Impacts of motor vehicle operation on water quality in the US – Cleanup costs and policies

This paper investigates the costs of controlling some of the environmental impacts of motor vehicle transportation on groundwater and on surface waters. We estimate that annualized costs of cleaning-up leaking underground storage tanks range from $0.8 billion to $2.1 billion per year over 10 years. Annualized costs of controlling highway runoff from principal arterials in the US are much larger: they range from $2.9 billion to $15.6 billion per year over 20 years (1.6–8.3% of annualized highway transportation expenditures). Some causes of non-point source pollution were unintentionally created by regulations or could be addressed by simple design changes of motor vehicles. A review of applicable measures suggests that effective policies should combine economic incentives, information campaigns, and enforcement, coupled with preventive environmental measures. In general, preventing water pollution from motor vehicles would be much cheaper than cleaning it up.     

Consumer preferences for battery electric vehicles: A choice experimental survey in China

To accelerate the diffusion of battery electric vehicles (BEVs), consumer preferences for different products and policy attributes must be determined. Although previous studies have investigated consumer preferences for some product attributes, including purchase price, operation cost, driving range, and charging time, limited studies have discussed the broader aspects of product attributes, such as battery warranty and depreciation rate. Moreover, market-oriented incentives, including the personal carbon trading (PCT) scheme and the tradable driving credits (TDC) scheme, can theoretically be effective alternatives to expensive purchase subsidies. However, there is a lack of empirical evidence that confirms the influence of these two schemes on BEV adoption. To fill these gaps, we conducted a stated preference choice experimental survey in China and investigated the effect of product attributes, existing policy incentives, and two emerging market-oriented incentives on BEV adoption. Our results reveal that along with the main product attributes, battery warranty has a significant positive effect on inducing mainstream consumers to adopt BEVs while no preference difference occurs among existing policy incentives after purchase subsidies are abolished. For young consumers, almost all incentives that reduce the operation cost (e.g., PCT) or increase convenience (e.g., TDC) can increase their adoption of BEVs. These findings can provide important implications for the government with regard to designing novel incentives and promoting BEV adoption.     

Suburban attitudes toward policies aimed at reducing solo driving

Policies that are aimed at discouraging commuters from solo driving have become a part of overall efforts to improve air quality and reduce traffic congestion. Since driving alone is the overwhelming choice of employed residents in US metropolitan areas, the political acceptability of proposed policy changes plays a role in their success. The 1992 Orange County (CA) Annual Survey asked employed solo drivers to rate their likelihood of changing from solo driving in response to various fees and incentives. Fewer say they would be very likely to stop solo driving if they were charged a parking fee at work (20%), a smog fee (17%) or a congestion fee (16%), than if their employers paid them a cash bonus for stopping solo driving (28%), or if more public transit (33%) or more carpools at work (35%) were available. Young and lower-status solo drivers are more likely than others to say they would stop driving alone if there were fees or cash bonuses. Current non-solo drivers tend to be young and low income, providing a validity check on the demographic predictors of stated preferences. The findings are discussed in light of recent policy changes in Southern California.     

机载光电设备隔振装置设计开发与性能分析

飞机在飞行的过程中所产生的激励会对机载光电设备产生振动影响,为了保证设备的正常工作,需要安装隔振装置对设备进行隔振.运用有限元软件ABAQUS,建立橡胶隔振支座有限元模型,在外加激励的作用下,对隔振支座进行分析,得到相应的振动响应；同时在满足设计要求的情况下,建立多种型号的隔振支座,设定橡胶材料的阻尼系数并进行模拟,得到的振动响应与外加激励进行对比,在较保守的阻尼比为0.08的情况下,其减振效果能够超过80％,在阻尼比为0.10的情况下起隔振效果能够近似90％.     

