Search results for: road transport systems

Authors: S. N. Moghaddas Tafreshi, S. M. Amin Ghotbi

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This paper presents a numerical study for investigating the effectiveness of geocell reinforcement in reducing pressure and settlement over EPS geofoam blocks in road embankments. A 3-D FEM model of soil and geofoam was created in ABAQUS, and geocell was also modeled realistically using membrane elements. The accuracy of the model was tested by comparing its results with previous works. Sensitivity analyses showed that reinforcing the soil cover with geocell has a significant influence on the reduction of imposed stresses over geofoam and consequently decreasing its deformation.

Keywords: EPS geofoam, geocell, reinforcement, road embankments, lightweight fill

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Authors: Jonas Palmer, Leon Brüning, Lukas Himmelsbach

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The worldwide ambitions to transform the transportation sector are increasingly affecting the safety conditions for all traffic participants and the required infrastructure. To contribute to the transformation and for health aspects, individuals search for carbon-free alternatives that include physical excitation. Especially e-bikes experience a growing demand within the last few years and consequently change the safety requirements. E-cyclists are exposed to amplified risks due to higher velocity in comparison to classic cyclists. Furthermore, cyclists suffer from a lack of infrastructure, rider assistance systems as well as awareness of other road users. For minimizing the risk of accidents, it is crucial to identify, develop and implement safety measures for cyclists. The paper aims to contribute to future research with delivering an overview of the latest publications and to subsequently identify essential research gaps. Therefore, it is essential to analyze the areas of technical adjustments as well as legal aspects and the correlation of both. The review`s insights can intensify the awareness of safety issues related to e-bikes and promote the development and implementation of appropriate measures.

Keywords: e-bike safety measures, future mobility, risk management, road safety

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Authors: Surachai Ampawasuvan, Supornchai Utainarumol

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Most of fuel station’ customers, who drive on the major arterial road wants to use the stations to fill fuel to their vehicle during their journey to destinations. According to the survey of traffic volume of the vehicle using fuel stations by video cameras, automatic counting tools, or questionnaires, it was found that most users prefer to use fuel stations on holiday rather than on working day. They also prefer to use fuel stations in the morning rather than in the evening. When comparing the ratio of the distribution pattern of traffic volume of the vehicle using fuel stations by video cameras, automatic counting tools, there is no significant difference. However, when comparing the ratio of peak hour (peak hour rate) of the results from questionnaires at 13 to 14 percent with the results obtained by using the methods of the Institute of Transportation Engineering (ITE), it is found that the value is similar. However, it is different from a survey by video camera and automatic traffic counting at 6 to 7 percent of about half. So, this study suggests that in order to forecast trip generation of vehicle using fuel stations on major arterial road which is mostly characterized by Though Traffic, it is recommended to use the value of half of peak hour rate, which would make the forecast for trips generation to be more precise and accurate and compatible to surrounding environment.

Keywords: peak rate, trips generation, fuel station, arterial road

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Authors: Yoshio Kurosawa

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The applications of soundproof materials for reduction of high frequency automobile interior noise have been researched. This paper presents a sound pressure prediction technique including wind noise by Hybrid Statistical Energy Analysis (HSEA) in order to reduce weight of acoustic insulations. HSEA uses both analytical SEA and experimental SEA. As a result of chassis dynamo test and road test, the validity of SEA modeling was shown, and utility of the method was confirmed.

Keywords: vibration, noise, road noise, statistical energy analysis

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Authors: Ateeth Shetty, K. S. Jayappa, Ratheesh Ramakrishnan, A. S. Rajawat

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Suspended Sediment Concentration (SSC) was estimated for the period of four months (November, 2013 to February 2014) using Oceansat-2 (Ocean Colour Monitor) satellite images to understand the coastal dynamics and regional sediment transport, especially distribution and budgeting in coastal waters. The coastal zone undergoes continuous changes due to natural processes and anthropogenic activities. The importance of the coastal zone, with respect to safety, ecology, economy and recreation, demands a management strategy in which each of these aspects is taken into account. Monitoring and understanding the sediment dynamics and suspended sediment transport is an important issue for coastal engineering related activities. A study of the transport mechanism of suspended sediments in the near shore environment is essential not only to safeguard marine installations or navigational channels, but also for the coastal structure design, environmental protection and disaster reduction. Such studies also help in assessment of pollutants and other biological activities in the region. An accurate description of the sediment transport, caused by waves and tidal or wave-induced currents, is of great importance in predicting coastal morphological changes. Satellite-derived SSC data have been found to be useful for Indian coasts because of their high spatial (360 m), spectral and temporal resolutions. The present paper outlines the applications of state‐of‐the‐art operational Indian Remote Sensing satellite, Oceansat-2 to study the dynamics of sediment transport.

