An ontological model to support communications of situation-aware vehicles

In an Intelligent Transport System (ITS) environment, the communication component is of great importance to support interactions between vehicles and roadside infrastructure. Previous studies have focused on the physical capability and capacity of the communication technologies, but the equally important development of suitable and efficient semantic content for transmission received notably less attention. Ontology is one promising approach for context modelling in ubiquitous computing environments, and in the transport domain it can be used both for context modelling and semantic contents for vehicular communications. This paper explores the development of an ontological model implementing relative geo-semantic information messages to support vehicle-to-vehicle communications. The proposed ontology model contains classes, objects, their properties/relations as well as some functions and query templates to represent and update the information of dynamic vehicles, inter-vehicle interactions and behaviour. This model was developed through a scenario enabling the evaluation of traffic conflict resolution approaches, by implementing a set of decision-making processes for intelligent vehicles. Given the scope of the proposed ontology modelling, it shows how vehicular communications can be used to update each vehicle’s context model. This work can be easily extended for more complex interactions among vehicles and the infrastructure.     

Transport and equity in Latin America: a critical review of socially oriented accessibility assessments*

ABSTRACT

A growing concern for mobility-related social inclusion and equity is evident from both academic research and planning best practices. Scholarly research promotes accessibility as the main aim of transport planning, assuming it as the evaluative approach that better conveys how mobility contributes to individuals' well-being and participation in social life. Accessibility can be crucial to address the socio-spatial inequalities that characterise manifold settings across the world. Amongst them, Latin American countries have been keen in tackling such imbalances through mobility-related interventions, as the renowned cases of Curitiba, Medellin and Bogotá show. The widespread interest in mobility as both a cause and effect of social disparities has generated an increasing stream of work that examines Latin American settings through the lenses of accessibility. This paper aims at critically reviewing the growing scholarly works that, providing accessibility-based evaluations, has examined issues of transport and equity in Latin America. Proposing a novel conceptual framework that considers the underlying ethical stance, components of accessibility and implications for planning and policy, this work examines what approaches, features and indicators are present in the current literature, as well as what settings have been taken into consideration by scholarly research. Moreover, the review has an explicit operational interest, to define what indicators are relevant or missing to assess accessibility in the light of social concerns, as well as to consider the current and potential implications that such research findings have on transport planning and policy. The review highlights how a growing but still limited body of work has examined transport and equity in Latin America, suggesting academic, technical and operational avenues to enhance theoretical and practical approaches to the issue.     

一种大型隧道沉管运输安装工程船的推进电控系统应用研究

沉管运输安装工程船是连接岛屿和岛岸之间的管隧工程施工的必须工程装备，鉴于沉管需要在岸边的坞内制作，然后使用船只运输到施工地点进行安装。在如何实现海上运输安全、快捷、高效是当今的一大难题，回顾以往的施工，采用了驳船捆绑着沉管，通过多台拖轮进行拖行，此过程既耗时也耗费多方资源，更需要海事局配合保证航行区域无其他船只，以便驳船将沉管拖行。本文以中交一航局的深中通道项目的自航式沉管运输安装一体船为工程应用实例，系统的介绍推进电控系统的设备配置、设计过程和控制逻辑。此技术方法应用于大型隧道沉管运输沉放工程船的运载航行寻迹及水下定位的推进电控系统领域。     

中国智慧城市、智慧交通和智能汽车(SCSTSV)——发展战略、系统构架和应用

汽车制造商(OEM)和供应商的全球创新者正在加速智能网联汽车(ICV)的创新,包括美国,欧洲和日本.中国是全球最大的汽车市场,中国智能网联汽车产业创新联盟(CAICV)宣布了中国ICV愿景.联合国的报告指出,到2050年将有68％的人口居住在城市中.系统架构和市场应用是实现中国智慧城市、智慧交通和智慧车辆(SCSTSV...     

Speed limit laws in America: The role of geography, mobility and ideology

Speed limits had been centralized at the federal level since 1974, until decisions were devolved to the states in 1995. However, the centralization debate has reemerged in recent years. This paper conducts the first econometric analysis of the determinants of speed limit laws and State reactions after the repeal. By using mobility, geographic and political variables, our results suggest that geography - which reflects private mobility needs and social preferences -, is one of the main factors influencing speed limit laws, together with political ideology. Furthermore, we identify the presence of regional and time diffusion effects. By presenting first evidence on policy determinants, we provide a better understanding of the formulation of the heterogeneity of speed limits in US and offer implications for the debate on centralization and decentralization of transport policy.     

Efficiency measurement in public transport: Are findings specification sensitive?

