Search results for: passenger traffic

Authors: Ion Smeureanu, Adriana Reveiu, Marian Dardala, Titus Felix Furtuna, Roman Kanala

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This paper proposes a linear model for optimizing domestic energy consumption, in Romania. Both techno-economic and consumer behavior approaches have been considered, in order to develop the model. The proposed model aims to reduce the energy consumption, in households, by assembling in a unitary model, aspects concerning: residential lighting, space heating, hot water, and combined space heating – hot water, space cooling, and passenger transport. This paper focuses on space heating domestic energy consumption model, and quantify not only technical-economic issues, but also consumer behavior impact, related to people decision to envelope and insulate buildings, in order to minimize energy consumption.

Keywords: consumer behavior, open source energy modeling system (OSeMOSYS), MARKAL/TIMES Romanian energy model, virtual technologies

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Authors: Zheni S. Stefanova, Kandethody M. Ramachandran

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With the increasing dependency on our computer devices, we face the necessity of adequate, efficient and effective mechanisms, for protecting our network. There are two main problems that Intrusion Detection Systems (IDS) attempt to solve. 1) To detect the attack, by analyzing the incoming traffic and inspect the network (intrusion detection). 2) To produce a prompt response when the attack occurs (intrusion prevention). It is critical creating an Intrusion detection model that will detect a breach in the system on time and also challenging making it provide an automatic and with an acceptable delay response at every single stage of the monitoring process. We cannot afford to adopt security measures with a high exploiting computational power, and we are not able to accept a mechanism that will react with a delay. In this paper, we will propose an intrusion response mechanism that is based on artificial intelligence, and more precisely, reinforcement learning techniques (RLT). The RLT will help us to create a decision agent, who will control the process of interacting with the undetermined environment. The goal is to find an optimal policy, which will represent the intrusion response, therefore, to solve the Reinforcement learning problem, using a Q-learning approach. Our agent will produce an optimal immediate response, in the process of evaluating the network traffic.This Q-learning approach will establish the balance between exploration and exploitation and provide a unique, self-learning and strategic artificial intelligence response mechanism for IDS.

Keywords: cyber security, intrusion prevention, optimal policy, Q-learning

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Authors: H. N. S. Silva, S. N. Silva

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Introduction: The latest WHO data published in 2014 states that Sri Lanka has reached 2,773 of total deaths and over 14000 individuals’ sustained injuries due to RTAs each year. It was noticed in previous studies that policemen, three wheel drivers and also pedestrians were the first to respond to RTAs but the victim’s condition was aggravated due to unskilled attempts made by the responders while management of the victim’s wounds, moving and positioning of the victims and also mainly while transportation of the victims. Objective: To observe the practices of the urban public in Sri Lanka who are encountered with RTAs. Methods: A qualitative study was done to analyze public behavior seen on video recordings of scenes of accidents purposefully selected from social media, news websites, YouTube and Google. Results: The results showed that all individuals who tried to help during the RTA were middle aged men, who were mainly pedestrians, motorcyclists and policemen during that moment. Vast majority were very keen to actively help the victims to get to hospital as soon as possible and actively participated in providing 'aid'. But main problem was the first aid attempts were disorganized and uncoordinated. Even though all individuals knew how to control external bleeding, none of them was aware of spinal prevention techniques or management of limb injuries. Most of the transportation methods and transfer techniques used were inappropriate and more injury prone. Conclusions: The public actively engages in providing aid despite their inappropriate practices in giving first aid.

Keywords: encountered, pedestrians, road traffic accidents, urban public

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Authors: Roberto Pili, Alessandro Romagnoli, Hartmut Spliethoff, Christoph Wieland

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Internal combustion engines (ICE) are today the most common energy system to drive vehicles and transportation systems. Numerous studies state that 50-60% of the fuel energy content is lost to the ambient as sensible heat. ORC offers a valuable alternative to recover such waste heat from ICE, leading to fuel energy savings and reduced emissions. In contrast, the additional weight of the ORC affects the net energy balance of the overall system and the ORC occupies additional volume that competes with vehicle transportation capacity. Consequently, a lower income from delivered freight or passenger tickets can be achieved. The economic feasibility of integrating an ORC into an ICE and the resulting economic impact of weight and volume have not been analyzed in open literature yet. This work intends to define such a benchmark for ORC applications in the transportation sector and investigates the current situation on the market. The applied methodology refers to the freight market, but it can be extended to passenger transportation as well. The economic parameter X is defined as the ratio between the variation of the freight revenues and the variation of fuel costs when an ORC is installed as a bottoming cycle for an ICE with respect to a reference case without ORC. A good economic situation is obtained when the reduction in fuel costs is higher than the reduction of revenues for the delivered freight, i.e. X<1. Through this constraint, a maximum allowable change of transport capacity for a given relative reduction in fuel consumption is determined. The specific fuel consumption is influenced by the ORC in two ways. Firstly because the transportable freight is reduced and secondly because the total weight of the vehicle is increased. Note, that the generated electricity of the ORC influences the size of the ICE and the fuel consumption as well. Taking the above dependencies into account, the limiting condition X = 1 results in a second order equation for the relative change in transported cargo. The described procedure is carried out for a typical city bus, a truck of 24-40 t of payload capacity, a middle-size freight train (1000 t), an inland water vessel (Va RoRo, 2500 t) and handysize-like vessel (25000 t). The maximum allowable mass and volume of the ORC are calculated in dependence of its efficiency in order to satisfy X < 1. Subsequently, these values are compared with weight and volume of commercial ORC products. For ships of any size, the situation appears already highly favorable. A different result is obtained for road and rail vehicles. For trains, the mass and the volume of common ORC products have to be reduced at least by 50%. For trucks and buses, the situation looks even worse. The findings of the present study show a theoretical and practical approach for the economic application of ORC in the transportation sector. In future works, the potential for volume and mass reduction of the ORC will be addressed, together with the integration of an economic assessment for the ORC.