Keywords: suspended sediment concentration, ocean colour monitor, sediment transport, case – II waters

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Authors: Nihed Bahria El Asghar, Imen Jouili, Mounir Frikha

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Inter-datacenter transport network is very bandwidth and delay demanding. The data transferred over such a network is also highly QoS-exigent mostly because a huge volume of data should be transported transparently with regard to the application user. To avoid the data transfer failure, a backup path should be reserved. No re-routing delay should be observed. A dedicated 1+1 protection is however not applicable in inter-datacenter transport network because of the huge spare capacity. In this context, we propose a survivable virtual network with minimal backup based on network coding (1 ⊕ 1) and solve it using a modified Dijkstra-based heuristic.

Keywords: network coding, dedicated protection, spare capacity, inter-datacenters transport network

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Authors: Mahboobeh Hemmati, Tahar Messadi, Hongmei Gu

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This overall research is targeted at the assessment of the new CLT-built Adohi Hall residential building located on the campus of the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville, Arkansas. The purpose of the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) study is to analyze the environmental impacts resulting from the transportation route of the Austrian imported CLT to the construction site with those of the CLT assumed to be originating from Conway, Arkansas. The Global Warming Potential (GWP) of CLT from Europe (Styria-Graz in Austria) to the site was first investigated. The results were then compared with the GWP of the CLT produced in Conway, Arkansas. The impacts of each scenario, using the Ecoinvent database, are then calculated and compared against each other to find the most environmentally efficient scenario in terms of global warming impacts. The quantification of GWP is associated with different transportation systems, water, road, and rail. Obtained through comparison, the findings reveal that the use of local materials is more efficient. In addition, transportation by water produces less Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emission in comparison to freight transportation by rail and road. Thus, besides the travel distance, the utilized transportation system is still a significant factor and should be seriously considered in making decisions for moving materials.

Keywords: comparative analysis, GWP, LCA, transportation

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Authors: Nur Syahidatul Idany Abdul Ghani, Rahizar Ramli, Jamilah Mohamad, Ahmad Saifizul, Mohamed Rehan Karim

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Increasing fatalities in road accidents in Malaysia over the last 10 years are quite alarming. Based on Malaysian Institute of Road Safety Research (Miros) latest research ‘Predicting Malaysian Road Fatalities for year 2020; it is predicted that road fatalities in Malaysia for 2015 is 8,780 and 10,716 for the year 2020 which 30 percent of fatalities were caused by accidents involving commercial vehicles. Government, related agencies and NGOs have continuously and persistently work to reduce the statistics through enforcement, educating the public, training to drivers, road safety campaigns, advertisements etc. However, the trend of casualties does not show encouraging pattern but instead, steadily growing. Thus, this comparative study reviews the literature pertaining on method of measurement used to evaluate commercial drivers competency. In several studies driving competency has been assessed with different assessment based on the license procedures and requirements according to the country regulation. The assessment criteria that has been establish for commercial drivers generally focus on driving tasks and assessment e.g. theory test, medical test and road assessment rather than driving competency test or physical test. Realizing the importance of specific assessment test for drivers competency this comparative study reviews the most discussed literature related to competency assessment method to identify competency of the drivers include (1. judgement and reaction, 2. skill of drivers, 3. experiences and fatigue). The concluding analysis of this paper is a comparative table for assessment methodology to access driver’s competency. A comparative study is a further discussion reviewing past literature to provide an overview on existing assessment test and potential subject matters that can be identified for further studies to increase awareness of the drivers, passengers as well as the authorities about the importance of competent drivers in order to improve safety in commercial vehicles.

