Experimental design influences on stated choice outputs: An empirical study in air travel choice

Discrete choice experiments are conducted in the transport field to obtain data for investigating travel behaviour and derived measures such as the value of travel time savings. The multinomial logit (MNL) and other more advanced discrete choice models (e.g., the mixed MNL model) have often been estimated on data from stated choice experiments and applied for planning and policy purposes. Determining efficient underlying experimental designs for these studies has become an increasingly important stream of research, in which the objective is to generate stated choice tasks that maximize the collected information, yielding more reliable parameter estimates. These theoretical advances have not been rigorously tested in practice, such that claims on whether the theoretical efficiency gains translate into practice cannot be made. Using an extensive empirical study of air travel choice behaviour, this paper presents for the first time results of different stated choice experimental design approaches, in which respective estimation results are compared. We show that D-efficient designs keep their promise in lowering standard errors in estimating, thereby requiring smaller sample sizes, ceteris paribus, compared to a more traditional orthogonal design. The parameter estimates found using an orthogonal design or an efficient design turn out to be statistically different in several cases, mainly attributed to more or less dominant alternatives existing in the orthogonal design. Furthermore, we found that small designs with a limited number of choice tasks performs just as good (or even better) than a large design. Finally, we show that theoretically predicted sample sizes using the so-called S-estimates provide a good lower bound. This paper will enable practitioners in better understanding the potential benefits of efficient designs, and enables policy makers to make decisions based on more reliable parameter estimates.     

Timetable-based operation in urban transport: Run-time optimisation and improvements in the operating process

Urban public transit provides an efficient means of mobility and helps support social development and environmental preservation. To avoid loss of ridership, transit authorities have focussed on improving the punctuality of routes that operate using timetables. This paper presents a new approach to generating run-time values that is based on analytical development and micro simulations. The work utilizes previous research (described herein) and the experience acquired by Transports Metropolitans de Barcelona (TMB) in operating bus routes based on timetables. Using a sample of historical data, the method used for generating run-time values consists of the following steps: purging and screening atypical trips, based on the consideration of confidence intervals for median trips; segmenting the day into time bands based on the introduction of a new hierarchical classification algorithm; creating initial run-time values based on criteria derived from statistical analysis; adjusting and validating initial run-time values using micro simulations; and evaluating incident-recovery times at the end of trips in order to guarantee the punctual departure of the next trip in the vehicle schedule. To favour service improvement, we also introduced certain indicators that can identify the root causes of non-compliance. As a final step, in order to ensure the applicability and use of the model, we promoted the development of our model within the framework of the HASTUS™ software solution.     

Much Ado about Nothing? - An analysis of economic impacts and ecologic effects of the EU-emission trading scheme in the aviation industry

From 2012 on, all CO₂ emissions from flights departing from or arriving at airports within the European Union have to be offset. We analyze the economic and ecological impacts that are caused by an inclusion of the aviation industry into the proposed emissions trading scheme (ETS). Building on the now fixed system design we employ a simulation model to estimate the impacts of the scheme. Our results indicate that financial impacts are highly dependant on external settings, such as allowance prices and demand growth. We show that the financial burden on the aviation industry will be rather modest in the first years after the introduction of the system and therefore induce only low competition distortions. Likewise, emission reductions within air transportation will be comparably low. While aviation will induce a decline of emissions in other sectors, significant absolute reductions within air transportation can only be reached by a more restrictive system design.     

沥青路面原材料的选用

结合近几年路面工程施工情况,对沥青混凝土的原材料的选用及材料质量控制进行分析,对公路工程具有一定的参考价值。     

采用骨架密实型结构防止基层反射裂缝的关键施工技术

孟营高速公路上面层为SUP型沥青混凝土路面,因而对路面基层裂缝的防治提出了更高的要求。骨架密实性水泥稳定级配碎石结构具有后期强度高、裂缝少等优点,但其碎石含量大,在拌和、运输、摊铺等环节中容易离析。     

公路工程二灰稳定土底基层施工质量的控制要点分析

通过介绍二灰稳定土的特性及适用条件,阐述施工过程中的原材料控制、混合料组成设计以及底基层施工工艺,提出施工过程中三大常见通病的质量控制要点,对以后二灰稳定土底基层的施工具有一定的指导性作用。     

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公交服务质量是影响公交出行分担率的重要因素. 本文利用联合分析方法对乘客对于公交服务的属性偏好进行研究. 通过实际调查及数据分析,得出了可靠性、发车间隔、步行时间等方面属性水平的效用值,并由此确定了各种属性的权重. 研究结果表明乘客最为重视的是可靠性,其次是车内环境、步行时间、发车间隔,而站台环境和价格所占权重较小. 本文还对南京市的公交服务质量进行了调查. 结果表明乘客对于高峰时期可靠性、车内环境和发车间隔的评价低于非高峰时期,且乘客对于可靠性的评价很低,对于高峰时期的车内环境和发车间隔的评价也较低.     

目标坡度计算及模拟雷达显示回波改进

为改善模拟雷达回波性能,提高模拟逼真度,论文论述了海区目标的坡度计算,目标坡度与雷达回波的关系,利用坡度改善模拟雷达回波性能的方法,并通过示例验证了方法的可行性.     

Conjoint Analysis Based Transit Service Quality Research

Transit quality service is an important factor that affects the bus split rate. This paper studies the passenger's preference of the bus service with the conjoint analysis. Through the actual survey and data analysis, the utility values of the reliability, frequency, walking time, etc. are measured. And the attributes' weights are determined through the utility values. The results show that the bus reliability is passengers' first concern, which is followed by in-bus environment, walking time and frequency. And the station environment and the price weight low. Then the bus service quality in Nanjing was investigated based on the attributes. The results show that passengers' evaluations about reliability, in-bus environment and frequency in the peak period are much lower than that in the non-peak period. And their evaluation on reliability is very low. The peak period in-bus environment and frequency also get bad evaluation.     

基于AHP的高职院校教学质量评估的综合评价模型研究

本文针对高校教师教学质量的评定提出了一种特征层次分析法。首先分析了教学质量的影响因素,建立层次分析模型,在其基础上选取适当的评估指标体系,并确定该体系中各要素的权重,避免了不同质指标间对比的不确定性,摒除了专家直接给出评定指标对比矩阵的主观性,减少了对教师评定过程的不一致性和不完备性。