Step-tolling with price-sensitive demand: Why more steps in the toll make the consumer better off

Most dynamic models of congestion pricing use fully time-variant tolls. However, in practice, tolls are uniform over the day, or at most have just a few steps. Such uniform and step tolls have received surprisingly little attention from the literature. Moreover, most models that do study them assume that demand is insensitive to the price. This seems an empirically questionable assumption that, as this paper finds, strongly affects the implications of step tolling for the consumer. In the bottleneck model, first-best tolling has no effect on the generalised price, and thus consumer surplus remains the same as without tolling. Conversely, under price-sensitive demand, step tolling increases the price, making the consumer worse off. The more steps the toll has, the closer it approximates the first-best toll, thereby increasing the welfare gain and making consumers better off. This indicates the importance for real-world tolls to have as many steps as possible: this not only raises welfare, but may also increase the political acceptability of the scheme by making consumers better off.     

Key technologies of ship remote control system in inland waterways under ship-shore cooperation conditions北大核心CSCD

［Objective ］ To meet the requirements of remotely controlling ship in curved, narrow and crowded inland waterways, this paper proposes an approach that consists of CNN-based algorithms and knowledge based models under ship-shore cooperation conditions. ［Method］On the basis of analyzing the characteristics of ship-shore cooperation, the proposed approach realizes autonomous perception of the environment with visual simulation at the core and navigation decision-making control based on deep reinforcement learning, and finally constructs an artificial intelligence system composed of image deep learning processing, navigation situation cognition, route steady-state control and other functions. Remote control and short-time autonomous navigation of operating ships are realized under inland waterway conditions, and remote control of container ships and ferries is carried out. ［Results］The proposed approach is capable of replacing manual work by remote orders or independent decision-making, as well as realizing independent obstacle avoidance, with a consistent deviation of less than 20 meters. ［Conclusions］The developed prototype system carries out the remote control operation demonstration of the above ship types in such waterways as the Changhu Canal Shenzhou line and the Yangtze River, proving that a complete set of algorithms with a CNN and reinforcement learning at the core can independently extract key navigation information, construct obstacle avoidance and control awareness, and lay the foundation for inland river intelligent navigation systems. © 2022 Journal of Clinical Hepatology. All rights reserved.     

Impacts of urban built environment on empty taxi trips using limited geolocation data

This study identifies the determinants of the empty taxi trip duration (ETTD) by combining three high-resolution databases—geolocation data in New York City, geodatabase of urban planning data, and transportation facilities data. Considering the nature of duration data, hazard-based duration model is proposed to explore the relationships between causal factors and ETTD, coupling with three variations of baseline hazard distribution, i.e., Weibull distribution with heterogeneity, Weibull distribution, and log-logistic. Furthermore, the likelihood ratio test is presented to implement comparisons of three baseline hazard distributions, as well as spatial and temporal transferability of causal factors. The results show significant complementary effects by subway system and competitive effects by city bus and bicycling system, as well as significant impacts of trip length, airport trip, average annual income, and employment rate. Urban built environment, for instance, density of road, public facilities, and recreational sites and ratio of green space, has various impacts on ETTD. The elasticity estimations confirm significant spatial and temporal heterogeneity in impacts on ETTD. In addition, the analysis on elasticity also reveals the considerable impacts of severe traffic congestion on ETTD within Manhattan. The modeling can assist stakeholders in understanding empty taxi movements and measuring taxi system efficiency in urban areas.     

International Symposium on the Ice Carrying Trade at Sea

Overmanning and restrictive labour practices are major causes of low productivity in Indian ports. Proposals are put forward for a programme of reforms to support investment in modern cargo handling systems.     

Nanoparticle emission characteristics and reduction strategies by boost pressure control and injection strategies in a passenger diesel engine