Keywords: commercial vehicles, driver’s competency, specific assessment

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Authors: Boguslaw Schreyer

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The paper investigates the application of the Kohonen’s Self-Organizing Map (SOM) to the wheeled robot starting and braking dynamic states. In securing wheeled robot stability as well as minimum starting and braking time, it is important to ensure correct torque distribution as well as proper slope of braking and driving moments. In this paper, a correct movement distribution has been formulated, securing optimum adhesion coefficient and good transversal stability of a wheeled robot. A neural tuner has been proposed to secure the above properties, although most of the attention is attached to the SOM network application. If the delay of the torque application or torque release is not negligible, it is important to change the rising and falling slopes of the torque. The road/surface condition is also paramount in robot dynamic states control. As the road conditions may randomly change in time, application of the SOM network has been suggested in order to classify the actual road conditions.

Keywords: slip control, SOM network, torque distribution, wheeled Robot

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Authors: Chiara Cesali

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The effects of climate change are increasingly evident: increases in temperature (i.e. global warming), greater frequency of extreme weather events, i.e. storms, floods, which often affect transport infrastructures. Large-scale climatological models with long-term horizons (up to 2100) show the possibility of significant increases in precipitation in the future, according to the greenhouse gas emissions scenarios from IPCC. Consequently, the insufficiency of existing hydraulic works (i.e. bridges, culverts, drainage systems) may be more frequent, or those currently being designed may become insufficient in the future. Thus, the hydraulic design methods of transport infrastructure must begin to take into account the influence of climate change. To this purpose, criteria for applying to the hydraulic design of a railway infrastructure some of the approaches currently available for determining design rainfall intensity and/or peak discharge flow on the basis of possible climate change scenarios are defined and proposed in the paper. Some application cases are also described.

Keywords: climate change, hydraulic design, precipitation, railway

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Authors: Yanqing Yi, Maria Cristina Lavagnolo, Alessandro Manzardo

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Construction and demolition waste (C&DW) is a major challenge in the European Union, emphasizing the urgent need for appropriate waste management processes. Selecting these solutions is challenging, as it requires identifying efficient C&DW management techniques that balance acceptable practices, regulatory compliance, resource conservation, economic viability, and environmental concerns. Techniques for analyzing many kinds of criteria allow for the use of multi-criteria analysis in life cycle assessment (LCA). Although LCA is commonly used to analyze environmental effects, the economic factor has not been fully integrated into the LCA approach in C&DW management. The life cycle costing (LCC) approach was designed to assess economic performance in the C&DW management process. The choice of an effective multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) technique is critical for the C&DW system. This study seeks to propose a model that employs MCDM by considering LCA and LCC results, thereby augmenting both environmental and economic sustainability. A widely used compensatory MCDM technique, TOPSIS, has been chosen to identify the most effective C&DW management scheme by comparing and ranking various scenarios. Four waste management alternatives were examined in the Lombardy region of Italy, namely, (i) landfill; (ii) recycling for concrete production and road construction, incineration with energy recovery; (iii) recycling for road construction; (iv) recycling for concrete production and road construction. We determine that, with the implementation of various scenarios, the most suitable scenario emerges to be recycled for concrete production and road construction, with a score of 0.711/1; recycling for road construction, with a final score of 0.291/1, ranks second; recycling for concrete production and road construction, incineration with energy recovery scores 0.002/1, ranks third; and landfill (scores: 0/1) is the worst choice, indicating it has the highest environmental impact. Finally, suggestions were developed to improve the system's environmental performance.

Keywords: life cycle assessment, life cycle costing, construction and demolition waste, multi-criteria decision making

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Authors: Nermin Mahmoud Gohar, Aisha Tarek Noour

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Learner satisfaction has been a vital field of interest in the literature. Accordingly, the paper will explore the reasons behind individual differences in motivation and satisfaction. This study examines the effect of both; Herzberg’s and Maslow’s theories on learners satisfaction. A self-administered questionnaire was used to collect data from learners who were geographically widely spread around the College of Maritime Transport and Technology (CMTT) at the Arab Academy for Science, Technology and Maritime Transport (AAST&MT) in Egypt. One hundred and fifty undergraduates responded to a questionnaire survey. Respondents were drawn from two branches in Alexandria and Port Said. The data analysis used was SPSS 22 and AMOS 18. Factor analysis technique was used to find out the dimensions under study verified by Herzberg’s and Maslow’s theories. In addition, regression analysis and structural equation modeling were applied to find the effect of the above-mentioned theories on maritime transport learners’ satisfaction. Concerning the limitation of this study, it used the available number of learners in the CMTT due to the relatively low population in this field.

