An empirical investigation on consumers’ intentions towards autonomous driving

Major steps towards implementation of autonomous and connected transport are being taken nowadays. The trend of automation technology being used in vehicles by the most important vehicle manufacturing industries is expected to move closer to high or fully Autonomous Vehicles (AVs) through technological advancements in sectors of robotics and artificial intelligence. Vehicles with autonomous driving capabilities are planning to be available on market, in full scale, in the next years. In the longer term substantial benefits are mainly expected for accessibility to transport, safety, traffic flow, emissions, fuel use and comfort. All these potential societal benefits will not be achieved unless AVs are accepted and used by a critical mass of people. Addressing these challenges, this paper: (a) proposes a technology acceptance modelling process by extending the original Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) to explain and predict consumers’ intensions towards AVs, (b) based on the proposed TAM-extended framework, a 30-question survey was conducted in order to investigate the factors influencing consumers’ intensions to use and accept AVs. Results show that the constructs of perceived usefulness, perceived ease to use, perceived trust and social influence, are all useful predictors of behavioral intentions to have or use AVs, with perceived usefulness having the strongest impact. The insights derived from this study could significantly contribute to ongoing research related to technology acceptance of AVs and are expected to allow automobile industries to improve their design and technology.     

人工智能算法在铁道车辆动力学仿真中的应用进展

梳理了人工智能算法在铁道车辆系统动力学仿真中的应用实例和国内外相关文献,概述了铁道车辆动力学仿真中常用的机器学习和深度学习算法,归纳和评述了2种学习算法在铁道车辆系统动力学建模与仿真中的应用分类;从铁道车辆系统动力学建模、动力学性能预测与动力学性能优化等方面入手,详细讨论了人工智能算法应用在力元建模和仿真、轨道不平顺预测、运行平稳性预测、噪声预测、侧风安全性预测、运行安全性预测、悬挂优化、轮轨匹配优化、结构优化以及主动与半主动控制等领域的优势和局限性,指出了现阶段人工智能算法在动力学仿真应用中主要面临的训练样本缺乏、泛化能力不够、可解释性欠缺等问题;展望了今后人工智能算法和车辆系统动力学交叉研究的发展方向和重点研究内容。研究结果表明：融合经典力学和人工智能算法结合的混合建模理论可作为之后的重点研究方向;人工智能算法对解决随机动力学中的随机不确定性,提高随机动力学的性能具有较大的应用潜力;通过人工智能算法与优化算法相结合来实现动力学性能优化,可充分发挥人工智能算法的优势。     

A virtual environment for the formulation of policy packages

The interdependence and complexity of socio-technical systems and availability of a wide variety of policy measures to address policy problems make the process of policy formulation difficult. In order to formulate sustainable and efficient transport policies, development of new tools and techniques is necessary. One of the approaches gaining ground is policy packaging, which shifts focus from implementation of individual policy measures to implementation of combinations of measures with the aim of increasing efficiency and effectiveness of policy interventions by increasing synergies and reducing potential contradictions among policy measures. In this paper, we describe the development of a virtual environment for the exploration and analysis of different configurations of policy measures in order to build policy packages. By developing systematic approaches it is possible to examine more alternatives at a greater depth, decrease the time required for the overall analysis, provide real-time assessment and feedback on the effect of changes in the configurations, and ultimately form more effective policies. The results from this research demonstrate the usefulness of computational approaches in addressing the complexity inherent in the formulation of policy packages. This new approach has been applied to the formulation of policies to advance sustainable transportation.     

Truck parking in urban areas: Application of choice modelling within traffic microsimulation

Urban truck parking policies include time restrictions, pricing policies, space management and enforcement. This paper develops a method for investigating the potential impact of truck parking policy in urban areas. An econometric parking choice model is developed that accounts for parking type and location. A traffic simulation module is developed that incorporates the parking choice model to select suitable parking facilities/locations. The models are demonstrated to evaluate the impact of dedicating on-street parking in a busy street system in the Toronto CBD. The results of the study show lower mean searching time for freight vehicles when some streets are reserved for freight parking, accompanied by higher search and walking times for passenger vehicles.     

