A comparative life-cycle energy and emissions analysis for intercity passenger transportation in the U.S. by aviation,intercity bus,and automobile

Intercity passenger trips constitute a significant source of energy consumption, greenhouse gas emissions, and criteria pollutant emissions. The most commonly used city-to-city modes in the United States include aircraft, intercity bus, and automobile. This study applies state-of-the-practice models to assess life-cycle fuel consumption and pollutant emissions for intercity trips via aircraft, intercity bus, and automobile. The analyses compare the fuel and emissions impacts of different travel mode scenarios for intercity trips ranging from 200 to 1600 km. Because these modes operate differently with respect to engine technology, fuel type, and vehicle capacity, the modeling techniques and modeling boundaries vary significantly across modes. For aviation systems, much of the energy and emissions are associated with auxiliary equipment activities, infrastructure power supply, and terminal activities, in addition to the vehicle operations between origin/destination. Furthermore, one should not ignore the embodied energy and initial emissions from the manufacturing of the vehicles, and the construction of airports, bus stations, highways and parking lots. Passenger loading factors and travel distances also significantly influence fuel and emissions results on a per-traveler basis. The results show intercity bus is generally the most fuel-efficient mode and produced the lowest per-passenger-trip emissions for the entire range of trip distances examined. Aviation is not a fuel-efficient mode for short trips (<500 km), primarily due to the large energy impacts associated with takeoff and landing, and to some extent from the emissions of ground support equipment associated with any trip distance. However, aviation is more energy efficient and produces less emissions per-passenger-trip than low-occupancy automobiles for trip distances longer than 700–800 km. This study will help inform policy makers and transportation system operators about how differently each intercity system perform across all activities, and provides a basis for future policies designed to encourage mode shifts by range of service. The estimation procedures used in this study can serve as a reference for future analyses of transportation scenarios.     

Establishment of Community Managed Fisheries’ Closures in Kenya: Early Evolution of the Tengefu Movement

Community-based management (CBM) could be an essential tool to prevent the depletion of marine resources in the Western Indian Ocean region. In Kenya, political pressure to strengthen local governance, has led to adoption of CBM as a way of reducing over-exploitation and managing the competing uses and impacts on the marine environment. Several communities in Kenya have embraced CBM and have set aside or closed previously fished areas to enhance recovery of fisheries and biodiversity. These community fisheries closures (locally called tengefu), despite being degraded, may recover to finfish abundances and biodiversity levels similar to established MPAs or above thresholds for maintaining some ecological services. Communities see their direct involvement and control of these tengefu as more likely to result in benefits flowing directly to them. Community closures are also important for articulating and resolving community values and strengthening their management capacity. Here, we describe the evolution of the tengefu movement in Kenya and combine information from focus group discussions, interviews, underwater surveys and boundary marking to evaluate the current status, opportunities and challenges facing these tengefu. We show that in some cases community closures suffer from slow and incomplete national and local legislative processes, challenges to compliance, and weak management.     

提高八钢专用铁路货运量的对策

优化调整货物运输结构、提高铁路发运占比是落实"蓝天保卫战"的一项具体举措。为了满足宝钢集团新疆八一钢铁有限公司生产规模的不断扩大、外运需求旺盛的实际,在对其铁路运输现状和需求,以及存在的线路质量较差、装卸效率较低、运输组织衔接弱等问题进行剖析的基础上,提出提高铁路货运量对策,即:推进路企直通战略合作、升级改造设备设施、构建调度全程统一指挥模式、优化货流源头组织,以加快调整运输结构,增加铁路货运量,推动铁路高质量发展。     

Integrating mesoscopic dynamic traffic assignment with agent-based travel behavior models for cumulative land development impact analysis

A number of approaches have been developed to evaluate the impact of land development on transportation infrastructure. While traditional approaches are either limited to static modeling of traffic performance or lack a strong travel behavior foundation, today’s advanced computational technology makes it feasible to model an individual traveler’s response to land development. This study integrates dynamic traffic assignment (DTA) with a positive agent-based microsimulation travel behavior model for cumulative land development impact studies. The integrated model not only enhances the behavioral implementation of DTA, but also captures traffic dynamics. It provides an advanced yet practical approach to understanding the impact of a single or series of land development projects on an individual driver’s behavior, as well as the aggregated impacts on the demand pattern and time-dependent traffic conditions. A simulation-based optimization (SBO) approach is proposed for the calibration of the modeling system. The SBO calibration approach enhances the transferability of this integrated model to other study areas. Using a case study that focuses on the cumulative land development impact along a congested corridor in Maryland, various regional and local travel behavior changes are discussed to show the capability of this tool for behavior side estimations and the corresponding traffic impacts.     