Keywords: motivation, satisfaction, needs, education, Herzberg’s and Maslow’s theories

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Authors: Akinbuluma Ayodeji Theophilus, Adewale Olutaiwo

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When building roads and paved surfaces, a strong foundation is always essential. A durable material that can withstand years of traffic while staying trustworthy must be used to build the foundation. A frequent problem in the construction of roads and pavements is the lack of high-quality, long-lasting materials for the pavement structure (base, subbase, and subgrade). Hence, this study examined the stabilization of lateritic soil samples from Ijoko with cement kiln dust and lime. The study adopted the experimental design. Laboratory tests were conducted on classification, swelling potential, compaction, California bearing ratio (CBR), and unconfined compressive tests, among others, were conducted on the laterite sample treated with cement kiln dust (CKD) and lime in incremental order of 2% up to 10% of dry weight soft soil sample. The results of the test showed that the studied soil could be classified as an A-7-6 and CL soil using the American Association of State Highway and transport officials (AASHTO) and the unified soil classification system (USCS), respectively. The plasticity (PI) of the studied soil reduced from 30.5% to 29.9% at the application of CKD. The maximum dry density on the application of CKD reduced from 1.9.7 mg/m3 to 1.86mg/m3, and lime application yielded a reduction from 1.97mg/m3 to 1.88.mg/m3. The swell potential on CKD application was reduced from 0.05 to 0.039%. The study concluded that soil stabilizations are effective and economic way of improving road pavement for engineering benefit. The degree of effectiveness of stabilization in pavement construction was found to depend on the type of soil to be stabilized. The study therefore recommended that stabilized soil mixtures should be used to subbase material for flexible pavement since is a suitable.

Keywords: lateritic soils, sand, cement, stabilization, road pavement

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Authors: Carolina Senabre, Sergio Valero, Emilio Velasco

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This research objective is to compare the differences of brake measurements obtained with the same vehicle when braking on VTEQ Ministry of Transport (MOT) brake testers versus others such as Maha, Ryme and a dynamometric platform. These different types of brake testers have been used and analyzed by the mechanical engineering staffs at the mechanical laboratory at the Miguel Hernández University. Parameters of the vehicle have been controlled to be the same in all tests. Therefore, brake measurements variability will be due to the tester used. Advances and disadvantages of each brake tester have been analyzed.

Keywords: brake tester, Ministry of transport, longitudinal braking, Bank of Rollers

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Authors: Dimitrios J. Dimitriou, Maria F. Sartzetaki

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Transport is often the key driver for growth, especially for regions providing key opportunities for connectivity between busy areas and mature markets. Even though the benefits of transports are essential, limited research is published regarding the linkage of inland transport systems and other business sectors, the spillover effects on regional economy and the overall contribution to regional development. This paper deals with the determination of the key socioeconomic benefits on regions caused by the upgrade and the modernization of a railway corridor. The analysis framework is following a four-step analysis, providing key messages to planners, managers and decision makers. The provided case study is the upgrade of the railway corridor in North Greece, which is a very sensitive region suffering long time from economic stress. The application results are essential for comparisons with other destinations and provide key messages regarding the relationship of railway and economic development.

Keywords: regional development, economic impact assessment variables, railway infrastructure, strategic planning

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Authors: Monapat Sasingha, Suttisak Soralump

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This research presents the behavior of slope of the road along the canal stabilized by short piles. In this investigation, the centrifuge machine was used, modelling the condition of the water levels in the canal. The centrifuge tests were performed at 35 g. To observe the movement of the soil, visual analysis was performed to evaluate the failure behavior. Conclusively, the use of short piles to stabilize the canal slope proved to be an effective solution. However, the certain amount of settlement was found behind the short pile rows.

Keywords: centrifuge test, slope failure, embankment, stability of slope

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Authors: Celso L. Fernando, Toshio Yoshii, Takahiro Tsubota

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Understanding the causes of a road accident and predicting their occurrence is key to preventing deaths and serious injuries from road accident events. Traditional statistical methods such as the Poisson and the Logistics regressions have been used to find the association of the traffic environmental factors with the accident occurred; recently, an artificial neural network, ANN, a computational technique that learns from historical data to make a more accurate prediction, has emerged. Although the ability to make accurate predictions, the ANN has difficulty dealing with highly unbalanced attribute patterns distribution in the training dataset; in such circumstances, the ANN treats the minority group as noise. However, in the real world data, the minority group is often the group of interest; e.g., in the road traffic accident data, the events of the accident are the group of interest. This study proposes a combination of the k-means with the ANN to improve the predictive ability of the neural network model by alleviating the effect of the unbalanced distribution of the attribute patterns in the training dataset. The results show that the proposed method improves the ability of the neural network to make a prediction on a highly unbalanced distributed attribute patterns dataset; however, on an even distributed attribute patterns dataset, the proposed method performs almost like a standard neural network.

