Projection of the Electronic Toll Collection System in the Republic of Croatia

This paper deals with the topic of a modern electronic toll collection system that will be applied in the Republic of Croatia from the year 2022 onwards. The paper primarily analyses the existing toll collection systems in Croatia, as well as in the European Union. Modern electronic toll collection systems were analysed with an emphasis on the ANPR (Automatic Number Plate Recognition) system, because ANPR technology will be used in Croatia after the restructuring of road traffic occurs. ANPR is not a new technology, however in the last twenty years it has found its wider application. This happened mostly thanks to local and global infrastructural development and technological improvements therefore in turn infrastructure required for the operation of this system became cheaper. By applying the ETC and ANPR, Croatia will have a system in line with European directives and practices which are being applied in other European countries. The system will in turn significantly raise the quality of road traffic in Croatia and reduce its costs.

Maritime Challenges in Crisis Times

The world today is extremely well connected and heavily dependent on maritime trade. The shipping market is the result of global production and as such is subject to cyclical changes, incidents and expansions. As part of such a market, maritime transport is vulnerable to external factors, such as international trade, political situations, financial trends, technological developments and legislation, which may directly or indirectly affect demand in the sector or similar. The negative effects of these changes are reflected in lower freight rates, lower daily rental prices and reduced prices of new or used boats. Maritime crisis have significantly affected income, wages, number of employees and similar. In this regard, the crisis management process plays a key role in reorienting strategies and structural reorganization. In order to ensure the development of the maritime sector, it is necessary to constantly invest in the growth of transport capacities, deepen ports, build new terminals and modernize existing ones. It also requires the advanced transport development and application, technological, technical, economic, organizational and commercial measures, in order to adapt to the environment. The efficiency of the maritime sector generally strengthens the country’s international and political position, as its activities are linked to international economic cooperation, attracting foreign investment, membership in international organizations and other key factors.

Alternative Fuels and Technologies for Short Sea Shipping

Awareness of the consequences of excessive greenhouse gas emissions in maritime transport has prompted research on the use of alternative fuels and technology, towards environmentally neutral ship propulsion, which has resulted in a number of possibilities. This review provides a systematic overview of the current state of use of ship propulsion and alternative options from the aspect of costs, infrastructure, regulations, availability, environmental protection, technology and the perspective of complete decarbonisation by 2050.

An Overview of Modern Technologies in Leading Global Seaports

This paper provides an overview of the modern technologies used in selected global seaports, and their possible impact on future development of seaports. The research problem stems from inefficience of customs procedures, dispute information flow, unneeded container manipulation in port area, and time lost due to bureucracy procedures. Methods used in this paper are the descriptive method, method of analysis, classification method, and compilation method. Since the majority of leading global seaports are placed in China, the authors decided to analyze the most successful seaport from each country, in order to achieve heterogeneity and global insight into used modern technologies. In total, eleven seaports placed on Lloyd’s list Top 100 Ports have been analyzed. Key findings in this paper are: (1) different level of development of a particular country affects different levels of implementation of new technical and technological achievements, resulting in different levels of development of each seaport; (2) future development of modern technologies in seaports leans towards autonomous technologies such as autonomous drones, and self-driving trucks. Modern technologies may improve the safety and efficiency of operations in and outside seaports.

The Negative Impact of the Cruising Industry on the Environment

Tourism and travel make a vital contribution to the global economy and are considered particularly important for developing countries. The cruise industry, as part of the tourist offer, created in the beginning by demand from North America, had a dynamic growth for over nearly 40 years. Many studies show that today there is still an increased demand for a form of vacation spent on a cruise ship. For this reason, new cruise destinations are increasingly being developed and cruise ships are getting bigger, which has an increasing impact on the environment. The paper explores the causes and consequences of dynamic cruise industry growth on environment. The aim of the research is to identify the challenges facing the cruising industry when it comes to environmental impact. The research was conducted on the basis of available secondary data sources.

Comparison of Exergy and Various Energy Analysis Methods for a Main Marine Steam Turbine at Different Loads

