Investigating Causal Pathways Linking Site-Level Characteristics,Compliance, and Ecological Performance in Caribbean MPAs

A rapidly growing body of empirical evidence has linked improved ecological performance of social–ecological systems (SES) with better compliance with rules governing human activities. Researchers have proposed several key factors that motivate an individual to comply with resource use rules, including deterrence, social pressures, moral inclinations, and perceived legitimacy of rules and responsible authorities. Much of the research on compliance proposes causal mechanisms at the individual human level, but few studies test causal paths with empirical data particularly at the site level. This study tested a proposed pathway for explaining overall compliance rates and ecological performance in SES using data from structured surveys of community members, key informant interviews, policy documents, and coral reef surveys at marine protected areas (MPAs) and their associated human communities in the wider Caribbean. Findings indicate that compliance and other active MPA management interventions positively affect ecological performance, and site-level contextual factors (level of community development and being part of a political network) positively influence significant predictors of overall compliance rates, which include active MPA management and enforced punishments.     

A new model for temporal–spatial stochastic analysis of vehicle–track coupled systems

The vehicle–track coupled system has a random nature in the time–space domain. This paper proposes a computational model to analyse the temporal–spatial stochastic vibrations of vehicle–track systems, where the vehicle–track system is divided into a vehicle subsystem, track subsystem, and interfacial subsystem between the wheel and rail. In this model, the time-varying randomicity of dynamical parameters of the vehicle system, correlation, and randomness of the track structural parameters in the time–space joint dimensions, and randomness of the track random irregularities are considered. A probability dimension-reduction method was used to randomly combine different random variables. Furthermore, the probability density evolution method was applied to solve the delivery problem of probabilities between excitation inputs and response outputs. The temporal–spatial stochastic vibrations of the vehicle–track system with different coefficients of variation were studied, in which we assumed that the dynamic parameters obeyed the normal distribution, and the stochastic simulation method of the track random irregularities is probed into. The calculated results from this model are consistent with the actual measured results and physical conceptions. Thus, the temporal–spatial stochastic evolutionary mechanism can be explored, and the limits of dynamic indices can be formulated by using this developed model.     

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.     

Design of tyre force excitation for tyre–road friction estimation

Knowledge of the current tyre–road friction coefficient is essential for future autonomous vehicles. The environmental conditions, and the tyre–road friction in particular, determine both the braking distance and the maximum cornering velocity and thus set the boundaries for the vehicle. Tyre–road friction is difficult to estimate during normal driving due to low levels of tyre force excitation. This problem can be solved by using active tyre force excitation. A torque is added to one or several wheels in the purpose of estimating the tyre–road friction coefficient. Active tyre force excitation provides the opportunity to design the tyre force excitation freely. This study investigates how the tyre force should be applied to minimise the error of the tyre–road friction estimate. The performance of different excitation strategies was found to be dependent on both tyre model choice and noise level. Furthermore, the advantage with using tyre models with more parameters decreased when noise was added to the force and slip ratio.     

The Kalker book of tables for non-Hertzian contact of wheel and rail

A new regularisation of non-elliptical contact patches has been introduced, which enables building the look-up table called by us the Kalker book of tables for non-Hertzian contact (KBTNH), which is a fast creep force generator that can be used by multibody dynamics system simulation programs. The non-elliptical contact patch is regularised by a simple double-elliptical contact region (SDEC). The SDEC region is especially suitable for regularisation of contact patches obtained with approximate non-Hertzian methods for solving the normal contact problem of wheel and rail. The new regularisation is suitable for wheels and rails with any profiles, including worn profiles.

The paper describes the new procedure of regularisation of the non-elliptical contact patch, the structure of the Kalker book of tables, and parameterisation of the independent variables of the tables and creep forces.

A moderate volume Kalker book of tables for SDEC region suitable for simulation of modern running gears has been computed in co-simulation of Matlab and program CONTACT.

To access the creep forces of the Kalker book of tables, the linear interpolation has been applied.