Keywords: accident risks estimation, artificial neural network, deep learning, k-mean, road safety

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Authors: Ocotlán Díaz-Parra, Jorge A. Ruiz-Vanoye, Alejandro Fuentes-Penna, Beatriz Bernabe-Loranca, Patricia Ambrocio-Cruz, José J. Hernández-Flores

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The Maritime Platform Transport Problem of Solid, Special and Dangerous Waste consist of to minimize the monetary value of carry different types of waste from one location to another location using ships. We offer a novel mathematical, the characterization of the problem and the use CPLEX to find the optimal values to solve the Solid, Special and Hazardous Waste Transportation Problem of offshore platforms instances of Mexican state-owned petroleum company (PEMEX). The set of instances used are WTPLib real instances and the tool CPLEX solver to solve the MPTPSSDW problem.

Keywords: oil platform, transport problem, waste, solid waste

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Authors: M. Pilgun

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The report presents the results of a study of the specifics of speech perception by actors of video hosting services on the material of urban planning conflicts. To analyze the content, the multimodal approach using neural network technologies is employed. Analysis of word associations and associative networks of relevant stimulus revealed the evaluative reactions of the actors. Analysis of the data identified key topics that generated negative and positive perceptions from the participants. The calculation of social stress and social well-being indices based on user-generated content made it possible to build a rating of road transport construction objects according to the degree of negative and positive perception by actors.

Keywords: social media, speech perception, video hosting, networks

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Authors: Sittampalam Manoharan, Gary Chai, Sanaul Chowdhury, Andrew Golding

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The primary objective of this paper is to present a simplified approach to develop the structural deterioration model using traffic speed deflectometer data for flexible pavements. Maintaining assets to meet functional performance is not economical or sustainable in the long terms, and it would end up needing much more investments for road agencies and extra costs for road users. Performance models have to be included for structural and functional predicting capabilities, in order to assess the needs, and the time frame of those needs. As such structural modelling plays a vital role in the prediction of pavement performance. A structural condition is important for the prediction of remaining life and overall health of a road network and also major influence on the valuation of road pavement. Therefore, the structural deterioration model is a critical input into pavement management system for predicting pavement rehabilitation needs accurately. The Traffic Speed Deflectometer (TSD) is a vehicle-mounted Doppler laser system that is capable of continuously measuring the structural bearing capacity of a pavement whilst moving at traffic speeds. The device’s high accuracy, high speed, and continuous deflection profiles are useful for network-level applications such as predicting road rehabilitations needs and remaining structural service life. The methodology adopted in this model by utilizing time series TSD maximum deflection (D0) data in conjunction with rutting, rutting progression, pavement age, subgrade strength and equivalent standard axle (ESA) data. Then, regression analyses were undertaken to establish a correlation equation of structural deterioration as a function of rutting, pavement age, seal age and equivalent standard axle (ESA). This study developed a simple structural deterioration model which will enable to incorporate available TSD structural data in pavement management system for developing network-level pavement investment strategies. Therefore, the available funding can be used effectively to minimize the whole –of- life cost of the road asset and also improve pavement performance. This study will contribute to narrowing the knowledge gap in structural data usage in network level investment analysis and provide a simple methodology to use structural data effectively in investment decision-making process for road agencies to manage aging road assets.