Keywords: ORC, transportation, volume, weight

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Authors: Aboulkacem El Mehdi

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We develop a theoretical model at the crossroads of labour and urban economics, used for explaining the mechanism through which the duration of home-workplace trips and their monetary costs impact the labour demand and supply in a spatially scattered labour market and how they are impacted by a change in passenger transport infrastructures and services. The spatial disconnection between home and job opportunities is referred to as the spatial mismatch hypothesis (SMH). Its harmful impact on employment has been subject to numerous theoretical propositions. However, all the theoretical models proposed so far are patterned around the American context, which is particular as it is marked by racial discrimination against blacks in the housing and the labour markets. Therefore, it is only natural that most of these models are developed in order to reproduce a steady state characterized by agents carrying out their economic activities in a mono-centric city in which most unskilled jobs being created in the suburbs, far from the Blacks who dwell in the city-centre, generating a high unemployment rates for blacks, while the White population resides in the suburbs and has a low unemployment rate. Our model doesn't rely on any racial discrimination and doesn't aim at reproducing a steady state in which these stylized facts are replicated; it takes the main principle of the SMH -the spatial disconnection between homes and workplaces- as a starting point. One of the innovative aspects of the model consists in dealing with a SMH related issue at an aggregate level. We link the parameters of the passengers transport system to employment in the whole area of a city. We consider here a city that consists of four areas: two of them are residential areas with unemployed workers, the other two host firms looking for labour force. The workers compare the indirect utility of working in each area with the utility of unemployment and choose between submitting an application for the job that generate the highest indirect utility or not submitting. This arbitration takes account of the monetary and the time expenditures generated by the trips between the residency areas and the working areas. Each of these expenditures is clearly and explicitly formulated so that the impact of each of them can be studied separately than the impact of the other. The first findings show that the unemployed workers living in an area benefiting from good transport infrastructures and services have a better chance to prefer activity to unemployment and are more likely to supply a higher 'quantity' of labour than those who live in an area where the transport infrastructures and services are poorer. We also show that the firms located in the most accessible area receive much more applications and are more likely to hire the workers who provide the highest quantity of labour than the firms located in the less accessible area. Currently, we are working on the matching process between firms and job seekers and on how the equilibrium between the labour demand and supply occurs.

Keywords: labour market, passenger transport infrastructure, spatial mismatch hypothesis, urban economics

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Authors: Muhammad Ali

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Cyber-attacks and anomaly detection on the Internet of Things (IoT) infrastructure is emerging concern in the domain of data-driven intrusion. Rapidly increasing IoT risk is now making headlines around the world. denial of service, malicious control, data type probing, malicious operation, DDos, scan, spying, and wrong setup are attacks and anomalies that can affect an IoT system failure. Everyone talks about cyber security, connectivity, smart devices, and real-time data extraction. IoT devices expose a wide variety of new cyber security attack vectors in network traffic. For further than IoT development, and mainly for smart and IoT applications, there is a necessity for intelligent processing and analysis of data. So, our approach is too secure. We train several machine learning models that have been compared to accurately predicting attacks and anomalies on IoT systems, considering IoT applications, with ANOVA-based feature selection with fewer prediction models to evaluate network traffic to help prevent IoT devices. The machine learning (ML) algorithms that have been used here are KNN, SVM, NB, D.T., and R.F., with the most satisfactory test accuracy with fast detection. The evaluation of ML metrics includes precision, recall, F1 score, FPR, NPV, G.M., MCC, and AUC & ROC. The Random Forest algorithm achieved the best results with less prediction time, with an accuracy of 99.98%.

Keywords: machine learning, analysis of variance, Internet of Thing, network security, intrusion detection

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Authors: Farshad Amini, Kejun Wen

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The formation of reflective cracking of pavement overlays has confronted highway engineers for many years. Stress-relieving interlayers, such as paving fabrics, have been used in an attempt to reduce or delay reflective cracking. The effectiveness of paving fabrics in reducing reflection cracking is related to joint or crack movement in the underlying pavement, crack width, overlay thickness, subgrade conditions, climate, and traffic volume. The nonwoven geotextiles are installed between the old and new asphalt layers. Paving fabrics enhance performance through two mechanisms: stress relief and waterproofing. Several factors including proper installation, remedial work performed before overlay, overlay thickness, variability of pavement strength, existing pavement condition, base/subgrade support condition, and traffic volume affect the performance. The primary objective of this study was to conduct a long-term monitoring of the paving fabric interlayer systems to evaluate its effectiveness and performance. A comprehensive testing, monitoring, and analysis program were undertaken, where twelve 500-ft pavement sections of a four-lane highway were rehabilitated, and then monitored for seven years. A comparison between the performance of paving fabric treatment systems and control sections is reported. Lessons learned, and the various factors are discussed.

Keywords: monitoring, paving fabrics, performance, reflective cracking

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Authors: Mohammed Saad Alanazi

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Satisfaction of travelers with services provided in the airports is a sign of competitiveness and the corporate image of the airport. This study conducted a systematic literature review of recent studies published after 2017 regarding the factors that positively influence travelers’ satisfaction and encourage them to report positive reviews online. This study found variations among the studies found. They used several research methodologies, and datasets and focused on different airports, yet, they commonly categorized airport services into seven categories that should receive high intention because their qualities were found increasing review rate and positivity. It was found that studies targeting travelers’ satisfaction and intention of revisiting tended to use primary sources of data (survey); meanwhile, studies concerned positivity and negativity of comments towards airport services often used online reviews provided by travelers.

Keywords: business Intelligence, airport service quality, passenger satisfaction, thorough analysis

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Authors: Swarnali Chakma, Akihiko Hokugo

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Research on three case studies reviewed here explains many aspects and complications of evacuation behavior during an emergency period. The scenario and phenomenon of the disaster were different, but the similarities are that after receiving the warning peoples does not take it seriously. Many individuals evacuated after taking some kind of action, for example; return to home, searching for family members, prepared valuable things etc. Based on a review of the literature, the data identified a number of factors that help explain evacuation behavior during the disaster. In the case of Japan, cultural inhibitors impact people’s behavior; for example, following the traffic rules, some people lost their time to skip because of the slow-moving car makes overcrowded traffic and some of them were washed away by the tsunami. In terms of Bangladeshi culture, women did not want to evacuate without men because staying men and women who do not know each other under the same roof together is not regular practice or comfortable. From these three case studies, it is observed that early warning plays an important role in cyclones, typhoons and earthquakes. A high level of trust from residents in the warning system is important to real evacuation. It is necessary to raise awareness of disaster and provide information on the vulnerability to cyclones, typhoons and earthquakes hazards at community levels. The local level may help decision makers and other stakeholders to make a better decision regarding an effective disaster management.