The need to measure transit system performance along with its various dimensions such as efficiency and effectiveness has led to the development of a wide array of approaches and vast literature. However, depending upon the specific approach used to examine performance, different conclusions are oftentimes reached. Using data from 15 European transit systems for a ten year time period (1990-2000), this paper discusses three important transit performance questions; (i) Do different efficiency assessment methodologies produce similar results? (ii) How are the two basic dimensions of transit performance, namely efficiency and effectiveness, related? and (iii) Are findings regarding organizational regimes (public operations, contracting and so on) sensitive to the methodological specifications employed? Results clearly indicate that efficiency scores and associated recommendations are sensitive to the models used, while efficiency and effectiveness are - albeit weakly - negatively related; these two findings can have far reaching policy implications.     

Should subsidies to urban passenger transport be increased? A spatial CGE analysis for a German metropolitan area

In many countries passenger transport is significantly subsidized in a variety of ways for various reasons. The objective of this paper is to examine efficiency, distributional, environmental (CO₂ emissions) and spatial effects of increasing different kinds of passenger transport subsidies discriminating between household types, travel purposes and travel modes. The effects are calculated by applying a numerical spatial general equilibrium approach calibrated to an average German metropolitan area. In extension to most studies focusing on only one kind of subsidy, we compare the effects of different transport subsidies within the same unified framework that allows to account for two features not yet considered simultaneously in studies on transport subsidies: endogenous labor supply and location decisions. Furthermore, congestion, travel mode choice, travel related CO₂ emissions and institutional details regarding the tax system in Germany are taken into account. The results suggest that optimal subsidy levels are either small or even zero. While subsidizing public transport is welfare enhancing, subsidies to urban road traffic reduce aggregate urban welfare. Concerning the latter it is shown that making investments in urban road infrastructure capacity or reducing gasoline taxes may even be harmful to residents using predominantly automobile. In contrast, pure commuting subsidies hardly affect aggregate urban welfare, but distributional effects are substantial. All policies cause suburbanization of city residents and (except for subsidizing public transport) contribute to urban sprawl by raising the spatial imbalance of residences and jobs but the effect is relatively small. In addition, the policies induce a very differentiated pattern regarding distributional effects, benefits of landowners and environmental effects.     

Improvement in the estimation and back-extrapolation of CO2 emissions from the Irish road transport sector using a bottom-up data modelling approach

Road transport is a major source of CO₂ emissions in Ireland and accounts for almost 96% of the total CO₂ emissions from the transport sector. Following the recent adopted UNFCCC reporting guidelines on annual inventories [24/CP.19], this study applied the 2006 IPCC Guidelines for National Greenhouse Gas Inventories (2006 IPCC GLs) tier 3 approach to estimate CO₂ emissions from road transport at the vehicle category level, for the first time in Ireland. For this, disaggregated datasets were prepared based on year of vehicle registration and mileage since registration of the vehicle. Such an approach provided a more realistic national scenario in comparison to the use of average mileage degradation in emission calculations. This investigation comprised a recalculation of previous emissions estimates (1990–2012) and an estimation of CO₂ emissions in 2013 using a previously unavailable level of data disaggregation for vehicle mileage as well as using vehicle class specific data and an improved bottom-up estimation methodology in COPERT. Historic vehicle fleet data were restructured, annual mileage data were estimated in relation to the fleet data and back extrapolated using a regression approach.The results showed that the mileage degradation was not only subject to fuel technology, engine size, and age but also the emissions class and vehicle category. It was also observed that the disaggregated level of data provided a different CO₂ emissions split among the vehicle categories than that of previous estimations which were based on an aggregated level of data. Previous emissions inventories (1990–2012) were shown to have underestimated the share from diesel fuelled passenger cars by more than 56% in 2012. Diesel fuelled passenger cars were also found to account for the majority of CO₂ emissions from road transport activities in Ireland in 2013. The level and trend assessment showed that emissions from Euro-II and Euro-III classed vehicles especially for passenger cars, which have a significant contribution to the total emission in 2013 have caused an increase in fleet level emissions in Ireland. In addition, the results also showed that the emissions share from Light Duty Vehicles and Heavy Duty Vehicles were overestimated by previous investigations. This paper highlights the importance of the resolution of data used in emissions inventory preparation which may impact upon future projections and policy formulation. The findings of this investigation are also discussed in relation their implications for road transport policy, including carbon taxation and future policy options aimed at achieving EU emissions target in 2020.     

旅客自动输送系统列车发热的车站排热设计

介绍珠江新城旅客自动输送系统及其列车所采用的空调冷凝器.分析正常情况下的排热和火灾时烟气状况,确定轨顶、轨底的排热比例维持6:4不变.通过建立模型,利用SES软件计算分析,结果表明全线温度满足设计要求.     

The provision of home to school transport in Northern Ireland

The provision of home to school transport is an important element of transport policy in local communities. This paper examines the provision of home to school transport in Northern Ireland. It reviews the nature of demand and provision, and the costs involved in providing the current system of home to school transport compared to other parts of the UK. In addition it also discusses issues surrounding the use of the statutory walking distance, safety on buses including the provision of ‘3 for 2’, standing on buses and seatbelts in Northern Ireland.