This research attempted to analyze nanoparticles and other harmful exhaust emissions in accordance with injection strategies and air-fuel ratio (AFR) changes for small diesel engines. The emission characteristics were analyzed in the medium-speed condition, which is the main driving range of a diesel engine. In the case of particulate matter (PM), the number of particles was measured, analyzed, and compared to identify the correlation and emission characteristics of nanoparticles by using a dilution device and condensation particle counter (CPC), which are international standards for particle measurement recommended by the Particulate Measurement Programme (PMP). The engine torque tended to be reduced as pilot injections were added, and the torque was increased by the increased boost pressure, but reduced by the exhaust pressure increase in a part of the low-load range. The number of nanoparticles was not influenced greatly by the change in AFR, but the reduction effect on the PM weight was great depending on the boost pressure increase. In addition, the number of nanoparticles tended to increase as the fuel injection timing became closer to TDC in all conditions, and its difference became larger with an increase in AFR. In addition, in the case of the pilot injection, nanoparticle emission showed similar characteristics depending on the main injection timing, but it was increased by advanced injection timing when performing the main injection only, and the number of the nanoparticles increased as pilot injections were added. Last, the optimal conditions for EMS calibration were analyzed by selecting the conditions of torque reduction and NOx increase within 5 % from all of the engine operating conditions; optimized conditions are presented.     

Vibration reduction of H/Shaft using an electromagnetic damper with mode change

The objective of this study is to develop a damper that can reduce the amplitude of vibration in various frequency ranges. Previous H/Shaft vibration reduction methods work in a passive way. A dynamic damper reduces the amplitude of vibration at its first mode, but vibration still appears at the second mode. A mass damper or hollow shaft can shift the natural frequency to a lower or higher region. The fixed operating frequency prevents vibration from being reduced outside the operating frequency range. The proposed damper uses electromagnets as either masses or actuators to change the damper mode between dynamic damper mode and mass damper mode. The electromagnetic damper (EMD) can change its mode to respond to the vibration excitation at both low and high frequencies. The vibration reduction performance was evaluated by FRF tests in laboratory and vehicle conditions. The results were compared with those of a dynamic damper and indicate that the amplitude of vibration is reduced by 95.6 % when the EMD is implemented on an H/Shaft, whereas only 61.9 % vibration reduction is achieved by the dynamic damper.     

A receding horizon sliding control approach for electric powertrains with backlash and flexible half-shafts

Active control of electric powertrains is challenging, due to the fact that backlash and structural flexibility in transmission components can cause severe performance degradation or even instability of the control system. Furthermore, high impact forces in transmissions reduce driving comfort and possibly lead to damage of the mechanical elements in contact. In this paper, a nonlinear electric powertrain is modelled as a piecewise affine (PWA) system. The novel receding horizon sliding control (RHSC) idea is extended to constrained PWA systems and utilised to systematically address the active control problem for electric powertrains. Simulations are conducted in Matlab/Simulink in conjunction with the high fidelity Carsim software. RHSC shows superior jerk suppression and target wheel speed tracking performance as well as reduced computational cost over classical model predictive control (MPC). This indicates the newly proposed RHSC is an effective method to address the active control problem for electric powertrains.     

Insights into vehicle trajectories at the handling limits: analysing open data from race car drivers

Race car drivers can offer insights into vehicle control during extreme manoeuvres; however, little data from race teams is publicly available for analysis. The Revs Program at Stanford has built a collection of vehicle dynamics data acquired from vintage race cars during live racing events with the intent of making this database publicly available for future analysis. This paper discusses the data acquisition, post-processing, and storage methods used to generate the database. An analysis of available data quantifies the repeatability of professional race car driver performance by examining the statistical dispersion of their driven paths. Certain map features, such as sections with high path curvature, consistently corresponded to local minima in path dispersion, quantifying the qualitative concept that drivers anchor their racing lines at specific locations around the track. A case study explores how two professional drivers employ distinct driving styles to achieve similar lap times, supporting the idea that driving at the limits allows a family of solutions in terms of paths and speed that can be adapted based on specific spatial, temporal, or other constraints and objectives.     

低阻通风船体的远程控制测试平台开发（英文）

This paper addresses the development and testing of a remotely controlled boat platform with an innovative air-ventilated hull. The application of air cavities on the underside of ship hulls is a promising means for reducing hydrodynamic drag and pollutant emissions and increasing marine transportation efficiency. Despite this concept’s potential, design optimization and high-performance operation of novel air-cavity ships remain a challenging problem. Hull construction and sensor instrumentation of the model-scale air-cavity boat is described in the paper. The modular structure of the hull allows for easy modifications, and an electric propulsion unit enables self-propelled operation. The boat is controlled remotely via a radio transmission system. Results of initial tests are reported, including thrust, speed, and airflow rate in several loading conditions. The constructed platform can be used for optimizing air-cavity systems and testing other innovative hull designs. This system can be also developed into a high-performance unmanned boat.