舰船波浪弯矩响应的频率特性

非直壁式舰船在高浪级和高航速下的弯矩响应中,除了含有低频遭遇频率成分外,还存在着一定数量的遭遇频率的倍频成分及船体各谐调的垂向总振动频率成份,它们都会对舰船波浪弯矩的非线性响应产生相应的影响。如果舰船的第一谐调垂向总振动频率正好是遭遇频率的整数倍,这时弯矩的非线性响应将达到极值。本文从模型试验及理论计算两方面分析了舰船波浪弯矩的频率特性,对船体载荷响应理论的发展及设计载荷的确定具有指导意义。     

舰船大风浪中航行最大允许航速计算模式研究

舰艇在大风浪中航行,当航向已定时如何确定最大允许航速是航海界关注的课题。本文采用CFD(计算流体力学)方法和耐波性理论相结合的新模式,分别研究了浪增阻、风增阻及螺旋桨推力损失的计算方法,给出了比较精确的舰艇大风浪航行时的船体负载。在此基础上,运用船—机—桨理论,解决了最大允许航速(轮转速)的求解问题。     

考虑船体变形耦合作用的船舶推进系统建模与控制

提出考虑船体变形耦合作用的船舶推进系统仿真建模设计方法与系统框架,通过船体变形与动力装置振动烈度间的量化关系体现耦合作用对模型的影响;研究适合推进系统的先进控制技术,通过对简化后的船舶推进系统不确定模型进行仿真试验,结果表明,具有强自适应能力的神经网络控制和模糊控制技术能够满足系统对不确定性及时变非线性控制的要求,具有良好的控制效果。     

Application of a validated primary production model (BLOOM) as a screening tool for marine, coastal and transitional waters

In order to manage aquatic systems, it is necessary to apply methods relating the environmental variables and system-state parameters with external factors that affect the system. External factors can be natural (i.e. the movement of water) or partly-anthropogenic (i.e. nutrient loads). In addition to the national authorities, who have been implementing environmental policies for several decades, the EU is presently implementing the Water Framework Directive (WFD) aimed at establishing a new set of standards for the ecological and water quality of water systems. Among these are the phytoplankton biomass and composition. Phytoplankton affects turbidity, oxygen depletion, total productivity of the system and the occurrence of (harmful) algal blooms. A range of methods is available to relate phytoplankton to the controlling environmental conditions. Among these are statistical relations for instance of the Vollenweider type as well as deterministic simulation models. At the end of the 1970s, a generic deterministic phytoplankton module called BLOOM was developed, which has since been applied to a wide range of fresh water and marine systems. Here we test the applicability of this model as a screening tool for coastal waters. We conclude that the model is able to reproduce observed chlorophyll levels adequately under a wide range of conditions. Subsequently the model is applied to demonstrate the potential impacts of reductions in nitrogen, phosphorus or both nutrients simultaneously. Depending on which factors are initially controlling, the impacts of these reductions vary considerably both between locations and during the season. While this type of application lacks explicit relations between nutrient concentrations and external loadings, it does consider a number of relevant conditions in a consistent way and requires remarkably little data and effort. It is therefore a valuable screening tool.     

深水缓波型刚性立管的设计方法

缓波型刚性悬链线立管由于其良好的力学性能和较低的成本,适用于深水油气田开发。本文详述了缓波型刚性悬链线立管的设计准则和设计流程,给出了分布式浮块的设计方法和等效原则,推导了等效水动力参数的计算公式。通过静力分析,得到了不同浮块的布置位置和浮力系数对立管形态、顶端张力、弯矩分布的影响;通过动力分析,得到了沿管等效应力响应的分布规律,为缓波型刚性悬链线立管的设计提供了有益的参考。