Keywords: disaster management, emergency period, evacuation, shelter, typhoon

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Authors: Nemat Mohammadi, Yuki Nakayama

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After occurring Great East Japan earthquake and as a consequence the invasion of an extremely large Tsunami to the city, obligated many local governments to take into account certainly these kinds of issues. Poor preparation of local governments to deal with such kinds of disasters at that time and consequently lack of assistance delivery for local residents caused thousands of civilian casualties as well as billion dollars of economic damages. Those local governments who are responsible for governing such coastal areas, have to consider some countermeasures to deal with these natural disasters, prepare a comprehensive evacuation plan and contrive some feasible emergency plans for the purpose of victims’ reduction as much as possible. Under this evacuation plan, the local government should contemplate more about the traffic congestion during wide-area evacuation operation and estimate the minimum essential time to evacuate the whole city completely. This challenge will become more complicated for the government when the people who are affected by disasters are not only limited to the normal informed citizens but also some pregnant women, physically handicapped persons, old age citizens and foreigners or tourists who are not familiar with that conditions as well as local language are involved. The important issue to deal with this challenge is that how to inform these people to take a proper action right away noticing the Tsunami is coming. After overcoming this problem, next significant challenge is even more considerable. Next challenge is to evacuate the whole residents in a short period of time from the threated area to the safer shelters. In fact, most of the citizens will use their own vehicles to evacuate to the designed shelters and some of them will use the shuttle buses which are provided by local governments. The problem will arise when all residents want to escape from the threated area simultaneously and consequently creating a traffic jam on evacuation routes which will cause to prolong the evacuation time. Hence, this research mostly aims to calculate the minimum essential time to evacuate each region inside the threated area and find the evacuation start point for each region separately. This result will help the local government to visualize the situations and conditions during disasters and assist them to reduce the possible traffic jam on evacuation routes and consequently suggesting a comprehensive wide-area evacuation plan during natural disasters.

Keywords: BPR formula, disaster scenarios, evacuation completion time, wide-area evacuation

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Authors: Christos Karolemeas, Avgi Vassi, Georgia Christodoulopoulou

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Although the past decades, planning a cycle network became an inseparable part of all transportation plans, there is still a lot of room for improvement in the way planning is made, in order to create safe and direct cycling networks that gather the parameters that positively influence one's decision to cycle. The aim of this article is to study, evaluate and visualize the bikeability of cities. This term is often used as the 'the ability of a person to bike' but this study, however, adopts the term in the sense of bikeability as 'the ability of the urban landscape to be biked'. The methodology used included assessing cities' accessibility by cycling, based on international literature and corresponding walkability methods and the creation of a 'bikeability index'. Initially, a literature review was made to identify the factors that positively affect the use of bicycle infrastructure. Those factors were used in order to create the spatial index and quantitatively compare the city network. Finally, the bikeability index was applied in two case studies: two Greek municipalities that, although, they have similarities in terms of land uses, population density and traffic congestion, they are totally different in terms of geomorphology. The factors suggested by international literature were (a) safety, (b) directness, (c) comfort and (d) the quality of the urban environment. Those factors were quantified through the following parameters: slope, junction density, traffic density, traffic speed, natural environment, built environment, activities coverage, centrality and accessibility to public transport stations. Each road section was graded for the above-mentioned parameters, and the overall grade shows the level of bicycle accessibility (low, medium, high). Each parameter, as well as the overall accessibility levels, were analyzed and visualized through Geographic Information Systems. This paper presents the bikeability index, its' results, the problems that have arisen and the conclusions from its' implementation through Strengths-Weaknesses-Opportunities-Threats analysis. The purpose of this index is to make it easy for researchers, practitioners, politicians, and stakeholders to quantify, visualize and understand which parts of the urban fabric are suitable for cycling.

Keywords: accessibility, cycling, green spaces, spatial data, urban environment

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Authors: Viviane A. O. Silva, Angela M. Costa, Glaucia N. M. Hajj, Ana Preto, Aline Tansini, Martin Roffé, Peter Jordan, Rui M. Reis

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Autophagy is a recycling and degradative system suggested to be a major cell death pathway in cancer cells. Autophagy pathway is interconnected with the endocytosis pathways sharing the same ultimate lysosomal destination. Lysosomes are crucial regulators of cell homeostasis, responsible to downregulate receptor signalling and turnover. It seems highly likely that derailed endocytosis can make major contributions to several hallmarks of cancer. WNK2, a member of the WNK (with-no-lysine [K]) subfamily of protein kinases, had been found downregulated by its promoter hypermethylation, and has been proposed to act as a specific tumour-suppressor gene in brain tumors. Although some contradictory studies indicated WNK2 as an autophagy modulator, its role in cancer cell death is largely unknown. There is also growing evidence for additional roles of WNK kinases in vesicular traffic. Aim: To evaluate the role of WNK2 in autophagy and endocytosis on glioma context. Methods: Wild-type (wt) A172 cells (WNK2 promoter-methylated), and A172 transfected either with an empty vector (Ev) or with a WNK2 expression vector, were used to assess the cellular basal capacities to promote autophagy, through western blot and flow-cytometry analysis. Additionally, we evaluated the effect of WNK2 on general endocytosis trafficking routes by immunofluorescence. Results: The re-expression of ectopic WNK2 did not interfere with autophagy-related protein light chain 3 (LC3-II) expression levels as well as did not promote mTOR signaling pathway alteration when compared with Ev or wt A172 cells. However, the restoration of WNK2 resulted in a marked increase (8 to 92,4%) of Acidic Vesicular Organelles formation (AVOs). Moreover, our results also suggest that WNK2 cells promotes delay in uptake and internalization rate of cholera toxin B and transferrin ligands. Conclusions: The restoration of WNK2 interferes in vesicular traffic during endocytosis pathway and increase AVOs formation. This results also suggest the role of WNK2 in growth factor receptor turnover related to cell growth and homeostasis and associates one more time, WNK2 silencing contribution in genesis of gliomas.