Keywords: adjusted structural number (SNP), maximum deflection (D0), equant standard axle (ESA), traffic speed deflectometer (TSD)

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Authors: Ajeni Ari, Chiara Maria Leva, Lorraine D’Arcy, Mary Kinahan

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In addressing gender and transport, considerations of mobility disparities amongst users are important. Public transport (PT) policy and design do not efficiently account for the varied mobility practices between men and women, with literature only recently showing a movement towards gender inclusion in transport. Arrantly, transport policy and designs remain gender-blind to the variation of mobility needs. The global movement towards sustainability highlights the need for expeditious strategies that could mitigate biases within the existing system. At the forefront of such a plan of action, in part, may be mandated inclusive infrastructural designs that stimulate user engagement with the transport system. Fundamentally access requires a means or an opportunity for the entity, which for PT is an establishment of its physical environment and/or infrastructural design. Its practicality may be utilised with knowledge of shortcomings in tangible or intangible aspects of the service offerings allowing access to opportunities. To inform on existing biases in PT planning and design, this study analyses qualitative data to examine the opinions and lived experiences among transport users in Ireland. Findings show that infrastructural design plays a significant role in users’ engagement with the service. Paramount to accessibility are service provisions that cater to both user interactions and those of their dependents. Apprehension to use the service is more so evident in women in comparison to men, particularly while carrying out household duties and caring responsibilities at peak times or dark hours. Furthermore, limitations are apparent with infrastructural service offerings that do not accommodate the physical (dis)ability of users, especially universal design. There are intersecting factors that impinge on accessibility, e.g., safety and security, yet essentially; the infrastructural design is an important influencing parameter to user perceptual conditioning. Additionally, data discloses the need for user intricacies to be factored in transport planning geared towards gender inclusivity, including mobility practices, travel purpose, transit time or location, and system integration.

Keywords: infrastructure design, public transport, accessibility, women, gender

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Authors: Hamed K. Esfahani, Bithin Datta

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Transport of reactive chemical contaminant species in groundwater aquifers is a complex and highly non-linear physical and geochemical process especially for real life scenarios. Simulating this transport process involves solving complex nonlinear equations and generally requires huge computational time for a given aquifer study area. Development of optimal remediation strategies in aquifers may require repeated solution of such complex numerical simulation models. To overcome this computational limitation and improve the computational feasibility of large number of repeated simulations, Genetic Programming based trained surrogate models are developed to approximately simulate such complex transport processes. Transport process of acid mine drainage, a hazardous pollutant is first simulated using a numerical simulated model: HYDROGEOCHEM 5.0 for a contaminated aquifer in a historic mine site. Simulation model solution results for an illustrative contaminated aquifer site is then approximated by training and testing a Genetic Programming (GP) based surrogate model. Performance evaluation of the ensemble GP models as surrogate models for the reactive species transport in groundwater demonstrates the feasibility of its use and the associated computational advantages. The results show the efficiency and feasibility of using ensemble GP surrogate models as approximate simulators of complex hydrogeologic and geochemical processes in a contaminated groundwater aquifer incorporating uncertainties in historic mine site.

Keywords: geochemical transport simulation, acid mine drainage, surrogate models, ensemble genetic programming, contaminated aquifers, mine sites

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Authors: Maisa Sales Gama Tobias, Humberto de Paiva Junior, Luciano Silva Brito, Rui António Rodrigues Ramos

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Waterway transport in the Amazon was the first means of access and occupation in the region. For the economic and social matter of high importance, still nowadays one of the main transport modes to several places in the region. To some places, still the only transport mode. With the advent of the pandemic, transport companies that already faced management challenges began to experience unprecedented structural changes and trends in trade and global supply chains. Thus, companies need operational reorganization to maintain the sustainability of the service under the penalty of loss of demand. Allied to this fact, it was observed that the demand presented behavior changes to adapt to this new moment. However, the lack of information about these changes makes it difficult to find solutions to maintain the quality of service. This work aimed to characterize the changes in the demand of waterway passengers through an empirical study with field research involving interviews with users and crew, on-board journeys, and visits to the waterway service company. The case study is the route Belém-Camara, on Marajó Island, in the state of Pará. This line is traditionally the only means of transport for this route, besides air transport on a much smaller scale. The collected data had a descriptive and analytical statistical treatment presented in this work. As the main result, the COVID-19 pandemic has caused significant changes, mainly in trip time and motives and, in the perception itself on service quality by part of the demand, with the increase of trip time and the feeling of insecurity. In conclusion, the service operator must review cost management and business survival strategies and tactics. The viability of the service and the social guarantee of transport proved to be threatened, putting at risk the service to the riverside populations.

