| 1. |
- Abate, Megersa, 1980-, et al.
(författare)
-
A disaggregate stochastic freight transport model for Sweden
- 2018
-
Ingår i: Transportation. - : Springer New York LLC. - 0049-4488 .- 1572-9435. ; , s. 1-26
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- This paper presents estimation results for models of transport chain and shipment size choice, as well as an implementation of the estimated disaggregate models (for two commodity groups), in the context of the national freight transport model for Sweden. The new model is a disaggregate and stochastic (logit) model, whereas the existing Swedish national model is deterministic. One advantage of the new approach is that it bases the underlying behavior of shippers on a stronger empirical foundation (that is micro-data from the Swedish Commodity Flow Survey, CFS). Another advantage is that it overcomes a well-known disadvantage of deterministic models that lead to implausibly large responses to changes in scenario or policy variables. Although estimation and implementation of aggregate stochastic models were done before, in the context of a national freight transport forecasting model, we think this is the first implementation of disaggregate freight transport chain and shipment size models estimated on choice data for individual shipments, certainly in Europe. We carried out a number of model runs with both versions of the implemented model to compare elasticities and found that transport cost and time elasticities for tonne-km are smaller (in absolute values) in the disaggregate stochastic model than in their deterministic counterparts.
|
|
| 2. |
- Abate, Megersa
(författare)
-
Determinants of Capacity Utilisation in Road Freight Transportation
- 2014
-
Ingår i: Journal of Transport Economics and Policy. - 0022-5258 .- 1754-5951. ; 48, s. 137-152
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Recent performance indicators in the European road freight transport sector show there is an excess capacity. To shed light on this, this paper studies two aspects of capacity utilisation in trucking: the extent of empty running and the load factor. Using a joint econometric modelling framework, the paper shows that they can be explained as a function of haul, carrier, and truck characteristics. For estimation, a unique dataset from the Danish heavy vehicle trip diary was used. The results indicate distance and being a for-hire carrier have a positive effect on capacity utilisation, whereas the effect of truck size is non-linear.
|
|
| 3. |
- Abate, Megersa
(författare)
-
Economic effects of air transport market liberalization in Africa
- 2016
-
Ingår i: Transportation Research Part A. - : Elsevier. - 0965-8564 .- 1879-2375. ; 92, s. 326-337
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Although the aviation industry is increasingly becoming important for Africa's economic development and integration, the ability of airlines to access foreign markets remains hindered by restrictive regulatory policies. Attempts have been made to fully liberalize the intra-African air transport market. Except for general assertions about the merits/demerits of liberalization, our empirical understanding of the welfare effects of such polices in Africa remains rudimentary. This study empirically measures the economic effects of air transport liberalization, mainly on two supply side variables: fare and service quality, measured as departure frequency. The empirical models evaluate how air fares and departure frequency respond to measures of openness in air services agreements, while controlling for other determinants. The results show up to 40% increase in departure frequency in routes that experienced some type of liberalization compared to those governed by restrictive bilateral air service agreements. Furthermore, there is a relatively larger increase in departure frequency in routes which experienced partial liberalization compared to fully liberalized ones. This can be explained by the diminishing marginal effect of progressive liberalization on departure frequency. While the effect of liberalization is substantial in improving service quality, there is no evidence of its fare reducing effect.
|
|
| 4. |
- Abate, Megersa, et al.
(författare)
-
The optimal shipment size and truck size choice : The allocation of trucks across hauls
- 2014
-
Ingår i: Transportation Research Part A. - : Elsevier BV. - 0965-8564 .- 1879-2375. ; 59, s. 262-277
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- There has been a growing interest in understanding how firms allocate their trucks across hauls, and how this allocation changes under various economic environments. This study investigates how variations in route/haul, carrier and vehicle characteristics affect the optimal vehicle size choice and the associated choice of shipment size. We show that the two choices are derived from the same optimization problem. There can be a continuum of shipment sizes, but decision-makers in freight transport have to choose from a limited number of vehicle alternatives. Therefore, we use a discrete-continuous econometric model where shipment size is modeled as a continuous variable, and vehicle size/type choice as a discrete variable. The results indicate that when faced with higher demand, and during longer trips firms are more likely to use heavier vehicles and ship in larger quantities which suggest that firms are realizing economies of scale and economies of distance. The study also discusses the effect of vehicle operating cost on the vehicle selection process and its policy implications.
|
|
| 5. |
- Abdallah, Clement Kamil, et al.
