Effect of slot trading on route-level competition: Evidence from experience in the UK

This paper examines the effect of airport slot trading on route-level competition using data on slot trades in the UK. The estimation results suggest that the slot trades among partner carriers contributed to slightly increased competition measured in terms of the number of competitors per route, whereas the slot trades between rival carriers had a negative effect on the number of competitors at the route level. The results suggest that carriers seem to have used the slots obtained from their rivals not to compete with each other but to strengthen their dominance on their existing routes. This behavior is considered to be derived from the bilateral nature of slot trading, which facilitates mutual forbearance among competitors. To cope with the potential anticompetitive effect of mutual forbearance, it would be worthwhile to explore slot-trading schemes that make it harder for carriers to take advantage of multimarket contact as well as alternative methods of primary slot allocation.     

A hierarchical rule-based land use extraction system using geographic and remotely sensed data: A case study for residential uses

Lack of detailed land use (LU) information and of efficient data gathering methods have made modeling of urban systems difficult. This study aims to develop a hierarchical rule-based LU extraction system using very high resolution (VHR) remotely sensed imagery and geographic vector data. Land cover information extracted from remote sensing and several types of geographic data from the study area, City of Fredericton, Canada, are fused into a comprehensive database, in order to develop a sophisticated LU Extraction Expert System (LUEES). This paper illustrates how the proposed LUEES though a case study for residential uses in the study area. Morphological (individual-based) analysis at the building-level is carried out through a step-wise binary logistic regression model, which differentiates residential and non-residential buildings and results in an overall accuracy of 93.1%. The results derived from morphological analysis are then subject to a post-correction process using a spatial arrangement analysis, in order to further mitigate the misclassification issues arising from the morphological analysis. In this regard, Gabriel Graph connectivity examines the spatial structure and arrangements of urban features concerning different LU types. It is found that the spatial arrangement analysis further enhances the residential LU classification accuracy, which gives rise to an overall accuracy of 97.4%. It is believed that, equipped with such a powerful LU data collection tool and resulting detailed/accurate LU data, urban planners/modelers should be able to more reliably and precisely represent/predict economic interactions, activity locations, space and housing developments, business expansion, and trip patterns.     

Economic analyses of sea-level rise adaptation strategies in transportation considering spatial autocorrelation

This paper reports the impacts of economic analysis results on sea-level rise adaptation decision making with different economic analysis methods. The methodology was applied to Hillsborough County, Florida. A general conclusion is that partial shoreline protection should be implemented to reduce the potential impacts of sea-level rise on important land use, then transportation infrastructure is preferred to be protected or accommodated, and finally managed relocation should be adopted. More specifically, the results show that the best adaptation strategy is shoreline protection plus transportation infrastructure accommodation; the length of shoreline protection plays an important role in the economic analysis results, and shoreline protection and accommodation adaptation strategies for all areas are not recommended because of either high costs or low benefits; the value of travel time saving and spatial autocorrelation play important roles in the economic analysis results of accommodation strategy, which highlights the importance of including indirect economic factors and spatial autocorrelation impacts when making sea-level rise adaptation decisions.     

Optimal biofuel supply chain design under consumption mandates with renewable identification numbers

The Renewable Identification Number (RIN) system is a tracking mechanism that enforces the U.S. Renewable Fuel Standard by monitoring obligated parties’ compliance with the biofuel consumption mandates. This paper incorporates the RIN system into the design of a biofuel supply chain that addresses independent decisions of non-cooperative farmers, biofuel manufacturers, and blenders. Game-theoretic models are developed to examine the impacts of the RIN system on individual stakeholders’ decisions (e.g., on farmland use, bio-refinery investment, biofuel production) and the competition between food and biofuel industries, in both a perfectly competitive scenario and a monopoly scenario. For the perfectly competitive scenario, Nash equilibrium can be obtained by solving a convex optimization problem. For the monopoly scenario, a bi-level Stackelberg leader–follower model is developed, from which we found that a rigid mandate on blenders may suppress the total biofuel production. To avoid such unintended consequences, a relaxed unit-RIN based penalty scheme is proposed and shown to improve the overall biofuel supply chain performance. Managerial insights are drawn from a numerical case study for the state of Illinois.     

Impacts of information technology and urbanization on less-than-truckload freight flows in China: An analysis considering spatial effects

Understanding the relationship between socioeconomic factors and the Less-than-Truckload (LTL) freight flows is important for transportation planners and policy makers. This paper explores the impacts of information technology, urbanization on LTL freight flows by using a spatial autocorrelation model with freight flow data from a leading LTL company in China. The results show that all IT variables and urbanization variables have positive effects on freight flows. Distance, as expected, is negatively correlated with the freight flow volume. The application of the spatial autocorrelation model further shows that origin dependence, destination dependence and OD dependence are all significant, justifying the consideration of spatial interdependence. Finally, policy implications are discussed based on the estimated results. These findings shed light on the impacts of internet and urbanization on freight transportation, and contribute to the design of freight policies and the development of the LTL industry.     

International emission regulation in sea transport: Economic feasibility and impact

Emissions from shipping due to the burning of the sulphur content of marine fuels conduce to air pollution in the form of sulphur dioxide and particulate matter. Various international organisations and institutions impose environmental standards on their member states to limit the emission of greenhouse gases. This paper examines both the potential effects of the emerging international maritime emission regulations on the competition between seaports and the potential underlying economic motivations fostering the discussion of introducing Emission Control Areas. It focuses on deepsea shipping. Another novelty is that the environmental issues are addressed from a policy, an economic and a legislative viewpoint. For the policy-related part, it is found that the political theory of public choice suggests that not the green lobby but rather the petrochemical lobby is the major driving factor behind the very strict emission caps. A potential port shift from Northern Europe to Mediterranean ports seems unlikely due to logistics disadvantages and service problems in Southern European ports. Finally, no convincing proof was found that the main liner companies would be unprepared for this legislation and should be persuaded to change their routes in favour of Mediterranean ports solely on account of the various emission regulations. The legal analysis, however, showed that the current enforcement regime of MARPOL Annex VI should be improved in order to rule out the possibility of a low degree of compliance and to protect the competiveness of complying ships.     

加强企业文化建设 增强企业核心竞争力

该文阐述了企业文化在企业生存与发展中所起的不可替代的重要作用,是企业自身发展的需要;从提高领导素质和员工素质两方面论述了企业文化建设的重点;并提出企业文化建设要持之以恒、不断创新的观点。     

基于竞争模型的轨道交通与常规公交共线分析

轨道交通与常规公交在一定的出行距离上会产生客流竞争,研究两者的共线关系,对于实现两者的有效协调,提高城市公共交通的运营效率意义重大.通过分析轨道交通与常规公交方式选择影响因素,选取建模的主要变量:出行时耗和费用.将方式选择的影响因素进行量化,作为效用函数,建立轨道交通与常规公交方式选择的Logit模型.在建模的基础上,运用深圳市的交通调查数据进行案例分析,研究两者共线运营时的分担率变化规律.发现随着共线距离的增加,轨道交通分担率逐步增大,常规公交分担率逐步减小.在特定票制下,两者分担率曲线存在突变点.依据分析结果,提出轨道交通与常规公交线网设计的相关建议.