Keywords: demand of waterway transport passengers, data analysis, COVID-19, amazonia

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Authors: J. Racedo, J. Torres

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Globalization has led to a worldwide competition for participation in markets of goods and productive factors, with significant effects on transports requirements. The port industry has not been an exception to this event, in fact, it has received increasing attention in recent years due to its crucial role on international trade. Because of this, the measurement of port performance has become an important issue in transport policy. Port performance and port efficiency has been widely studied in the last decades, resulting in noteworthy contributions to improving the industry competitiveness. In this paper, we aim to present a review of the literature on port performance and the relation between this concept and transport policies. This study has the objective to describe the approaches that have been developed in recent years, and especially those that include the modeling of public policies. Finally, we highlight existing gaps in this field, as well as possible directions for future research.

Keywords: port performance, port efficiency, transport, policy

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Authors: Arjita Biswas, Sandeep Potnis

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Plastic roads (bituminous roads using waste plastic in the wearing course ) have now become familiar in the Road Construction Sector in India. With the Indian Road Congress Code (IRC SP: 98 -2013), many agencies are coming forward to implement Plastic Roads in India. This paper discuss and compare about the various properties of bituminous mix with 8% waste plastic and normal bituminous mix. This paper also signifies the performance of both the types of roads after 4 months of age under loading conditions. Experiments were carried out to evaluate its performance. The result shows improved performance of plastic roads.

Keywords: bituminous roads, experiments, performance, plastic roads

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Authors: André Furtado, Rafael Mineiro, Isabel Gonçalves, Cecília Santos, Telma Quintela

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The development of therapies for central nervous system (CNS) disorders is one of the biggest challenges of current pharmacology, given the unique features of brain barriers, which limit drug delivery. Efflux transporters (ABC transporters) expressed at the blood-cerebrospinal fluid barrier (BCSFB), are the main obstacles for the delivery of therapeutic compounds into the CNS, compromising the effective treatment of brain cancer, brain metastasis from peripheral cancers, or even neurodegenerative disorders. It is thus extremely important to understand the regulation of these transporters for reducing their expression while treating a brain disorder or choosing the most appropriate conditions for drug administration. Based on the fact that the BCSFB have fine-tuned biological rhythms, studying the circadian variation of drug transport processes is critical for choosing the most appropriate time of the day for drug administration. In our study, using an in vitro model of the BCSFB, we characterized the circadian transport profile of methotrexate (MTX) and donepezil (DNPZ), two drugs involved in the treatment of cancer and Alzheimer’s Disease symptoms, respectively. We found that MTX is transported across the basal and apical membranes of the BCSFB in a circadian way. The circadian pattern of an ABC transporter, Abcc4, might be partially responsible for MTX circadian transport. Furthermore, regarding the DNPZ transport study, we observed that the regulation of Abcg2 expression by the circadian rhythm will impact the circadian-dependent transport of DNPZ across the BCSFB. Overall, our results will contribute to the current knowledge on brain pharmacoresistance at the BCSFB by disclosing how circadian rhythms control drug delivery to the brain, setting the grounds for a potential application of chronotherapy to brain diseases to enhance the efficacy of medications and minimize their side effects.

Keywords: blood-cerebrospinal fluid barrier, ABC transporters, drug transport, chronotherapy

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Authors: Mujahid Muhammad, Paul Kearney, Adel Aneiba

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The ability for vehicles to communicate with other vehicles (V2V), the physical (V2I) and network (V2N) infrastructures, pedestrians (V2P), etc. – collectively known as V2X (Vehicle to Everything) – will enable a broad and growing set of applications and services within the intelligent transport domain for improving road safety, alleviate traffic congestion and support autonomous driving. The telecommunication research and industry communities and standardization bodies (notably 3GPP) has finally approved in Release 14, cellular communications connectivity to support V2X communication (known as LTE – V2X). LTE – V2X system will combine simultaneous connectivity across existing LTE network infrastructures via LTE-Uu interface and direct device-to-device (D2D) communications. In order for V2X services to function effectively, a robust security mechanism is needed to ensure legal and safe interaction among authenticated V2X entities in the LTE-based V2X architecture. The characteristics of vehicular networks, and the nature of most V2X applications, which involve human safety makes it significant to protect V2X messages from attacks that can result in catastrophically wrong decisions/actions include ones affecting road safety. Attack vectors include impersonation attacks, modification, masquerading, replay, MiM attacks, and Sybil attacks. In this paper, we focus our attention on LTE-based V2X security and access control mechanisms. The current LTE-A security framework provides its own access authentication scheme, the AKA protocol for mutual authentication and other essential cryptographic operations between UEs and the network. V2N systems can leverage this protocol to achieve mutual authentication between vehicles and the mobile core network. However, this protocol experiences technical challenges, such as high signaling overhead, lack of synchronization, handover delay and potential control plane signaling overloads, as well as privacy preservation issues, which cannot satisfy the adequate security requirements for majority of LTE-based V2X services. This paper examines these challenges and points to possible ways by which they can be addressed. One possible solution, is the implementation of the distributed peer-to-peer LTE security mechanism based on the Bitcoin/Namecoin framework, to allow for security operations with minimal overhead cost, which is desirable for V2X services. The proposed architecture can ensure fast, secure and robust V2X services under LTE network while meeting V2X security requirements.