The creep forces obtained from KBTNH have been compared to those obtained by program CONTACT and FASTSIM algorithm. FASTSIM has been applied on both the contact ellipse and the SDEC contact patch. The comparison shows that KBTNH is in good agreement with CONTACT for a wide range of creepage condition and shapes of the contact patch, whereas the use of FASTSIM on the elliptical patch and SDEC may lead to significant deviations from the reference CONTACT solutions.

The computational cost of calling creep forces from KBTNH has been estimated by comparing CPU time of FASTSIM and KBTNH. The KBTNH is 7.8–51 times faster than FASTSIM working on 36–256 discretisation elements, respectively.

In the example of application, the KBTNH has been applied for curving simulations and results compared with those obtained with the creep force generator employing the elliptical regularisation. The results significantly differ, especially in predicted creepages, because the elliptical regularisation neglects generation of the longitudinal creep force by spin creepage.     

Dynamic simulation of train–truck collision at level crossings

Trains crashing onto heavy road vehicles stuck across rail tracks are more likely occurrences at level crossings due to ongoing increase in the registration of heavy vehicles and these long heavy vehicles getting caught in traffic after partly crossing the boom gate; these incidents lead to significant financial losses and societal costs. This paper presents an investigation of the dynamic responses of trains under frontal collision on road trucks obliquely stuck on rail tracks at level crossings. This study builds a nonlinear three-dimensional multi-body dynamic model of a passenger train colliding with an obliquely stuck road truck on a ballasted track. The model is first benchmarked against several train dynamics packages and its predictions of the dynamic response and derailment potential are shown rational. A geometry-based derailment assessment criterion is applied to evaluate the derailment behaviour of the frontal obliquely impacted trains under different conditions. Sensitivities of several key influencing parameters, such as the train impact speed, the truck mass, the friction at truck tyres, the train–truck impact angle, the contact friction at the collision zone, the wheel/rail friction and the train suspension are reported.     

考虑网络外部性航运商与无车承运人竞合研究

构建由 1个海洋航运商和 2个无车承运人组成的上下游的合作与竞争关系,2个无车承运人有不同的市场地位.通过斯坦伯格博弈研究发现,航运商负责货源或处于领导地位的无车承运人负责货源会影响各方的均衡利润及渠道结构.分析比较了海洋航运商的整合策略和利润共享策略.结果表明,在网络外部性和无车承运人提供差异性服务时,纳什均衡是航运商负责货源且上下游整合或利润分享.     

考虑动态定价的煤炭调运方案优化研究

煤炭坑口价格的变化与市场供求有重要联系.本文在煤炭坑口价格动态定价的基础上,以煤炭产地和消费地间的煤炭调运量为决策变量,以煤炭流通过程中的总费用最小化为目标,分别构建了煤炭调运系统优化模型和考虑消费者竞争的煤炭调运优化模型,设计了遗传算法和Floyd算法相结合的求解算法.以我国内地煤炭调运问题为案例,分析了价格变化特性、可调出量与消费量比例等因素对煤炭调运方案的影响.结果表明,考虑消费者竞争时煤炭流通广义费用更低;随着煤炭可调出量与消费量比的增加,动态价格较固定价格的煤炭流通广义费用下降更快.     

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综合考虑托运人面对集卡运输服务和货运代理报价两大顾客选择因素,构建由多个竞争性集卡运营商和一个货运代理商组成的集装箱道路运输市场竞争模型,通过逆向归纳法求解博弈均衡并以上海港进行算例分析.研究发现:若集卡运营商采取提供增值服务策略,则一方面由于承担了增值服务所需成本而导致集卡运营商利润下降;另一方面,集装箱道路运输市场需求的满足程度不断提高,集卡运营商和货运代理商的整体利润也呈现增加趋势.因此,通过对集装箱运输链建立合理的利益分配机制,就能激励集卡运营商主动提供增值服务,从而改变当前集装箱道路运输市场在基本运输服务方面进行恶性价格竞争的局面,实现集卡运营商和集装箱运输链的健康发展.