The vulnerability of the environment to spills of dangerous substances on highways: A diagnosis based on multi criteria modeling

Highways and freeways are the main infrastructure channel used to transport cargo in Brazil. This cargo often includes dangerous chemical products which can, in the event of an accident, negatively impact the environment. The development and implementation of tools for the rapid diagnosis of environmental vulnerability in the transportation of dangerous goods has been studied. However, for highways and freeways there is a lack of studies based on environmental attributes, and not just based on statistical data which demands a specific period for collection and analysis and only after that the implementation of preventive measures. Thus, evaluation grounded on multiple criteria embedded in Geographic Information System (GIS) has significant potential for the practical implementation of risk management of road transportation of dangerous goods. This study has determined the environmental vulnerability of route BR 050, specifically the segment between the cities of Uberlândia and Uberaba in the state of Minas Gerais, where multi criteria analysis has been efficient in determining the most vulnerable areas. The main attributes analyzed were the drainage density, soil type and geology, determining that in case of an accident with dangerous substances the regional environment would be immediately affected, and so endorsing the use of this tool in many segments involved in environmental management of highway enterprises.     

A planning tool for evaluating vehicles miles travelled and traffic safety forecasts of growth management scenarios: A case study of Baton Rouge and New Orleans

This study describes an adaptable planning tool that examines potential change in vehicle miles travelled (VMT) growth and corresponding traffic safety outcomes in two urbanized areas, Baton Rouge and New Orleans, based on built environment, economic and demographic variables. This model is employed to demonstrate one aspect of the potential benefits of growth management policy implementation aimed at curbing VMT growth, and to establish targets with which to measure the effectiveness of those policies through a forecasting approach. The primary objective of this research is to demonstrate the need to break with current trends in order to achieve future goals, and to identify specific policy targets for fuel prices, population density, and transit service within the two study regions. Models indicate based on medium growth scenarios, Baton Rouge will experience a 9 percent increase in VMTs and New Orleans will experience 10 percent growth. This translates to corresponding increases in crashes, injuries and fatalities. The paper provides forecasts for planners and engineers to consider an alternative future, based on desired goals to reduce VMTs and therefore improve safety outcomes. A constrained-forecast model shows a cap on VMTs and crash rates is achievable through policy that increases fuel prices, population density and annual transit passenger miles per capita at reasonable levels through a growth management approach.     

公交通行能力约束的智能调度优化模型

公交通行能力是解决城市交通拥堵问题、促进城市公共交通系统高效运行的要素之一。介绍了公交通行能力的计算要素,并针对目前我国城市由于盲目调度造成的公交系统运营效率、服务水平下降的问题,提出将公交通行能力作为约束条件对公交调度进行优化。鉴于公交企业制订调度方案时需兼顾公交服务水平和企业效益,将智能调度的目标确定为候车时间满意度、候车空间满意度、车内舒适满意度和企业满意度加权平均值最大,并给出了相应的计算方法。最后讨论了利用遗传算法对模型进行求解的过程。     

基于决策偏好的ETC系统评价指标体系及评价方法

为更好地反映不同决策者对电子收费系统（ETC）评价的偏好,从政府、运营者和付费者三个主要利益主体的角度对ETC系统的评价指标及评价方法进行了研究。根据评价指标体系筛选原则,确定了基于决策偏好的ETC系统评价指标体系;通过综合分析成本-效益法（CBA）和数据包络分析法（DEA）的各自特点,依据基于决策偏好所确定的评价指标,同时引入当前一些比较好的算法来优化CBA,DEA和AHP法,建立数学模型,从而确立了基于决策偏好的综合评价方法。该方法较为全面地对ETC系统社会经济影响进行评价,所建立的指标体系和方法能更直观、更可靠地反映出决策者的决策偏好。     

Challenges and Benefits in the Design of Coastal Walking and Cycling Amenities: Toward a More Integrated Coastal Management Approach

The planning and development of pedestrian and cycling amenities in coastal urban environments is a challenging process because a wide range of policies and considerations must be taken into account. Among these, the concepts of sustainability and more recently, resilience, have been gaining prominence. Green Infrastructure design approaches can integrate aspects of both sustainability and resilience, providing multiple services within single development projects. This study focuses on Dublin and examines a range of amenity projects at various stages of development that relate to the provision of new coastal walking and/or cycle routes. These are initially contextualized at the city level before focusing specifically on challenges and benefits associated with the design and implementation of such projects. Based on our findings, recommendations are made for optimizing the potential of future projects to effectively integrate with other initiatives so as to deliver broader policy objectives. A simple sequential model is presented that should assist developers and decision-makers to take a more integrated, multidisciplinary approach to meeting policy goals when planning and developing coastal amenities. Finally, this is remodeled into a set of considerations that are generally applicable to coastal development proposals of significant scale.     

城市轨道交通项目后评价体系研究

分析我国城市轨道交通项目后评价的研究现状,建立城市轨道交通项目后评价体系,包括过程后评价、效益和影响后评价、可持续性后评价和综合后评价四个部分,并详细介绍各部分内容。