The social context of informal commuting: Slugs, strangers and structuration

Despite considerable interest in the role of social interactions and social context on transportation, there have been very few attempts to explore specific cases of social interaction influencing transportation systems. This paper explores the social practice of slugging, an informal system of carpooling in the Washington, DC area. Slugging emerged in response to the establishment of Virginia’s High Occupancy Vehicle (HOV) lanes in the early 1970s, as single drivers picked up riders alongside the road (slugs) in order to meet the requirements for driving in the less congested HOV lanes. Drawing on the work of sociologist Anthony Giddens, as well as the sociological insights of Georg Simmel and Stanley Milgram, we suggest that the practice of slugging highlights the processes of institutionalization and structuration. This paper details how the region’s mass transportation policies and urban culture have combined to result in an institutionalized practice with particular norms and logics of behavior. We conclude that looking at specific cases where social context has affected transportation, like slugging, could provide useful insights on the impact of social context on transportation policies and systems.     

广西水任-南宁公路拉显二号桥溶洞稳定性评价

文章介绍了广西水任南宁公路K120 480拉显二号桥溶洞稳定性评价,以工程实例为基础,阐明了溶洞的稳定性评价采用定性与计算综合评价的方法是可行和可靠的,为类似工程提供参考。     

Prediction of ground vibration amplitudes due to urban railway traffic using quantitative and qualitative field data

The growth of railway transport in urban areas has lead to an increase in ground vibrations enhancing their negative environmental impact. Therefore is mandatory to predict and control ground vibrations. This work presents a methodology for the determination of prediction models of ground vibration amplitudes due to railway train circulation in urban environments. Using quantitative predictors (train speed and distance) and qualitative predictors (railway track type, dominant geology and building type), being the use of the latter predictors justified by the fact that, most frequently, quantitative parameters are very difficult to obtain in the urban environment due to their characterization. Thus, a detailed statistical study based on the proposal and validation of multiple linear regression models, is successfully applied in order to predict vibration amplitudes produced by railway train circulation, in the considered domain, as function of quantitative and qualitative predictors, easily obtained in field work. A multiple linear regression model for ground vibration prediction due to underground railway traffic has been presented for the Lisbon area.     

石油制品燃烧产物中有机蒸气组分的分析研究

考虑隧道火灾的特性,并参照EPA TO-2的标准方法,通过GC MS的分析手段,分别鉴定出汽油、柴油不完全燃烧产物中的55种和57种有机蒸气物及含量.     

Reconstruction of the Aceh Region following the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami disaster: A transportation perspective

Aceh, located in the northernmost area of Sumatra Island, is one of the regions that suffered the most damage from the Indian Ocean tsunami in 2004. The process of reconstruction after a large-scale disaster is considered an opportunity to create a safer society, especially for developing countries, however the accumulation of knowledge about how to improve reconstruction is insufficient. The affected areas have diverse social and economic characteristics and unprecedented restoration efforts have been made. The Indian Ocean tsunami disaster, therefore, provides numerous research opportunities, and many surveys and other researches have been conducted to better understand what happened and how the reconstruction process could be improved. However, the majority of such research has focused on housing reconstruction, rebuilding livelihoods and community rehabilitation and there has been only limited research on transportation-related issues. Thus, there is significance in evaluating the reconstruction of Aceh from a transportation perspective, a dimension that has yet to be examined systematically. As a first step in the effort to evaluate various aspects of the reconstruction of Aceh from a transportation perspective, this research aims to present three transportation-related issues within the reconstruction process—1) the road network in the Banda Aceh coastal area, 2) mobility in relocation sites, and 3) reconstruction of the Banda Aceh–Meulaboh road—and to conduct a preliminary analysis of these issues by adding the viewpoint of disaster management and reconstruction, the authors' area of specialization. For conducting a preliminary analysis, existing information such as research papers, articles and reports and data collected through interviews and field reconnaissance conducted by the authors were utilized as much as possible, and such “qualitative data” was analyzed by applying the “interpretive approach”, considered an appropriate analytical framework for qualitative data.     

定性仿真在车身概念装配设计中的应用研究

简述了公差设计、定性仿真及定性建模等方面的研究现状,并探讨了定性仿真在车身概念装配设计阶段的工程应用、定性装配的可行性分析与车身装配的定性公差分析描述。仿真系统对装配特征的物理参数进行了定性信息提取,通过定性分析确定装配过程偏差的主要影响因素。     

综合超前地质预报在长乐山隧道施工中的应用

在岩溶地区修建隧道过程中,经常遇到突水、突泥等地质灾害。为了规避地质灾害的发生、减少其对隧道施工运营造成的损失,通常要投入大量的隧道超前地质预报工作。文章在进行水文、地质、地貌研究的基础上,提出了运用岩溶地质学原理对隧道岩溶发育情况进行定性预测,划分重点预报地段、选择合适的物探方法或物探组合模式、有的放矢地进行综合超前预报的观点;以长乐山隧道为工程背景,采用了岩溶地质定性预测+地震波法探测+地质雷达探测的超前预报模式,取得了良好的效果,验证了综合超前地质预报的有效性、经济性。     

Qualitative evaluation study of urban shared spaces in New Zealand

This paper presents the findings of a qualitative analysis using on-street perception and expert interview surveys of city centre streets that have been transformed into shared spaces in Auckland, New Zealand. The principal purpose was to investigate how well the shared streets performed, especially in relation to movement, access and place functions. The shared space sites at the Elliott, Lorne and Fort Street areas were measured against the performance criteria of Placemaking, Pedestrian Focus, Vehicle Behaviour Change, Economic Impetus and Safety for all users. On-street perception surveys totalling 360 responses (120 per site) were used in this study, together with an additional set of 40 responses from a survey of a control site in O’Connell Street that remained as a traditional street. Fifteen professionals with background in transportation and urban planning participated in semi-structured expert interviews. The main results of the Median Perception Ratings from the on-street surveys confirmed that the shared spaces generally performed positively. The statistical analysis revealed that the performance criteria of ‘Pedestrian’ and ‘Safety’ had a commanding influence over the other performance measures, and with the interconnectivity of the five objectives the perceived success of the urban shared spaces.     

舰炮武器系统的优化配置研究

本文针对舰炮武器系统的优化配置问题，提出了该问题的定量描述和定性准则，并给出了解决舰炮武器系统优化配置问题的多目标决策总体模型和思路。     

An exploration of the importance of social influence in the decision to start bicycling in England

The purpose of this paper is to gain a better understanding, through qualitative exploration, of the ways in which social influence affects the decision to start bicycling in England. ‘Social influence’ is defined as the process by which an individual’s thoughts and actions are changed by the thoughts and action of others. Its role was investigated at three levels: the immediate family, household members and significant others (direct social influence); the extended family, friends, peers and colleagues (less direct social influence); and the wider cultural context (indirect social influence). Interviews with 61 individuals living in 12 towns and cities across England were analysed. Half of the interviewees were new regular bicyclists and the other half did not bicycle at all, or only occasionally. Social influence was found to be the dominant factor for a minority of the cases where participants started bicycling regularly. It played a role alongside other factors in other cases. It could take the form of direct influence from family, friends and peers or indirect influence from the social and cultural context. The analysis illustrates the difficulty of capturing social influence which is often hidden and emerges incidentally in the course of the interviews and interacts with other contributing factors. The role of social influence found in this research challenges the rational approach to explaining travel decision making that has traditionally dominated transport studies. The paper suggests that social processes could be harnessed to improve the efficacy of bicycling promotion programs.