Keywords: autophagy, endocytosis, glioma, WNK2

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Authors: Aukse Miskinyte, Audrius Dedele

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The impact of urban air pollution on human health effects has been revealed in epidemiological studies, which have assessed the associations between various types of gases and particles and negative health outcomes. The percentage of population living in urban areas is increasing, and the assessment of air pollution in certain zones in the city (like street canyons) that have higher level of air pollution and specific dispersion conditions is essential as these places tend to contain a lot of people. Street canyon is defined as a street surrounded by tall buildings on both sides that trapes traffic emissions and prevents pollution dispersion. The aim of this study was to determine the pollution of nitrogen dioxide in street canyons in Kaunas city during cold and warm seasons. The measurements were conducted using passive sampling technique during two-week period in two street canyon sites, whose axes are approximately north-south and north-northeast‒south-southwest. Both of these streets are two-lane roads of 7 meters width, one is in the central part of the city, and other is in the Old Town. The results of two-week measurements showed that the concentration of nitrogen dioxide was higher in summer season than in winter in both street canyon sites. The difference between the level of NO2 in winter and summer seasons was 5.1 and 19.4 µg/m3 in the first and in the second street canyon sites, respectively. The higher concentration of NO2 was determined in the second street canyon site than in the first, although there was calculated lower traffic intensity. These results could be related to the certain street canyon characteristics.

Keywords: air pollution, nitrogen dioxide, passive sampler, street canyon

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Authors: Mustafa Mutahari, Nao Sugiki, Kojiro Matsuo

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The four decades of war, lack of job opportunities, poverty, lack of services, and natural disasters in different provinces of Afghanistan have contributed to a rapid increase in the population of Kabul, the capital city of Afghanistan. Population census has not been conducted since 1979, the first and last population census in Afghanistan. However, according to population estimations by Afghan authorities, the population of Kabul has been estimated at more than 4 million people, whereas the city was designed for two million people. Although the major transport mode of Kabul residents is public transport, responsible authorities within the country failed to supply the required means of transportation systems for the city. Besides, informal resettlement, lack of intersection control devices, presence of illegal vendors on streets, presence of illegal and unstandardized on-street parking and bus stops, driver`s unprofessional behavior, weak traffic law enforcement, and blocked roads and sidewalks have contributed to the extreme traffic congestion of Kabul. In 2018, the government of Afghanistan approved the Kabul city Urban Design Framework (KUDF), a vision towards the future of Kabul, which provides strategies and design guidance at different scales to direct urban development. Considering traffic congestion of the city and its budget limitations, the KUDF proposes a BRT route network with seven lines to reduce the traffic congestion, and it is said to facilitate more than 50% of Kabul population to benefit from this service. Based on the KUDF, it is planned to increase the BRT mode share from 0% to 17% and later to 30% in medium and long-term planning scenarios, respectively. Therefore, a detailed research study is needed to evaluate the proposed system before the implementation stage starts. The integrated land-use transport model is an effective tool to evaluate the Kabul BRT because of its future assessment capabilities that take into account the interaction between land use and transportation. This research aims to analyze and evaluate the proposed BRT route network with the application of an integrated land-use and transportation model. The research estimates the population distribution and travel behavior of Kabul within small boundary scales. The actual road network and land-use detailed data of the city are used to perform the analysis. The BRT corridors are evaluated not only considering its impacts on the spatial interactions in the city`s transportation system but also on the spatial developments. Therefore, the BRT are evaluated with the scenarios of improving the Kabul transportation system based on the distribution of land-use or spatial developments, planned development typology and population distribution of the city. The impacts of the new improved transport system on the BRT network are analyzed and the BRT network is evaluated accordingly. In addition, the research also focuses on the spatial accessibility of BRT stops, corridors, and BRT line beneficiaries, and each BRT stop and corridor are evaluated in terms of both access and geographic coverage, as well.

Keywords: accessibility, BRT, integrated land-use and transport model, travel behavior, spatial development

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Authors: Joseph Kimuli Balikuddembe

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Road traffic incidents (RTIs) continue to be a serious public health and development burden around the globe. Compared to high-income countries (HICs), the low and middle-income countries (LMICs) bear the heaviest brunt of RTIs. Like other LMICs, Uganda, a country located in Eastern Africa, has been experiencing a worryingly high burden of RTIs and their associated impacts. Over the years, the highest number of all the total registered RTIs in Uganda has taken place in the Greater Kampala Metropolitan Area (GKMA). This places a tremendous demand on the few existing emergency medical services (EMS) to adequately respond to those affected. In this regard, the overall objective of the study was to risk map RTIs in the GKMA so as to help in the better planning of EMS for the victims of RTIs. Other objectives included: (i) identifying the factors affecting the exposure, vulnerability and EMS capacity for the victims of RTIs; (ii) identifying the RTI prone-areas and estimating their associated risk factors; (iii) identifying the weaknesses and capacities which affect the EMS systems for RTIs; and (iv) determining the strategies and priority actions that can help to improve the EMS response for RTI victims in the GKMA. To achieve these objectives, a mixed methodological approach was used in four phrases for approximately 15 months. It employed a systematic review based on the preferred reporting items for systematic reviews and meta-data analysis guidelines; a Delphi panel technique; retrospective data analysis; and a cross-sectional method. With Uganda progressing forward as envisaged in its 'Vision 2040', the GKMA, which is the country’s political and socioeconomic epicenter, is experiencing significant changes in terms of population growth, urbanization, infrastructure development, rapid motorization and other factors. Unless appropriate actions are taken, these changes are likely to worsen the already alarming rate of RTIs in Uganda, and in turn also to put pressure on the few existing EMS and facilities to render care for those affected. Therefore, road safety vis-à-vis injury prevention measures, which are needed to reduce the burden of RTIs, should be multifaceted in nature so that they closely correlate with the ongoing dynamics that contribute to RTIs, particularly in the GKMA and Uganda as a whole.

