scholarly journals Quantifying the effects of passenger-level heterogeneity on transit journey times

2020 ◽  
Vol 1 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ramandeep Singh ◽  
Daniel J. Graham ◽  
Richard J. Anderson

Abstract In this paper, we apply flexible data-driven analysis methods on large-scale mass transit data to identify areas for improvement in the engineering and operation of urban rail systems. Specifically, we use data from automated fare collection (AFC) and automated vehicle location (AVL) systems to obtain a more precise characterisation of the drivers of journey time variance on the London Underground, and thus an improved understanding of delay. Total journey times are decomposed via a probabilistic assignment algorithm, and semiparametric regression is undertaken to disentangle the effects of passenger-specific travel characteristics from network-related factors. For total journey times, we find that network characteristics, primarily train speeds and headways, represent the majority of journey time variance. However, within the typically twice as onerous access and egress time components, passenger-level heterogeneity is more influential. On average, we find that intra-passenger heterogeneity represents 6% and 19% of variance in access and egress times, respectively, and that inter-passenger effects have a similar or greater degree of influence than static network characteristics. The analysis shows that while network-specific characteristics are the primary drivers of journey time variance in absolute terms, a nontrivial proportion of passenger-perceived variance would be influenced by passenger-specific characteristics. The findings have potential applications related to improving the understanding of passenger movements within stations, for example, the analysis can be used to assess the relative way-finding complexity of stations, which can in turn guide transit operators in the targeting of potential interventions.

Author(s):  
Andrew Salzberg ◽  
Shomik Mehndiratta ◽  
Zhi Liu

This paper provides an overview of the recent development of urban rail systems in Chinese cites and the challenges ahead. China is set to become the world leader in length of metro lines in operation in the near to medium term. In view of the large scale of this investment, a focus on the overall economic and financial viability of these systems is needed. On the basis of analytical work supporting a project investment in the city of Kunming and a study tour of urban rail systems in China, this paper highlights four areas believed to be crucial in meeting these objectives: integration of new metro systems with existing systems of public transport, a supportive overall urban transport policy, transit-oriented development, and long-term financial sustainability. The conclusion is that in all of these areas, China possesses tools that may enable the program to succeed if they are used effectively and in concert. Any issues appear to result from a lack of attention to these four areas and from a managerial focus on ensuring the completion of the construction program above all other concerns. The RMB 1 trillion investment in urban rail construction under way in China needs to be a catalyst for joint action on the issues identified in this paper (RMB 1 is approximately US$0.15). Otherwise, Chinese cities may be left with an investment that carries large long-term costs and does not deliver the crucial economic benefits expected.


2021 ◽  
Vol 2021 ◽  
pp. 1-15 ◽  
Author(s):  
Baichuan Mo ◽  
Zhenliang Ma ◽  
Haris N. Koutsopoulos ◽  
Jinhua Zhao

Transit network simulation models are often used for performance and retrospective analysis of urban rail systems, taking advantage of the availability of extensive automated fare collection (AFC) and automated vehicle location (AVL) data. Important inputs to such models, in addition to origin-destination flows, include passenger path choices and train capacity. Train capacity, which has often been overlooked in the literature, is an important input that exhibits a lot of variabilities. The paper proposes a simulation-based optimization (SBO) framework to simultaneously calibrate path choices and train capacity for urban rail systems using AFC and AVL data. The calibration is formulated as an optimization problem with a black-box objective function. Seven algorithms from four branches of SBO solving methods are evaluated. The algorithms are evaluated using an experimental design that includes five scenarios, representing different degrees of path choice randomness and crowding sensitivity. Data from the Hong Kong Mass Transit Railway (MTR) system is used as a case study. The data is used to generate synthetic observations used as “ground truth.” The results show that the response surface methods (particularly constrained optimization using response surfaces) have consistently good performance under all scenarios. The proposed approach drives large-scale simulation applications for monitoring and planning.


2014 ◽  
Vol 488-489 ◽  
pp. 1439-1443
Author(s):  
Jin Hai Li ◽  
Jian Feng Liu

Hyperpaths enumeration is one of the basic procedures in many traffic planning issues. As a result of its distinctive structure, hyperpaths in Urban Rail Transit Network (URTN) are different from those in road network. Typically, one may never visit a station more than once and would never transfer from one line to another that has been visited in a loopless URTN, meaning that stations a hyperpath traversed cannot be repeated, neither do lines in loopless networks. This paper studies the relationships between feasible path and the shortest path in terms of travel costs. In this paper, a new definition of hyperpath in URTN is proposed and a new algorithm based on the breadth first searching (BFS) method is presented to enumerate the hyperpaths. The algorithm can safely avoid hyperpath omission and can even be applied in networks containing loops as well. The influence of parameters on hyperpaths is studied by experimentally finding hyperpaths in the subway network in Beijing. A group of suggested parameter pairs are then given. Finally, a numerical experiment is used to illustrate the validity of the proposed algorithm. The results imply the significance of the convergence of the BFS algorithm which can be used to search hyperpaths in large scale URTN even with loop.