Keywords: authentication, long term evolution, security, vehicle-to-everything

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Authors: Ayman Othman, Tallat Ali

Abstract:

A pavement maintenance management system (PMMS) was developed for the city of Aswan as a model of a small city to provide the road maintenance department in Aswan city with the capabilities for comprehensive planning of the maintenance activities needed to put the internal pavement network into desired physical condition in view of maintenance budget constraints. The developed system consists of three main stages. First is the inventory & condition survey stage where the internal pavement network of Aswan city was inventoried and its actual conditions were rated in segments of 100 meters length. Second is the analysis stage where pavement condition index (PCI) was calculated and the most appropriate maintenance actions were assigned for each segment. The total maintenance budget was also estimated and a parameter based ranking criteria were developed to prioritize maintenance activities when the available maintenance budget is not sufficient. Finally comes the packaging stage where approved maintenance budget is packed into maintenance projects for field implementation. System results indicate that, the system output maintenance budget is very reasonable and the system output maintenance programs agree to a great extent with the actual maintenance needs of the network. Condition survey of Aswan city road network showed that roughness is the most dominate distress. In general, the road network can be considered in a fairly reasonable condition, however, the developed PMMS needs to be officially adapted to maintain the road network in a desirable condition and to prevent further deterioration.

Keywords: pavement, maintenance, management, system, distresses, survey, ranking

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Authors: Martin Kendra, Jaroslav Mašek, Juraj Čamaj, Matej Babin

Abstract:

The railway transport is considered as a one of the most environmentally friendly mode of transport. With future prediction of increasing of freight transport there are lines facing problems with demanded capacity. Increase of the track capacity could be achieved by infrastructure constructive adjustments. The contribution shows how the travel time can be minimized and the track capacity increased by changing some of the basic infrastructure and operation parameters, for example, the minimal curve radius of the track, the number of tracks, or the usable track length at stations. Calculation of the necessary parameter changes is based on the fundamental physical laws applied to the train movement, and calculation of the occupation time is dependent on the changes of controlling the traffic between the stations.

Keywords: curve radius, maximum curve speed, track mass capacity, reconstruction

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Authors: Sajjad Shukur Ullah, Syed Shujaa Safdar Gardezi

Abstract:

Road infrastructure plays a vital role in the economic activities of any economy. Besides derived benefits from these facilities, the utilization of extensive energy resources, fuels, and materials results in a negative impact on the environment in terms of carbon footprint; carbon footprint is the overall amount of greenhouse gas (GHG) generated from any action. However, this aspect of environmental impact from road structure is not seriously considered during such developments, thus undermining a critical factor of sustainable development, which usually remains unaddressed, especially in developing countries. The current work investigates the carbon footprint impact of a small road project (0.8 km, dual carriageway) initiated for traffic management in an urban centre. Life cycle assessment (LCA) with boundary conditions of cradle to the site has been adopted. The only construction phase of the life cycle has been assessed at this stage. An impact of 10 ktons-CO2 (6260 ton-CO2/km) has been assessed. The rigid pavement dominated the contributions as compared to a flexible component. Among the structural elements, the underpass works shared the major portion. Among the materials, the concrete and steel utilized for various structural elements resulted in more than 90% of the impact. The earth-moving equipment was dominant in operational carbon. The results have highlighted that road infrastructure projects pose serious threats to the environment during their construction and which need to be considered during the approval stages. This work provides a guideline for supporting sustainable development that could only be ensured when such endeavours are properly assessed by industry professionals and decide various alternative environmental conscious solutions for the future.

Keywords: construction waste management, kiloton, life cycle assessment, rigid pavement

Procedia PDF Downloads 101