Keywords: emergency medical services, Kampala, risk mapping, road traffic incidents

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Authors: C. Guven, M. Tufekci, E. Bayik, O. Gedik, M. Tas

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A sliding door system is used in commercial vehicles and passenger cars to allow a larger unobstructed access to the interior for loading and unloading. The movement of a sliding door on vehicle body is ensured by mechanisms and tracks having special cross-section which is manufactured by roll forming and stretch bending process. There are three tracks and three mechanisms which are called upper, central and lower on a sliding door system. There are static requirements as strength on different directions, rigidity for mechanisms, and door drop off, door sag; dynamic requirements as high energy slam opening-closing and durability requirement to validate these products. In addition, there is a kinematic requirement to find out force values from door handle during manual operating. In this study, finite element analysis and physical test results which are realized for sliding door systems will be shared comparatively.

Keywords: finite element analysis, sliding door, experimental, verification, vehicle tests

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Authors: Zhipeng Chen, Peng Zhang, Qingyun Liu, Li Guo

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With the Internet becoming the dominant channel for business and life, many IPs are increasingly masked using web proxies for illegal purposes such as propagating malware, impersonate phishing pages to steal sensitive data or redirect victims to other malicious targets. Moreover, as Internet traffic continues to grow in size and complexity, it has become an increasingly challenging task to detect the proxy service due to their dynamic update and high anonymity. In this paper, we present an approach based on behavioral graph analysis to study the behavior similarity of web proxy users. Specifically, we use bipartite graphs to model host communications from network traffic and build one-mode projections of bipartite graphs for discovering social-behavior similarity of web proxy users. Based on the similarity matrices of end-users from the derived one-mode projection graphs, we apply a simple yet effective spectral clustering algorithm to discover the inherent web proxy users behavior clusters. The web proxy URL may vary from time to time. Still, the inherent interest would not. So, based on the intuition, by dint of our private tools implemented by WebDriver, we examine whether the top URLs visited by the web proxy users are web proxies. Our experiment results based on real datasets show that the behavior clusters not only reduce the number of URLs analysis but also provide an effective way to detect the web proxies, especially for the unknown web proxies.

Keywords: bipartite graph, one-mode projection, clustering, web proxy detection

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Authors: Hadi Rouhi Belvirdi

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The construction of underground structures using the traditional method, which begins with excavation and the implementation of the foundation of the underground structure, continues with the construction of the main structure from the ground up, and concludes with the completion of the final ceiling, is known as the Bottom-Up Method. In contrast to this method, there is an advanced technique called the Top-Down Method, which has practically replaced the traditional construction method in large projects in industrialized countries in recent years. Unlike the traditional approach, this method starts with the construction of surrounding walls, columns, and the final ceiling and is completed with the excavation and construction of the foundation of the underground structure. Some of the most significant advantages of this method include the elimination or minimization of formwork surfaces, the removal of temporary bracing during excavation, the creation of some traffic facilities during the construction of the structure, and the possibility of using it in limited and high-traffic urban spaces. Despite these numerous advantages, unfortunately, there is still insufficient awareness of this method in our country, to the extent that it can be confidently stated that most stakeholders in the construction industry are unaware of the existence of such a construction method. However, it can be utilized as a very important execution option alongside other conventional methods in the construction of underground structures. Therefore, due to the extensive practical capabilities of this method, this article aims to present a methodology for constructing underground structures based on the aforementioned advanced method to the scientific community of the country, examine the advantages and limitations of this method and their impacts on time and costs, and discuss its application in urban spaces. Finally, some underground structures executed in the Ahvaz urban rail, which are being implemented using this advanced method to the best of our best knowledge, will be introduced.

Keywords: top-down method, bottom-up method, underground structure, construction method

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Authors: Asegid Belay Kebede, Getachew Biru Worku

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The Earth and its inhabitants have faced an existential threat as a result of severe manmade actions. Global warming and climate change have been the most apparent manifestations of this threat throughout the world, with increasingly intense heat waves, temperature rises, flooding, sea-level rise, ice sheet melting, and so on. One of the major contributors to this disaster is the ever-increasing production and consumption of energy, which is still primarily fossil-based and emits billions of tons of hazardous GHG. The transportation industry is recognized as the biggest actor in terms of emissions, accounting for 24% of direct CO2 emissions and being one of the few worldwide sectors where CO2 emissions are still growing. Rail transportation, which includes all from light rail transit to high-speed rail services, is regarded as one of the most efficient modes of transportation, accounting for 9% of total passenger travel and 7% of total freight transit. Nonetheless, there is still room for improvement in the transportation sector, which might be done by incorporating alternative and/or renewable energy sources. As a result of these rapidly changing global energy situations and rapidly dwindling fossil fuel supplies, we were driven to analyze the possibility of renewable energy sources for traction applications. Even a small achievement in energy conservation or harnessing might significantly influence the total railway system and have the potential to transform the railway sector like never before. As a result, the paper begins by assessing the potential for photovoltaic (PV) power generation on train rooftops and existing infrastructure such as railway depots, passenger stations, traction substation rooftops, and accessible land along rail lines. As a result, a method based on a Google Earth system (using Helioscopes software) is developed to assess the PV potential along rail lines and on train station roofs. As an example, the Addis Ababa light rail transit system (AA-LRTS) is utilized. The case study examines the electricity-generating potential and economic performance of photovoltaics installed on AALRTS. As a consequence, the overall capacity of solar systems on all stations, including train rooftops, reaches 72.6 MWh per day, with an annual power output of 10.6 GWh. Throughout a 25-year lifespan, the overall CO2 emission reduction and total profit from PV-AA-LRTS can reach 180,000 tons and 892 million Ethiopian birrs, respectively. The PV-AA-LRTS has a 200% return on investment. All PV stations have a payback time of less than 13 years, and the price of solar-generated power is less than $0.08/kWh, which can compete with the benchmark price of coal-fired electricity. Our findings indicate that PV-AA-LRTS has tremendous potential, with both energy and economic advantages.