Pathogens ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (6) ◽  
pp. 682
Author(s):  
Bruno Henrique Silva Dias ◽  
Sung-Hee Jung ◽  
Juliana Velasco de Castro Oliveira ◽  
Choong-Min Ryu

Plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR) associated with plant roots can trigger plant growth promotion and induced systemic resistance. Several bacterial determinants including cell-wall components and secreted compounds have been identified to date. Here, we review a group of low-molecular-weight volatile compounds released by PGPR, which improve plant health, mostly by protecting plants against pathogen attack under greenhouse and field conditions. We particularly focus on C4 bacterial volatile compounds (BVCs), such as 2,3-butanediol and acetoin, which have been shown to activate the plant immune response and to promote plant growth at the molecular level as well as in large-scale field applications. We also disc/ uss the potential applications, metabolic engineering, and large-scale fermentation of C4 BVCs. The C4 bacterial volatiles act as airborne signals and therefore represent a new type of biocontrol agent. Further advances in the encapsulation procedure, together with the development of standards and guidelines, will promote the application of C4 volatiles in the field.


2021 ◽  
Vol 7 (3) ◽  
pp. 58
Author(s):  
Carolina Font-Palma ◽  
David Cann ◽  
Chinonyelum Udemu

Our ever-increasing interest in economic growth is leading the way to the decline of natural resources, the detriment of air quality, and is fostering climate change. One potential solution to reduce carbon dioxide emissions from industrial emitters is the exploitation of carbon capture and storage (CCS). Among the various CO2 separation technologies, cryogenic carbon capture (CCC) could emerge by offering high CO2 recovery rates and purity levels. This review covers the different CCC methods that are being developed, their benefits, and the current challenges deterring their commercialisation. It also offers an appraisal for selected feasible small- and large-scale CCC applications, including blue hydrogen production and direct air capture. This work considers their technological readiness for CCC deployment and acknowledges competing technologies and ends by providing some insights into future directions related to the R&D for CCC systems.


Sensor Review ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 37 (3) ◽  
pp. 338-345 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yawei Xu ◽  
Lihong Dong ◽  
Haidou Wang ◽  
Jiannong Jing ◽  
Yongxiang Lu

Purpose Radio frequency identification tags for passive sensing have attracted wide attention in the area of Internet of Things (IoT). Among them, some tags can sense the property change of objects without an integrated sensor, which is a new trend of passive sensing based on tag. The purpose of this paper is to review recent research on passive self-sensing tags (PSSTs). Design/methodology/approach The PSSTs reported in the past decade are classified in terms of sensing mode, composition and the ways of power supply. This paper presents operation principles of PSSTs and analyzes the characteristics of them. Moreover, the paper focuses on summarizing the latest sensing parameters of PSSTs and their matching equipment. Finally, some potential applications and challenges faced by this emerging technique are discussed. Findings PSST is suitable for long-term and large-scale monitoring compared to conventional sensors because it gets rid of the limitation of battery and has relatively low cost. Also, the static information of objects stored in different PSSTs can be identified by a single reader without touch. Originality/value This paper provides a detailed and timely review of the rapidly growing research in PSST.


2021 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Zhijin Gong ◽  
Ge Yang ◽  
Chengchuan Che ◽  
Jinfeng Liu ◽  
Meiru Si ◽  
...  

AbstractRhamnolipids have recently attracted considerable attentions because of their excellent biosurfactant performance and potential applications in agriculture, environment, biomedicine, etc., but severe foaming causes the high cost of production, restraining their commercial production and applications. To reduce or eliminate the foaming, numerous explorations have been focused on foaming factors and fermentation strategies, but a systematic summary and discussion are still lacking. Additionally, although these studies have not broken through the bottleneck of foaming, they are conducive to understanding the foaming mechanism and developing more effective rhamnolipids production strategies. Therefore, this review focuses on the effects of fermentation components and control conditions on foaming behavior and fermentation strategies responded to the severe foaming in rhamnolipids fermentation and systematically summarizes 6 impact factors and 9 fermentation strategies. Furthermore, the potentialities of 9 fermentation strategies for large-scale production are discussed and some further strategies are suggested. We hope this review can further facilitate the understanding of foaming factors and fermentation strategies as well as conducive to developing the more effective large-scale production strategies to accelerate the commercial production process of rhamnolipids.


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