the output processes' spectral density matrix under stationary random external excitation using stochastical second-order linearization of the nonlinearities.     

The influence of route choice and operating conditions on fuel consumption and CO<Subscript>2</Subscript> emission of ships

The influence of various parameters, such as ship initial speed (full ahead and lower engine loads), loading condition, heading angle and weather conditions on ship fuel consumption and CO₂ emission is presented. A reliable methodology for estimating the attainable ship speed, fuel consumption and CO₂ emission in different sea states is described. The speed loss is calculated by taking into account the engine and propeller performance in actual seas as well as the mass inertia of the ship. The attainable ship speed is obtained as time series. Correlation of speed loss with sea states allows predictions of propulsive performance in actual seas. If the computation is used for weather routing purposes, values for various ship initial speed, loading conditions and heading angles for each realistic sea‐state must be provided. The voluntary speed loss is taken into account. The influence of the ship speed loss on various parameters such as fuel consumption and CO₂ emissions is presented. To illustrate the presented concept, the ship speed and CO₂ emissions in various routes of the Atlantic Ocean are calculated using representative environmental design data for the track of the routes where the ship will sail.     

Analysis of within-household effects and between-household differences in maintenance activity allocation

This paper investigates the allocation of household individuals to out-of-home maintenance activities using the rich activity-travel diary data from the San Francisco Bay Area. Two inter-related decisions are considered in this context: (i) whether the given activity episode is performed individually (solo) or jointly, and (ii) the person who participates in the activity, if it is a solo activity. To account for the conditional nature of the solo activity person selection, a nested mixed logit modeling framework is proposed and implemented to jointly analyze person allocation for all maintenance activities performed by a household on a given day. The model is used to investigate within-household effects and between-household differences. The proposed model relaxes some important restrictions in person allocation models by accounting for various sources of correlations and relaxing the assumption of constant variance across households. The proposed model is used to analyze the differences in person allocation between different types of households. The results indicate that life-cycle and household role, income, gender, employment status, and several types of constraints (activities including cost, time-availability, vehicle-availability, coordination constraints, and child-care obligations) affect person allocation decisions in the context of maintenance activities. The empirical results indicate the presence of various sources of correlations across persons, over activities, and within-household that are significant. In addition, the data also provides evidence that the unobserved variances in person selection utilities are not constant across households. A better understanding of these within-household interactions and between-household differences may be used in activity-based simulation models and to develop more effective and focused demand management measures.     

An automated approach to passive sonar classification using binary image features

This paper proposes a new method for ship recognition and classification using sound produced and radiated underwater. To do so, a three-step procedure is proposed. First, the preprocessing operations are utilized to reduce noise effects and provide signal for feature extraction. Second, a binary image, made from frequency spectrum of signal segmentation, is formed to extract effective features. Third, a neural classifier is designed to classify the signals. Two approaches, the proposed method and the fractal-based method are compared and tested on real data. The comparative results indicated better recognition ability and more robust performance of the proposed method than the fractal-based method. Therefore, the proposed method could improve the recognition accuracy of underwater acoustic targets.     

Can rural older drivers meet their needs without a car? Stated adaptation responses from a GPS travel diary survey

Rural seniors are highly dependent on their automobile to meet their trip making needs, yet the effects of aging can make access to the vehicle difficult or impossible over time. The anticipated growth in the older person population, in concert with limited travel data available to support rural transportation planning in Canada suggests a disconnect between what rural older people may require for transportation and the availability of formal alternatives. Many will seek informal alternatives to driving, such as depending on friends and family, to meet their travel needs, but the degree is not well understood in the context of their actual vehicle usage and stated ability to adapt. This paper draws from a Global Positioning System (GPS)-based multi-day travel diary survey of a convenience sample of 60 rural older drivers (29 men, 31 women, average age of 69.6 years) from New Brunswick, Canada. Participants would rely on “friends and family” for 52% of all trips they undertook as driver in the survey, “walk or bike” for 14% of trips, and “not take the trip” in 34% of trips if they did not have access to a vehicle. The formal option of “Transit” was not selected as a viable alternative by any participant for any trip. “Medical trips”, “Shopping” and “Personal Errands” were the least discretionary of all trip types, yet the most difficult for participants to find alternate arrangements. This suggests the need to explore different models of service delivery, such as a community-supported, member-based rural shuttle service with volunteer and paid drivers that build on informal social networks and can provide service when friends and family are unavailable.