Keywords: sustainable development, global warming, energy crisis, photovoltaic energy conversion, techno-economic analysis, transportation system, light rail transit

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Authors: Elida M. R. Bonifacio

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English language proficiency has become an essential issue in aviation communication after aviation incidents, and accidents happened. Lack of proficiency or inappropriate use of the English language has been found as one of the factors that cause most of those incidents or accidents. Therefore, the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) established the requirements for minimum English language proficiency of aviation personnel, especially pilots and air traffic controllers in the 192 member states. In Brazil, the discussions about this topic became patent after an accident that occurred in 2006, which was a mid-air collision and costed the life of 154 passengers and crew members. Thus, the number of schools and private practitioners willing to teach English for aviation purposes started to increase. Although the number of teaching materials internationally used for general purposes is relatively large, it would be inappropriate to adopt the same materials in classes that focus on communication in aviation contexts. On the contrary, the options of aviation English materials are scarce; moreover, they are internationally used and may not fulfill the linguistic needs of all their users around the world. In order to diminish the problems that Brazilian practitioners may encounter in the adoption of materials that demand a great level of adaptation to meet their students’ needs, a checklist was thought to evaluate textbooks. The aim of this paper is to propose a checklist that evaluates textbooks used in English language training of Brazilian air traffic controllers. The criteria used to compound the checklist are based on materials development literature, as well as on linguistic requirements established by ICAO on its publications, on English for Specific Purposes (ESP) principles, and on Brazilian aviation English language proficiency test format. The checklist has as main indicators the language learning tenets under which the book was written, graphical features, lexical, grammatical and functional competencies required for minimum proficiency, similarities to official testing format, and support materials, totaling 117 items marked as YES, NO or PARTIALLY. In order to verify if the use of the checklist is effective, an aviation English textbook was evaluated. From this evaluation, it is possible to measure quantitatively how much the material meets the students’ needs and to offer a tool to help professionals engaged in aviation English teaching around the world to choose the most appropriate textbook according to their audience. From the results, practitioners are able to verify which items the material does not fulfill and to make proper adaptations since the perfect material will be difficult to find.

Keywords: aviation English, ICAO, materials development, English language proficiency

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Authors: Hosuk Shin, Young-Hyun Seo, Eunhak Lee, Seung-Young Kho

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Currently, in Seoul, users have the privilege to avoid riding crowded buses with the installation of Bus Information System (BIS). BIS has three levels of on-board bus ridership level information (spacious, normal, and crowded). However, there are flaws in the system due to it being real time which could provide incomplete information to the user. For example, a bus comes to the station, and on the BIS it shows that the bus is crowded, but on the stop that the user is waiting many people get off, which would mean that this station the information should show as normal or spacious. To fix this problem, this study predicts the bus ridership level using smart card data to provide more accurate information about the passenger ridership level on the bus. An Artificial Neural Network (ANN) is an interconnected group of nodes, that was created based on the human brain. Forecasting has been one of the major applications of ANN due to the data-driven self-adaptive methods of the algorithm itself. According to the results, the ANN algorithm was stable and robust with somewhat small error ratio, so the results were rational and reasonable.

Keywords: smartcard data, ANN, bus, ridership

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Authors: Keiko Sakai

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In Japan, all stages of public education aim to foster a zest for life. ‘Zest’ implies solving problems by oneself, using acquired knowledge and skills. It is related to the self-regulation of metacognition. To enhance this, establishing good learning habits is important. Tardiness in undergraduate students should be examined based on self-regulation. Accordingly, we focussed on self-monitoring and self-planning strategies among self-regulated learning factors to examine the causes of tardiness. This study examines the impact of self-monitoring and self-planning learning skills on the degree and reason for tardiness in undergraduate students. A questionnaire survey was conducted, targeted to undergraduate students in University X in the autumn semester of 2018. Participants were 247 (average age 19.7, SD 1.9; 144 males, 101 females, 2 no answers). The survey contained the following items and measures: school year, the number of classes in the semester, degree of tardiness in the semester (subjective degree and objective times), active participation in and action toward schoolwork, self-planning and self-monitoring learning skills, and reason for tardiness (open-ended question). First, the relation between strategies and tardiness was examined by multiple regressions. A statistically significant relationship between a self-monitoring learning strategy and the degree of subjective and objective tardiness was revealed, after statistically controlling the school year and the number of classes. There was no significant relationship between a self-planning learning strategy and the degree of tardiness. These results suggest that self-monitoring skills reduce tardiness. Secondly, the relation between a self-monitoring learning strategy and the reason of tardiness was analysed, after classifying the reason for tardiness into one of seven categories: ‘overslept’, ‘illness’, ‘poor time management’, ‘traffic delays’, ‘carelessness’, ‘low motivation’, and ‘stuff to do’. Chi-square tests and Fisher’s exact tests showed a statistically significant relationship between a self-monitoring learning strategy and the frequency of ‘traffic delays’. This result implies that self-monitoring skills prevent tardiness because of traffic delays. Furthermore, there was a weak relationship between a self-monitoring learning strategy score and the reason-for-tardiness categories. When self-monitoring skill is higher, a decrease in ‘overslept’ and ‘illness’, and an increase in ‘poor time management’, ‘carelessness’, and ‘low motivation’ are indicated. It is suggested that a self-monitoring learning strategy is related to an internal causal attribution of failure and self-management for how to prevent tardiness. From these findings, the effectiveness of a self-monitoring learning skill strategy for reducing tardiness in undergraduate students is indicated.

