The development of safe riding guidelines for young riders – A case study of Phu Yen,Vietnam

Phu Yen is a small province located in the central part of Vietnam and is suffering from a tremendous number of traffic casualties, compared with other cities in Vietnam and developed countries. Young riders take a large proportion, accounting for 47.6% in total traffic crashes. To resolve this issue, the present study aims to (i) analyze young riders' behavior and their attitudes towards traffic safety and to (ii) propose a procedure to develop a book of safe riding guidelines to reduce their involvement in dangerous situations. A set of 73 questions in the questionnaire survey have been conducted to determine the risk-taking behavior and attitude towards traffic safety of 300 individuals, who are using bicycles, e-bikes, mopeds, scooters, and motorcycles less than 150 cc. The statistical results indicate that there are significant differences among riding behavior and attitudes of respondents towards traffic safety regarding the regional factor (rural, suburb, and urban), the demographic factor (gender and age), and the travel distance factor. The guidelines designed based on the questionnaire survey are used to alter adolescents' riding behavior and attitudes and so help them recognize, avoid, and handle risks in demanding traffic situations. An analysis of the before and after the traffic safety training workshop to evaluate the effectiveness of the proposed guidelines indicated that there was a significant increment in the perceived risks of young riders after training them by using this book.     

Applications of a new ecosystem model to study the dynamics of phytoplankton and nutrients in the Ariake Sea,west coast of Kyushu,Japan

In this study, we present the development and application of a new ecosystem model coupled with a hydrodynamic model to describe the important physical, chemical and biological processes of an ecosystem in the marine environment, the Ariake Sea in the west coast of Kyushu, Japan. The model was calibrated and validated using in-situ field measurements from various monitoring stations in the sea. The presented results covered the period from January 1991 to December 2000. The results showed that chlorophyll-a, nutrients and dissolved oxygen levels varied seasonally in response to weather and boundary condition. Through this study, the model was shown to be able to handle the flooding and drying processes that usually exist and play an essential role over the estuarine-tidal flats of the sea.     

Automatic control of clutches and simulations for parallel hybrid vehicles

This paper is a continuation of a previous paper titled ??Modeling and Model Predictive Control for Hybrid Vehicle?? published on IJAT/2011 describing a mathematical model and design for a model predictive controller for tracking speeds and simulations. The present paper further describes a fuzzy logic controller for the smooth and quick engagement of an automatic clutch. The described controller uses both fuzzy logic and slip control algorithms to enable automatic clutch engagement. Clutch engagement and comprehensive simulations for the hybrid vehicle are conducted in MATLAB R2009s. The research described herein offers theoretical solutions for how to better control clutch slip and engagement within realistic parameters used for hybrid vehicles. Algorithms and operations of this fuzzy logic controller can be implemented in electronic control units for automatic clutch engagements and gear-shifting processes.     

Factors influencing home-based telework in Hanoi (Vietnam) during and after the COVID-19 era

Transportation - During the era of COVID-19 (COronaVIrus Disease of 2019), telework has been adopted extensively in developing countries for the first time. This study analyzes data of 355...     

Empirical Equilibrium Beach Profiles Along the Eastern Tombolo of Giens

Beaches along the eastern branch of the Giens double tombolo are subject to coastal erosion. Prediction of the behavior of the beach profile configuration in response to natural and anthropogenic changes using the concept of equilibrium beach profile (EBP) could be useful in finding the most suitable measure to address the erosion problem. Field investigation data of 11 beaches along the eastern tombolo were supplied for this study, and a nonlinear fitting technique was applied to estimate the best parameter values of seven empirical formulations of the relevant EBP. All of the observed beach profiles could be described by a single function, but a single EBP was inadequate to represent all of the beach profiles observed. The variation found could be explained in terms of longshore variation of bathymetry, sediment size, and wave parameters. Analysis of the validity of the EBPs revealed that a representative EBP of each beach is governed by different equilibrium parameters.     