This paper present energy and exergy analysis of the main marine steam turbine, which is used for the commercial LNG (Liquefied Natural Gas) carrier propulsion, at four different loads. Energy analysis is performed by using four different methods. The presented analysis allows distinguishing advantages and disadvantages of all observed energy analysis methods and its comparison to exergy analysis of the same steam turbine. Each analysis is based on the measurement results obtained in main turbine exploitation conditions. Main turbine is composed of two cylinders – High Pressure Cylinder (HPC) and Low Pressure Cylinder (LPC). At low turbine loads, the dominant power producer is HPC, while at middle and high loads the dominant power producer is LPC. Energy analysis Method 1 which is based on the same principles as exergy analysis, should be avoided if the majority of turbine losses are not known. Other observed energy analysis methods can be applied in the analysis of any steam turbine, with a note that increase in ideal (isentropic) steam expansion process divisions will result with an increase in energy losses and with a decrease in energy efficiency. Energy analysis Method 2 which consist of only one ideal (isentropic) steam expansion process, for the whole turbine and at all observed loads, results with the lowest energy losses (in the range between 639.98 kW and 6434.17 kW) as well as with the highest energy efficiency (in a range between 53.70% and 79.40%) in comparison to other applicable energy analysis methods. For the observed loads, whole main turbine exergy destruction is in range from 608.64 kW to 5922.86 kW, while the exergy efficiency range of the whole turbine is between 54.94% and 80.73%. Exergy analysis and all three applicable energy analysis methods show that increase in the main turbine load results with simultaneous increase in turbine losses and efficiencies (both energy and exergy).

Review of Good Practices in the Introduction of Traffic Management Systems and Urban Mobility

Mobility, as one of the most significant factors in maintaining the quality of life in cities, faces problems such as traffic congestion and environmental pollution. The rapid population growth in urban areas has had an impact on increased traffic, which is why many cities have decided to implement or improve existing intelligent transport systems (ITS) that reduce traffic congestion with more comfortable and safer pedestrian traffic. Although the population in developed and densely populated cities is familiar with multimodal transportation, inadequate urban transport systems and large individual transport in place continue to pose a major threat. The application of appropriate ITS systems manages traffic and mobility management that are present to residents and facilitate access to all forms of transport. The aim of this paper is to explore urban mobility examples of good traffic management practice for the possibility of their application in cities with issues such as traffic jams and accidents, low pedestrian safety, parking problems, etc.

Use of Convolutional Neural Network for Fish Species Classification

Fish population monitoring systems based on underwater video recording are becoming more popular nowadays, however, manual processing and analysis of such data can be time-consuming. Therefore, by utilizing machine learning algorithms, the data can be processed more efficiently. In this research, authors investigate the possibility of convolutional neural network (CNN) implementation for fish species classification. The dataset used in this research consists of four fish species (Plectroglyphidodon dickii, Chromis chrysura, Amphiprion clarkii, and Chaetodon lunulatus), which gives a total of 12859 fish images. For the aforementioned classification algorithm, different combinations of hyperparameters were examined as well as the impact of different activation functions on the classification performance. As a result, the best CNN classification performance was achieved when Identity activation function is applied to hidden layers, RMSprop is used as a solver with a learning rate of 0.001, and a learning rate decay of 1e-5. Accordingly, the proposed CNN model is capable of performing high-quality fish species classifications.

Stereo Visual Odometry for Indoor Localization of Ship Model

Typically, ships are designed for open sea navigation and thus research of autonomous ships is mostly done for that particular area. This paper explores the possibility of using low-cost sensors for localization inside the small navigation area. The localization system is based on the technology used for developing autonomous cars. The main part of the system is visual odometry using stereo cameras fused with Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU) data coupled with Kalman and particle filters to get decimetre level accuracy inside a basin for different surface conditions. The visual odometry uses cropped frames for stereo cameras and Good features to track algorithm for extracting features to get depths for each feature that is used for estimation of ship model movement. Experimental results showed that the proposed system could localize itself within a decimetre accuracy implying that there is a real possibility for ships in using visual odometry for autonomous navigation on narrow waterways, which can have a significant impact on future transportation.

The Smart City Concept for Sustainable Development of a Tourist Destination

Purpose – At a time of exceptionally fast technological advancement, smart cities have become necessary for the better management of existing resources in a tourist destination. The aim of this paper is to investigate if the smart city concept has been recognized in micro destinations in the Kvarner region for the purpose of sustainability and raising residents’ quality of life. Design/Methodology – The research has been conducted in the Kvarner tourist destination in December 2019. Citizens were asked their opinions within the scope of the following narrow tourist destinations – Lovran, Opatija and Rijeka. The questionnaire used closed-ended questions. This short research focuses on public perception regarding the smart city concept. Findings – The results show that 67% of the people living in tourist destinations are not familiar with the smart city concept. Most, however, state that its implementation would improve the touristic development of the destinations. The development of smart destinations leaves plenty of room for each community undertaking that step to define the shape and functionality of its environment while respecting the community’s historical, cultural-artistic and social heritage. Originality of the research – There are many papers dealing with the topic of smart cities, but it is rare for authors to explore the transformation of traditional tourist destinations into contemporary sustainable communities. The obtained results can be used to inform policy making towards becoming more proactive, smart and sustainable.