Keywords: higher-education, self-monitoring, self-regulation, tardiness

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Authors: Shao-Huang Wu, Ai-Yun Wu, Meng-Chen Wu, Chun-Liang Wu, Kai-Ping Shaw, Hsiao-Ting Chen

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Objective: To analyze the forensic autopsy data of known passengers and compare it with the National database of the autopsy report in 2017, and obtain the special patterned injuries, which can be used as the reference for the reconstruction of hit-and-run motor vehicle accidents. Methods: Analyze the items of the Motor Vehicle Accident Report, including Date of accident, Time occurred, Day, Acc. severity, Acc. Location, Acc. Class, Collision with Vehicle, Motorcyclists Codes, Safety equipment use, etc. Analyzed the items of the Autopsy Report included, including General Description, Clothing and Valuables, External Examination, Head and Neck Trauma, Trunk Trauma, Other Injuries, Internal Examination, Associated Items, Autopsy Determinations, etc. Materials: Case 1. The process of injury formation: the car was chased forward and collided with the scooter. The passenger wearing the helmet fell to the ground. The helmet crashed under the bottom of the sedan, and the bottom of the sedan was raised. Additionally, the sedan was hit on the left by the other sedan behind, resulting in the front sedan turning 180 degrees on the spot. The passenger’s head was rotated, and the cervical spine was fractured. Injuries: 1. Fracture of atlantoaxial joint 2. Fracture of the left clavicle, scapula, and proximal humerus 3. Fracture of the 1-10 left ribs and 2-7 right ribs with lung contusion and hemothorax 4. Fracture of the transverse process of 2-5 lumbar vertebras 5. Comminuted fracture of the right femur 6. Suspected subarachnoid space and subdural hemorrhage 7. Laceration of the spleen. Case 2. The process of injury formation: The motorcyclist wearing the helmet fell to the left by himself, and his chest was crushed by the car going straight. Only his upper body was under the car and the helmet finally fell off. Injuries: 1. Dislocation of atlantoaxial joint 2. Laceration on the left posterior occipital 3. Laceration on the left frontal 4. Laceration on the left side of the chin 5. Strip bruising on the anterior neck 6. Open rib fracture of the right chest wall 7. Comminuted fracture of both 1-12 ribs 8. Fracture of the sternum 9. Rupture of the left lung 10. Rupture of the left and right atria, heart tip and several large vessels 11. The aortic root is nearly transected 12. Severe rupture of the liver. Results: The common features of the two cases were the fracture or dislocation of the atlantoaxial joint and both helmets that were crashed. There were no atlantoaxial fractures or dislocations in 27 pedestrians (without wearing a helmet) versus motor vehicle accidents in 2017 the National database of an autopsy report, but there were two atlantoaxial fracture or dislocation cases in the database, both of which were cases of falling from height. Conclusion: The cervical spine fracture injury of the motorcyclist, who was wearing a helmet, is very likely to be a patterned injury caused by his/her fall and rollover under the sedan. It could provide a reference for forensic peers.

Keywords: patterned injuries, atlantoaxial fracture or dislocation, accident reconstruction, motorcycle accident with helmet, forensic autopsy data

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Authors: G. González, J. Ramírez, A. Rubiano

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This article describes different patented systems for safe use in vehicles based on GPS technology, speed sensors, gyroscopes, maps, communication systems, and monitors, that inform the driver about traffic jam, obstruction in the road, speed limits, among others. Once the information is analyzed and contrasted to final propose new technical needs to be solved.

Keywords: GPS, information technology, telecommunications, communication networks, gyroscope, environmental pollution

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Authors: Mostafa Gabr, Rania Abdul Galil, Nihal Salim

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Various interventions are applied in cities with the aim to improve living and acoustic environmental conditions. Noise is one of the most influential and critical factors in the environment that has an effect on the QOL (quality of life) and urban environment. It ranks second among environmental pollution issues according to EEAA. Traffic noise is a major source of noise. Noise barriers are one of the physical techniques in landscape design used to reduce the impact of noise pollution in urban areas. Roadways noise pollution can be best controlled by a noise barrier. The aim of this paper is to consider all facets of sustainability when designing a comfortable acoustic environment in roadways, through different strategies related to planning and the design process. The study focuses on the relation between the design of noise barriers as a landscape noise mitigation installation and their materiality in so far as it influences the sustainability of the open space and the acceptability of users. According to previous studies, design of noise barrier mainly depends on cost as a decisive factor. This study asserts that environmental and socioeconomic costs associated are equally important. Hence, the paper presents a strategy for sustainable soundscape design. It builds a framework focusing on materiality considering the environmental and socioeconomic impact of noise barriers shaping urban open space around the road ways, and the different academic and market positions on noise barrier types and materials. Finally, it concludes with a matrix of the relation between the noise barrier design consideration and the three pillars of sustainability (social, economic and environmental).

Keywords: traffic noise level, acoustic sustainability, noise barrier, noise reduction, noise control, acoustical level

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Authors: Priya Jaswal, Vivek, S. K. Sinha

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One of the most important and complicated factors influencing the functional performance of unpaved roads is traffic loading. The complexity of traffic loading is caused by the variable magnitude and frequency of load, which causes unpaved roads to fail prematurely. Unpaved roads are low-volume roads, and as peri-urbanization increases, unpaved roads act as a means to boost the rural economy. This has also increased traffic on unpaved roads, intensifying the issue of settlement, rutting, and fatigue failure. This is a major concern for unpaved roads built on poor subgrade soil, as excessive rutting caused by heavy loads can cause driver discomfort, vehicle damage, and an increase in maintenance costs. Some researchers discovered that when a consistent static load is exerted as opposed to a rapidly changing load, the rate of deformation of unpaved roads increases. Previously, some of the most common methods for overcoming the problem of rutting and fatigue failure included chemical stabilisation, fibre reinforcement, and so on. However, due to their high cost, engineers' attention has shifted to geotextiles which are used as reinforcement in unpaved roads. Geotextiles perform the function of filtration, lateral confinement of base material, vertical restraint of subgrade soil, and the tension membrane effect. The use of geotextiles in unpaved roads increases the strength of unpaved roads and is an economically viable method because it reduces the required aggregate thickness, which would need less earthwork, and is thus recommended for unpaved road applications. The majority of geotextiles used previously were polymeric, but with a growing awareness of sustainable development to preserve the environment, researchers' focus has shifted to natural fibres. Coir is one such natural fibre that possesses the advantage of having a higher tensile strength than other bast fibres, being eco-friendly, low in cost, and biodegradable. However, various researchers have discovered that the surface of coir fibre is covered with various impurities, voids, and cracks, which act as a plane of weakness and limit the potential application of coir geotextiles. To overcome this limitation, chemical surface modification of coir geotextiles is widely accepted by researchers because it improves the mechanical properties of coir geotextiles. The current paper reviews the effect of using treated coir geotextiles as reinforcement on the load-deformation behaviour of a two-layered unpaved road model.