(författare)
-
Assessing the quality of water used for vegetable irrigation in Tamale Metropolis, Ghana
- 2021
-
Ingår i: Scientific Reports. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 2045-2322. ; 11
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- This paper assesses water quality that is used for vegetable irrigation in Tamale Metropolis, Ghana. A mixed-method of research design was employed in this study to collect and analyze the data based on survey instruments. The paper found that Escherichia coli (E. coli) that is usually used as an indicator of water contamination and heavy metals exist in all taken water samples. The mean concentrations of nutrients such as ammonia, nitrate, nitrite and phosphate were recorded as 0.022 mg/l to 5.98 mg/l for ammonia, 1.06 mg/l to 7.52 mg/l for nitrate, 0.031 mg/l to 0.056 mg/l for nitrate and 0.037 mg/l to 0.069 mg/l for phosphate. E. coli and Total Coliforms levels for Sanghani, Kamina and Waterworks from the laboratory analysis were recorded as 3.2x10(3) CFU 100 m/l and 5.5x10(2) CFU 100 m/l, 4.0x10(3) CFU 100 m/l and 1x10(2) CFU 100 m/l, and 2.1x10(3) CFU 100 m/l and 4.6x10(2) CFU 100 m/l respectively. To conclude, based on the measured parameters, water used for irrigation in the Tamale Metropolitan is polluted and may cause potential health risks. Therefore, farmers, traders and consumers need to apply further safety measures to make the vegetables safe.
|
|
| 6. |
- Abed, Ahmed, et al.
(författare)
-
Uncertainty analysis of life cycle assessment of asphalt surfacings
- 2024
-
Ingår i: International Journal on Road Materials and Pavement Design. - : Taylor & Francis. - 1468-0629 .- 2164-7402. ; 25:2, s. 219-238
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) of asphalt pavements are associated with significant uncertainty resulting from variability in the quantity and impact of individual components, the quality of data for each component, and variability of asphalt durability. This study presents a framework to quantify and incorporate the uncertainty of LCA and asphalt durability data into LCA of asphalt surfacings. The suggested framework includes: estimating the uncertainty of asphalt production processes by the pedigree matrix method, conducting a deterministic LCA, applying Monte Carlo Simulation (MCS) to estimate the probability density functions (PDFs) of the considered impacts using the uncertainty data, deterministic solution, and asphalt durability. This framework was applied to six asphalt mixtures; the results show that there is significant uncertainty in the processes that contribute to the environmental impacts. They also showed that considering asphalt durability and its uncertainty is critical and can significantly change the results and interpretation of LCA.
|
|
| 7. |
- Abenoza, Roberto F., et al.
(författare)
-
What is the role of weather, built-environment and accessibility geographical characteristics in influencing travelers’ experience?
- 2019
-
Ingår i: Transportation Research Part A. - : Elsevier Ltd. - 0965-8564 .- 1879-2375. ; 122, s. 34-50
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- We examine the effect of weather, accessibility and built-environment characteristics on overall travel experience as well as the experience with the latest trips. These are factors that are often disregarded in the travel satisfaction literature even though they are believed to largely influence the first mile of the door-to-door trip. This study fills a research gap in investigating all these factors by using, amongst other, a relatively large travel satisfaction survey from years 2009 to 2015 and by focusing on urban and peri-urban geographical contexts, the city and county of Stockholm (Sweden), respectively. The ordered logit model results show that county dwellers living close to a metro station and in well linked-to-all areas report higher overall travel satisfaction evaluations. In addition, precipitation and ground covered with snow have a negative influence on travel satisfaction. Our findings indicate that built-environment characteristics exert a rather weak influence on the travel experience, especially in the peri-urban context. However, some aspects such as living in areas with medium densities, low income and with high safety perceptions around public transport stations are associated with higher satisfaction levels. In turn, areas with single land uses are found to have lower travel satisfactions. These results are important for public transport planners and designers in devising measures to prevent and mitigate the negative outcome of some weather conditions and to conceive better designed transit oriented developments.
|
|
| 8. |
- Abou-Senna, Hatem, et al.