法国日安东连岛沙洲沿岸海滩剖面经验平衡（英文）

Beaches along the eastern branch of the Giens double tombolo are subject to coastal erosion. Prediction of the behavior of the beach profile configuration in response to natural and anthropogenic changes using the concept of equilibrium beach profile(EBP) could be useful in finding the most suitable measure to address the erosion problem. Field investigation data of 11 beaches along the eastern tombolo were supplied for this study, and a nonlinear fitting technique was applied to estimate the best parameter values of seven empirical formulations of the relevant EBP. All of the observed beach profiles could be described by a single function, but a single EBP was inadequate to represent all of the beach profiles observed. The variation found could be explained in terms of longshore variation of bathymetry, sediment size, and wave parameters. Analysis of the validity of the EBPs revealed that a representative EBP of each beach is governed by different equilibrium parameters.     

Empirical modelling of the relationship between bus and car speeds on signalised urban networks

Vehicle speed is an important attribute for analysing the utility of a transport mode. The speed relationship between multiple modes of transport is of interest to traffic planners and operators. This paper quantifies the relationship between bus speed and average car speed by integrating Bluetooth data and transit signal priority data from the urban network in Brisbane, Australia. The method proposed in this paper is the first of its kind to relate bus speed and average car speed by integrating multi-source traffic data in a corridor-based method. Three transferable regression models relating not-in-service bus, in-service bus during peak periods and in-service bus during off-peak periods with average car speed are proposed. The models are cross-validated and the interrelationships are significant.     

Transfer demand prediction for timed transfer coordination in public transport operational control

Timed transfer coordination in public transit reduces passenger transfer time by providing seamless interconnected transfers. The problem arises when a Receiving Vehicle (RV) arrives to the transfer stop before a Feeding Vehicle (FV) carrying transferring passengers. Timed transfer coordination in operational control dynamically decides whether a RV is held at the transfer stop to allow transfers, or departs as scheduled. While transfer demand is essential for implementing timed transfer coordination, this variable is generally not available in public transit because of the lack of passenger transfer plans. The problem of acquiring this variable in real‐time has also received limited attention in the related literature. This paper proposes a new method to dynamically predict the transfer demand. We anticipate the transferring probability from each individual passenger by examining historical travel itineraries. Three different types of models (simple analytical, statistical, and computation intelligence model) are developed to forecast the number of transferring passengers. Numerical experiments using observed Automatic Vehicle Location and Automatic Fare Collection data from South East Queensland, Australia show the accuracy and applicability of the proposed models in timed transfer coordination. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Maneuvers of motorcycles in queues at signalized intersections

The maneuvering models of motorcycles in previous studies often considered motorcycles' traveling in terms of movements in a physical static lane and not in terms of dynamic virtual lane‐based movements. For that reason, these models are not able to imitate motorcyclists' behavior well. This paper proposes a maneuverability model framework for motorcycles in queues at signalized intersections with considering the dynamic motorcycle's lane. The model includes (i) a dynamic motorcycle's lane to identify the current, left, and right lanes of the subject motorcycle, (ii) a threshold distance to determine when a motorcyclist starts to consider maneuvering, (iii) a lane selection model to identify the lane preferred by a motorcyclist, and (iv) a gap acceptance model to describe whether or not the lead and lag gaps are acceptable for maneuvering. The model framework captures the variation across the motorcyclist population and over time observations. The models were applied to Hanoi and Hochiminh city, Vietnam, based on microscopic data collected from video images. All of the parameters were estimated using the maximum likelihood method with the statistical estimation software GAUSS. The results show that 77.88% of the observed maneuvers – either staying in the current lane or turning left or right – could be modeled correctly by the proposed models. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Modeling and model predictive control for hybrid electric vehicles

This paper builds up a typical model of a parallel hybrid electric vehicle and develops model predictive controllers for this model to control the speeds and torques for fast clutch engagement with high driving comfort and low jerk. Some modified algorithms for model predictive controllers are studied to improve their ability to track the desired speed setpoints, subject to input and output constraints.