Keywords: coir, geotextile, treated, unpaved

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Authors: James Boylan, Denny Meyer, Won Sun Chen

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Background: Globally, there is an increasing trend of road traffic deaths, reaching 1.35 million in 2016 in comparison to 1.3 million a decade ago, and overall, road traffic injuries are ranked as the eighth leading cause of death for all age groups. The reported death rate for younger drivers aged 16-19 years is almost twice the rate reported for older drivers aged 25 and above, with a rate of 3.5 road traffic fatalities per annum for every 10,000 licenses held. Telematics refers to a system with the ability to capture real-time data about vehicle usage. The data collected from telematics can be used to better assess a driver's risk. It is typically used to measure acceleration, turn, braking, and speed, as well as to provide locational information. With the Australian government creating the National Telematics Framework, there has been an increase in the government's focus on using telematics data to improve road safety outcomes. The purpose of this study is to test the hypothesis that improvements in telematics measured driving behaviour to relate to improvements in road safety attitudes measured by the Driving Behaviour Questionnaire (DBQ). Methodology: 28 participants were recruited and given a telematics device to insert into their vehicles for the duration of the study. The participant's driving behaviour over the course of the first month will be compared to their driving behaviour in the second month to determine whether feedback from telematics devices improves driving behaviour. Participants completed the DBQ, evaluated using a 6-point Likert scale (0 = never, 5 = nearly all the time) at the beginning, after the first month, and after the second month of the study. This is a well-established instrument used worldwide. Trends in the telematics data will be captured and correlated with the changes in the DBQ using regression models in SAS. Results: The DBQ has provided a reliable measure (alpha = .823) of driving behaviour based on a sample of 23 participants, with an average of 50.5 and a standard deviation of 11.36, and a range of 29 to 76, with higher scores, indicating worse driving behaviours. This initial sample is well stratified in terms of gender and age (range 19-27). It is expected that in the next six weeks, a larger sample of around 40 will have completed the DBQ after experiencing in-vehicle telematics for 30 days, allowing a comparison with baseline levels. The trends in the telematics data over the first 30 days will be compared with the changes observed in the DBQ. Conclusions: It is expected that there will be a significant relationship between the improvements in the DBQ and the trends in reduced telematics measured aggressive driving behaviours supporting the hypothesis.

Keywords: telematics, driving behavior, young drivers, driving behaviour questionnaire

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Authors: Jin Fan, M. Ala Saadeghvaziri

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Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), also referred to as drones, equipped with various kinds of advanced detecting or surveying systems, are effective and low-cost in data acquisition, data delivery and sharing, which can benefit the building of infrastructures. This paper will give an overview of applications of drones in planning, designing, construction and maintenance of infrastructures. The drone platform, detecting and surveying systems, and post-data processing systems will be introduced, followed by cases with details of the applications. Challenges from different aspects will be addressed. Opportunities of drones in infrastructure include but not limited to the following. Firstly, UAVs equipped with high definition cameras or other detecting equipment are capable of inspecting the hard to reach infrastructure assets. Secondly, UAVs can be used as effective tools to survey and map the landscape to collect necessary information before infrastructure construction. Furthermore, an UAV or multi-UVAs are useful in construction management. UVAs can also be used in collecting roads and building information by taking high-resolution photos for future infrastructure planning. UAVs can be used to provide reliable and dynamic traffic information, which is potentially helpful in building smart cities. The main challenges are: limited flight time, the robustness of signal, post data analyze, multi-drone collaboration, weather condition, distractions to the traffic caused by drones. This paper aims to help owners, designers, engineers and architects to improve the building process of infrastructures for higher efficiency and better performance.

Keywords: bridge, construction, drones, infrastructure, information

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Authors: Ahmad Samim Ranjbar, Shoshi Mizokami

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Kabul is the heart of political, commercial, cultural, educational and social life in Afghanistan and the Kabul fifth fastest growing city in the world, since 2001 with the establishment of new government Lack of adequate employment opportunities and basic utility services in remote provinces have prompted people to move to Kabul and other urban areas. From 2001 to the present, a rapid increase in population, and also less income of the people most of residence tend to use public transport, especially buses, however there is no proper bus system exist in Kabul city, because of wars, from 1992 to 2001 Kabul suffered damage and destruction of its transportation facilities including pavements, sidewalks, traffic circles, drainage systems, traffic signs and signals, trolleybuses and almost all of the public transit buses (e.g. Millie bus). This research is a primary and very important phase into Kabul city transportation and especially an initial and important step toward using large bus in Kabul city, which the main purpose of this research is to find the demand of Kabul city residence for public transport (Large Bus) and compare it with the actual supply from government. Finding of this research shows that the demand of Kabul city residence for the public transport (Large Bus) exceed the supply from the government, means that current public transportation (Large Bus) is not sufficient to serve people of Kabul city, it is mentionable that according to this research there is no need to build a new road or exclusive way for bus, this research propose to government for investment on the public transportation and exceed the number of large buses to can handle the current demand for public transport.

Keywords: transportation, planning, public transport, large bus, Kabul, Afghanistan

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Authors: Mostafa Makrahy, Nouby Ghazaly, Ahmad Moaaz

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Brakes are one of the most important safety and performance components in automobiles and airplanes. Development of brakes has mainly focused on increasing braking power and stability. Nowadays, brake noise, vibration and harshness (NVH) together with brake dust emission and pad life are very important to vehicle drivers. The main objective of this research is to define the relationship between compressibility of friction materials and their tendency to generate vibration. An experimental study of the friction-induced vibration obtained by the disc brake system of a passenger car is conducted. Three commercial brake pad materials from different manufacturers are tested and evaluated under various brake conditions against cast iron disc brake. First of all, compressibility test for the brake friction material are measured for each pad. Then, brake dynamometer is used to simulate and reproduce actual vehicle braking conditions. Finally, a comparison between the three pad specimens is conducted. The results showed that compressibility have a very significant effect on reduction the vibration occurrence.

Keywords: automotive brake, friction material, brake dynamometer, compressibility test

Procedia PDF Downloads 240