Flying with climate liability? Economic valuation of voluntary carbon offsets using forced choices

This study aims to examine how key aspects of voluntary climate action influence economic values of aviation carbon offsets using an Australian case study, where voluntary carbon offset programs for the aviation sector were active under a carbon tax between July 01, 2012 and July 17, 2014. An online survey was administered during the period using choice experiments. This rare and short-lived Australian experience is useful to gain insights into how individuals respond to the new public policy in terms of the perceived economic value of voluntary offsets for air travel. According to the estimation results, supporters of the mandatory tax policy held a welfare value of voluntary carbon offsets for their domestic flights that is three times larger than non-supporters (i.e., $AU27.83 vs. $AU9.40). It is $AU12.27 on average per ton of carbon offsets per person for domestic flights and $AU0.92 for international long-haul flights. The findings endorse that individuals seem to attach personal responsibility for carbon emissions (i.e. climate liability or carbon conscience) to frequent domestic flights, but not so much to intercontinental flights. Furthermore, reported flight frequencies by respondents did not place any significant impact on economic values of voluntary carbon offsets in both domestic and international frameworks. A coupled approach between forced choices and certainty responses was adapted, where no-choice options were retrieved, potentially improving choice experiments. Results suggest that airlines should consider simplifying their carbon offset programs to fixed levels (e.g. £3, £10, and £20 as in the case of British Airways), regardless of geographical boundaries, while governments should promote both mandatory and voluntary climate measures in tandem.     

激励措施在团队管理中的应用

文章以南宁高速公路运营有限公司团队管理为例,介绍了高速公路运营管理团队的构成特点及存在的问题,提出了基于考评激励、人才培养激励、目标激励、竞赛激励、尊重与关怀激励的团队管理措施,并阐述了激励措施在团队建设中的实践效果。     

放宽条件定点集结模式下编组站车辆 集结排队系统分析

集结模式决定了货车集结过程的结束条件，定点集结是一种高效率的集结方式，有利于提高运输质量.针对放宽条件定点集结模式下编组站车辆集结过程，建立离散时间批到达批服务排队模型，利用嵌入式马尔可夫链方法求得离去时刻瞬时系统集结车辆队长分布，并求得任意时刻车辆集结队长分布，在此基础上分别分析了最小编成辆数，车组大小分布，车流到达强度，服务时间间隔分布对车辆平均集结队长，集结延误时间，效率，一昼夜发送车流量等系统指标的影响.分析结果表明，各因素对车辆集结排队系统影响明显.因此，利用本文提出的模型能为编组站的精细化管理和车流组织优化提供决策参考.     

Congestion and pollution consequences of driving-to-school trips: A case study in Beijing

Parents compete for high-quality education for their children by enrolling them in good schools. However, in a Chinese mega-city like Beijing, three factors jointly lead to the spatial separation between schools and homes: the centralized public goods provision mechanism, the historical dependency in school location, and the constrained supply of housing in downtown. Without an adequate number of school buses, this spatial separation of schools and homes triggers the numerous long-distance driving-to-school trips by private vehicle during workday morning rush hours in Beijing. We use the start and end dates of “school holiday” as exogenous repeated shocks to the aggregate traffic congestion, and employ the two-stage least squares (2SLS) regression approach to examine the congestion and pollution consequences of such driving-to-school trips in Beijing. We find that, all else being equal, workdays during school holidays have a traffic congestion index 20% lower than that of non-school-holiday workdays. Such a sharp reduction in congestion leads to a significant decrease in PM₁₀ concentration. Policymakers should lower such “extra” congestion and environmental costs via optimizing the spatial balance between school supply and demand.     

港珠澳大桥建设对珠三角地区物流业的影响

港珠澳大桥将改变珠江口东西两岸之间的空间运输联系方式,从而改变整个珠三角地区的物流格局.从珠三角地区城市空间布局结构、产业特点出发,总结珠三角地区物流业特点,对港珠澳大桥影响珠三角物流格局的途径进行介绍；并逐一分析港珠澳大桥建成后对香港、深圳、珠海等珠三角主要城市物流业的不同影响.     

An optimal data-splitting algorithm for aircraft scheduling on a single runway to maximize throughput

In this research, we present a data-splitting algorithm to optimally solve the aircraft sequencing problem (ASP) on a single runway under both segregated and mixed-mode of operation. This problem is formulated as a 0–1 mixed-integer program (MIP), taking into account several realistic constraints, including safety separation standards, wide time-windows, and constrained position shifting, with the objective of maximizing the total throughput. Varied scenarios of large scale realistic instances of this problem, which is NP-hard in general, are computationally difficult to solve with the direct use of commercial solver as well as existing state-of-the-art dynamic programming method. The design of the algorithm is based on a recently introduced data-splitting algorithm which uses the divide-and-conquer paradigm, wherein the given set of flights is divided into several disjoint subsets, each of which is optimized using 0–1 MIP while ensuring the optimality of the entire set. Computational results show that the difficult instances can be solved in real-time and the solution is efficient in comparison to the commercial solver and dynamic programming, using both sequential, as well as parallel, implementation of this pleasingly parallel algorithm.     