(författare)
-
A methodology to quantify pedestrian crash rates against statewide averages for roadways and intersections
- 2016
-
Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- To date there are no clear or uniform standards for a method to measure pedestrian crash rates and compare it against a statewide average. In this paper, a novel methodology to measure pedestrian crash rates along roadways and intersections were quantified. The main objective is to identify critical pedestrian crash locations that are operating above its corresponding statewide average. It was crucial to address the pedestrian-vehicular conflict as the State of Florida currently tops the list in the “Dangerous by Design” report as having the highest four pedestrian incident locations in the Country. The main challenge was to identify a practical and correct exposure measure. In most cases, the exposure measure is either unavailable or can be obtained at a greater cost. The methods and procedures explained in this paper are considered detailed, practical and provide a broad depiction of the main factors that directly contribute to pedestrian crashes. The main parameters used in calculating pedestrian crash rates along roadways included functional classification, number of lanes, area type, AADT and the total length of the roadway category. Conversely, main parameters for computing pedestrian crash rates for intersections included daily pedestrian volumes, distance crossed and the AADT in addition to the number of pedestrian crashes either along the studied roadways or intersections. The pilot studies conducted for the roadways and intersections revealed several critical safety locations within District 5 when compared to the developed statewide average rates which required further investigation to identify main causes and emphasize mitigation improvements.
|
|
| 9. |
- Abtahi, Farhad, et al.
(författare)
-
Association of drivers’ sleepiness with heart rate variability : A pilot study with drivers on real roads
- 2018
-
Ingår i: IFMBE Proceedings. - Singapore : Springer Verlag. - 9789811051210 ; , s. 149-152
-
Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- Vehicle crashes lead to huge economic and social consequences, and one non-negligible cause of accident is driver sleepiness. Driver sleepiness analysis based on the monitoring of vehicle acceleration, steering and deviation from the road or physiological and behavioral monitoring of the driver, e.g., monitoring of yawning, head pose, eye blinks and eye closures, electroencephalogram, electrooculogram, electromyogram and electrocardiogram (ECG), have been used as a part of sleepiness alert systems.Heart rate variability (HRV) is a potential method for monitoring of driver sleepiness. Despite previous positive reports from the use of HRV for sleepiness detection, results are often inconsistent between studies. In this work, we have re-evaluated the feasibility of using HRV for detecting drivers’ sleepiness during real road driving. A database consists of ECG measurements from 10 drivers, driving during morning, afternoon and night sessions on real road were used. Drivers have reported their average sleepiness level by using the Karolinska sleepiness scale once every five minutes. Statistical analysis was performed to evaluate the potential of HRV indexes to distinguish between alert, first signs of sleepiness and severe sleepiness states. The results suggest that individual subjects show different reactions to sleepiness, which produces an individual change in HRV indicators. The results motivate future work for more personalized approaches in sleepiness detection.
|
|
| 10. |
- Adell, Emeli, et al.
(författare)
-
Cyclists' use of mobile IT in Sweden : usage and self-reported behavioural compensation
- 2014
-
Ingår i: 3rd International Cycling Safety Conference (ICSC2014), 18-19 November, Gothenburg, Sweden. - Gothenburg, Sweden.
-
Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- The increasing use of mobile phones while cycling has raised safety concerns. In this paper two studies of mobile phone use by cyclists are presented.The first study was designed to characterize mobile phone use by cyclists in Sweden, while the second studied how mobile phone use affected cyclist behaviour and compensation strategies. Mobile phone use was observed in about 20 percent of all urban bicycle trips. The usage varied with cyclist age with the highest usage among young cyclists. Of those using phones, 90% of the cyclists observed used head-phones.In parallel, standardized, interviews 15% of cyclists under 15 years old stated that they always used mobile phones while cycling. Listening to music in headphones was the most fre-quent self-reported activity. To converse using hand-held phones was also rather common, and was the only mobile phone usage reported by women above 50 years old.In the second study twenty-two young cyclists (age 16-25 years) completed a route in real traffic five times while listening to music, receiving and making calls, receiving and sending text messages, searching for information on the internet and while cycling normally without using the phone. The route and the types of tasks were controlled, but the cyclists could choose rather freely when, where and how to carry out the tasks. When the cyclist returned to the starting point, a short interview was conducted. During the interviews cyclists reported their experiences and the compensation strategies they used while cycling.
|
|