基于博弈论的供应链金融监管合同奖惩研究

将银行和物流监管公司签订的监管合同中的奖惩条款为研究对象,基于博弈论探讨了监管方和借款方的博弈行为,找到了纯粹决策和混合决策的纳什均衡。通过算例,对比计算了有无奖励和惩罚时,混合决策的纳什均衡点的差异性:当在合同中增加奖励和惩罚措施时,纳什均衡的点将离原点更远,双方将以更大的概率选择合作。以此为基础,科学设立监管合同中监管项目的评价指标体系,明确监管奖惩措施,将有效降低供应链金融风险。     

Incentives in Bus Concession Contracts: A Review of Several Experiences in Latin America

Abstract

This paper reviews the incentive structure of concession contracts in several Latin American transit reforms. It also presents a conceptual analysis of the optimal design of concession contracts. The conceptual discussion and case studies reviewed indicate that payment to operators should be linked to operational variables and that some demand risk should optimally be transferred to operators. Performance standards linked to fines and penalties are not sufficient to guarantee good quality of service, particularly in citywide reforms and where institutional capacity ― in terms of size, experience and expertise of staff ― is lacking and regulatory processes are slow, bureaucratic and cumbersome. This review may be useful for policy-makers designing transit reforms in other countries. The policy lessons of the paper are particularly relevant to cities in the developing world but they are also important for reforms in other countries.     

Risk and reward in public transportation contracting

The workshop discusses and documents a number of countries’ experiences regarding risk and reward in the delivery of public transport and determines the way in which competitive pressures actually work (or not) to deliver efficient and effective services. Papers are grouped into three main themes, i.e., public versus private management; negotiated versus competitively tendered contracts; and measures to improve performance. This chapter begins with a brief overview of each of the eight papers. This is followed by a section that out the discussions that emanated from the papers. Finally, the main policy and research recommendations are presented.     

Prospect Theory for joint time and money consequences in risk and ambiguity

Transport users face complex decisions. Not only are the consequences of their choices uncertain, but they generally involve several attributes, such as time and money. Time-money tradeoffs have been studied in depth in transport economics, and research is now paying increasing attention to the role of uncertainty and information in transport decisions. This paper aims to measure the impact of uncertainty and information on multi-attribute decisions using Prospect Theory. In doing so, the study makes two contributions to transportation literature: one methodological and the other empirical. First, we propose a fast and tractable method for measuring Prospect Theory parameters that capture attitudes towards probabilities (probability weighting function) and attitudes towards losses (loss aversion). The elicitation method does not require the elicitation of the utility function. This makes it particularly suitable in complex multi-attribute decisions where the shape of the utility function is unknown. Second, we present the results of an experiment that uses the proposed method to measure, at the individual level, probability weighting in decisions involving joint time and money consequences in two decision contexts: risk (where probabilities are given) and ambiguity (where the probability distribution is unknown). An experimental setup that exposes subjects to real gains and losses for money and time has been built for this purpose. We observe inverse S-shaped probability weighting and loss aversion for risk. Probability weighting is even more pronounced in ambiguity, where subjects do not have precise information about the probability distribution. We explain how these results and the analysis of ambiguity attitudes in general can offer a better understanding of travelers’ route or transport mode choices.     

机载光电设备隔振装置设计开发与性能分析

飞机在飞行的过程中所产生的激励会对机载光电设备产生振动影响,为了保证设备的正常工作,需要安装隔振装置对设备进行隔振．运用有限元软件ABAQUS,建立橡胶隔振支座有限元模型,在外加激励的作用下,对隔振支座进行分析,得到相应的振动响应;同时在满足设计要求的情况下,建立多种型号的隔振支座,设定橡胶材料的阻尼系数并进行模拟,得到的振动响应与外加激励进行对比,在较保守的阻尼比为0．08的情况下,其减振效果能够超过80％,在阻尼比为0．10的情况下起隔振效果能够近似90％．     

Impact of government incentives on the market penetration of electric vehicles in Australia

Incentives to buy and use electric vehicles (EVs) may influence individuals’ decisions to do so. To examine these impacts, a latent class discrete choice model is developed to analyse consumer preferences related to EV attributes and related government incentives. Data was collected from a stated preference survey of 1,076 residents of New South Wales (NSW), Australia. According to the results, the proposed latent constructs classify respondents into five segments. The segments are then used to distinguish respondent behaviours regarding EV attributes and related government incentives. The results show that rebate on the upfront cost of an EV is the most preferred one-off financial incentive, because EVs are expected to be expensive, especially in Australia which has a very small EV market at present. Furthermore, rebates on energy bills and parking fees are also well-received, as these things are expensive in Sydney, Australia. Thus, operational incentives for discounts on energy bills and parking fees may facilitate the success of EVs in NSW.