Nonlinear pricing in linear cities with elastic demands

Nonlinear road pricing charges each traveler based on his/her trip’s corresponding particular attribute level. In order to help authorities in designing road pricing systems at a strategic level, this paper attempts to address two fundamental questions: (i) what is the value of pricing’s nonlinearity for mitigating traffic congestion? (ii) if a nonlinear toll function is implemented, should it be convex, concave or other shape? Specifically, we consider distance-based pricing in linear cities. For linear monocentric cities with heterogeneous travelers, we show that the system optimal distance-based pricing indeed exhibits nonlinearity. It is proved that: (i) the cost-based system optimal toll function is monotonically increasing and concave with respect to the traveled distance; (ii) the time-based system optimal toll function always exists and is unique. If the initial proportion of each traveler group is invariant along a corridor and the demand function is of exponential type, then the time-based system optimal toll function enables the travelers, living further away from a city center, to face a lower toll level per unit distance. For a linear polycentric city, we demonstrate: (i) there always exists the system optimal differentiated (in terms of city centers) toll functions; (ii) it is highly possible that the system optimal non-differentiated toll function does not exist. Hence, we further propose an optimal toll design model, prove the Lipschitz continuity of its objective and adopt a global-optimization algorithm to solve it.     

Vegetation cover at right of way locations

This research evaluated the status of vegetation cover at right of way locations. Site factors that contributed to low and high ground cover along roadsides and medians were identified. Twenty-nine roadside and median study sites incorporated variability in soil type, elevation, vegetation establishment and cover, seed mixture, slope, aspect, time since planting, and climate. Vegetation cover was measured, and species distribution was identified. Slopes, aspects of the sloping face, and elevations were recorded. Soil samples were tested for nutrients, minerals, texture, and pH. Approximately 50% of the test sites met the 70% cover criteria. Locations of the worst cover (<50%) had soils with high soluble salt content (0.36–1.54 mmhos/cm) or low organic matter values (<1.7%). Vegetation cover was dominated by tall fescue (Festuca arundinacea) and crownvetch (Coronilla varia L.), two species that were included in the current seeding mixture and are considered invasive. To further promote revegetation success and persistence, both maintenance and site specific seed mixtures are needed.     

面向智能车辆的现役道路设施行驶适应性研究综述

为了总结面向智能车辆的现役道路设施行驶适应性，即现役道路基础设施承载智能车辆行驶的适宜程度，阐述自主智能驾驶定义与驾驶自动化等级分类，在此基础上剖析不同等级间的人机功能差异，并分别从感知层、感知-决策层、决策-控制层探讨与道路设计要素相关联的人机功能差异，通过归纳总结智能车辆与道路几何要素、路面性能及其他道路要素(如道路标线)的相互作用机制研究，从道路工程角度及其他道路要素方面回顾该领域的研究现状，指出存在的问题和未来发展方向。研究结果表明：相比传统车辆，配置高等级自动驾驶系统的智能车辆对现役道路设施行驶适应性最高，主动安全系统次之，而驾驶辅助及有条件自动驾驶系统适应性不足。而目前研究主要问题包括：难以归纳、标定不同驾驶自动化等级间的人机功能差异及其对于道路设计参数的需求设计值；测试道路场景条件过于理想，考虑的驾驶自动化等级单一，试验规模和样本有限；道路几何、路面性能以及道路标志、标线等道路要素与智能车辆间的相互作用机制研究不足，缺乏与不同道路场景相匹配的智能车辆驾驶特征数据的获取手段。因此建议：重视并推动与道路设计要素相关联的关键人机功能差异指标信息共享；联合高保真且可交互的道路场景、高精度感知传感器物理模型、车辆动力学模型及微观交通流模型，利用测试场景自动化生成、极限工况场景搜寻与泛化等技术开展智能驾驶虚拟测试，突破现有研究的深度和广度；探索反映不同等级智能车辆的道路行驶适应性特征指标与评价标准，精准、有效地评估预测复杂道路场景及不利道路条件下的行驶适应性。     

Electric vehicles and residential parking in an urban environment: Results from a stated preference experiment

This paper presents the results of a preference survey of 1545 respondents’ willingness to purchase electric vehicles (EVs) in Philadelphia. We pay particular attention to respondents’ willingness to pay for convenient charging systems and parking spaces. If the value of dedicated parking substantially outweighs the value of convenient charging systems, residential-based on-street charging systems are unlikely to ever be politically palatable. As expected, respondents are generally willing to pay for longer range, shorter charging times, lower operating costs, and shorter parking search times. For a typical respondent, a $100 per month parking charge decreases the odds of purchasing an EV by around 65%. Across mixed logit and latent class models, we find substantial variation in the willingness to pay for EV range, charge time, and ease of parking. Of note, we find two primary classes of respondents with substantially different EV preferences. The first class tends to live in multifamily housing units in central parts of the city and puts a high value on parking search time and the availability of on-street charging stations. The second class, whose members are likelier to be married, wealthy, conservative, and residing in single-family homes in more distant neighborhoods, are willing to pay more for EV range and charge time, but less for parking than the first group. They are also much likelier to consider purchasing EVs at all. We recommend that future research into EV adoption incorporate neighborhood-level features, like parking availability and average trip distances, which vary by neighborhood and almost certainly influence EV adoption.