Abstract

This reflection focuses on the role of the public library in providing leadership to the social construction of cultural needs and values and offering services beyond the concrete demands of the users, and on how ignorance of the library’s potentialities limits the demands made on the public library. The need for a coherent public library project is defended as essential to obtaining the cultural leadership of our community.

Abstract

Market response to mobile television usage is quite modest in most European countries. No single reason explains this situation. On the contrary, a set of complex and interrelated causes can be found. On the supply side, the potential hurdles are in the technical (infrastructures, standards), economic (revenue models, content availability) and normative domains. On the demand side, companies must understand the (real) utility derived by consumers and the circumstances in which they intend to use the service. The conditions for mobile television success are, therefore, the research question of this paper. It is concluded that removal of these barriers, focus on the user (rather than on the product), and stronger institutional commitment are key factors for mobile television development.

Abstract

[EN] The High Speed Rail Line (HSRL) between Kuala Lumpur (KL) and Singapore (SP) is aimed at reducing to 90 minutes the travel time between two of Southeast Asia’s most vibrant and fast-growing economic engines. Ineco was hired by the Government of Malaysia to forecast the demand for the future HSRL. The Government of Malaysia played a key role when firstly defining the current situation on the corridor and the features of the HSRL, and then providing Ineco with the studies previously developed by them. Besides the obvious interest in connecting both capital cities, Malaysia wishes to promote the economic development of intermediate cities, whereas Singapore, a 718 squarekilometer city-state and island, is interested in improving its connection with Nusajaya - a Malaysian city that is being developed just across the border and regarded as land reserves. Two kinds of services will be provided on the new rail infrastructure: non-stop services between KL and SP, and services with 6 intermediate stops on the Malaysian side. The aim of this paper is to describe the process to forecast the demand for the HSRL Kuala Lumpur – Singapore by focusing on the peculiarities of an international HSRL. Identifying these aspects at an early stage is vital to get a better demand estimate and to reconsider the HSRL characteristics if necessary. The demand for the new line was calculated by applying a three-step model: generation model, distribution model and modal split model. In 2030, 10 years after the opening year, the HSRL is expected to move 23 - 26 million passengers – baseline and optimistic scenarios, respectively -, which represents an 18.5% share of the total demand on the corridor. The demand for the KL-SP pair will account for 30% the demand for the future HSRL. Tadeo Martín, A.; Rey Romero, P. (2016). PECULIARITIES IN THE DEMAND FORECAST FOR AN HSRL CONNECTING TWO COUNTRIES. CASE OF KUALA LUMPUR – SINGAPORE HSRL. En XII Congreso de ingeniería del transporte. 7, 8 y 9 de Junio, Valencia (España). Editorial Universitat Politècnica de València. 419-426. https://doi.org/10.4995/CIT2016.2015.3458 OCS 419 426

Abstract

Kiraci, Kasim/0000-0002-2061-171X; BAKIR, Mahmut/0000-0002-3898-4987 WOS: 000510158200002 This study aims to find out the causal relationship between air transport and economic growth based on income level. To this end, selected countries with high-income, upper-middle-income, lower-middle-income, and low-income levels were included in the analyses for this study. Focusing on the 1990-2016 period, a total of 70 countries were classified according to their income levels and were analyzed empirically. in the study, panel causality analyzes by Konya (2006) and Emirmahmutoglu & Kose (2011) were used. Our findings show that GDP has a certain degree of effect on air transport. They also indicate that the unidirectional or bidirectional causal relationships running from GDP to air transport and air transport to GDP vary by the income level of countries.

Abstract

Performance metrics serve as useful tools and indicators for many applications. For the building industry, various metrics exist; typically, these metrics do not assess the whole building performance. Instead, these represent separate components or heat transfer mechanisms of a building like R-value, U-factor/value, and airtightness. The mechanisms defined under these metrics all contribute significantly to the overall thermal performance of a building but will rarely act independently. There are metrics that account for the overall energy performance of a building, such as Energy Use Intensity (EUI). However, these metrics tend to be highly influenced by how the building is operated and used. There are also metrics which provide assessment on a relative basis. These indices are based upon comparison to a baseline, which complicates meaningful metric-based energy analyses. This paper presents a performance metric developed to account for various thermal properties and behaviors of a building. The metric accounts for all the relevant mechanisms that influence heat losses and gains in buildings and is thus directly related to the energy performance. In addition, the metric is designed to comprise air infiltration and allows users to account for workmanship quality, and imperfections of the building thermal resistance due to penetrations and other installations. This paper will describe how the metric can be applied for various building types and in different climates.

Abstract

Passengers on metro platforms can board a train only when the train has surplus capacity and the dwell time is sufficient, while the latter condition is omitted in previous studies. Taking into account the impacts of train capacity and dwell time on passengers boarding, this study develops a model on optimizing metro timetable to reduce passenger travel time and metro operating cost, through regulating trains’ inter-station run-time, dwell time and headway. The NSGA-II algorithm is employed to obtain the near-optimal Pareto Frontier of the proposed model. To address insufficient dwell time scheduled in the timetable, three operating strategies are proposed and compared: a. sticking to nominal timetable; b. extending dwell time only; c. extending dwell time and recovering delay as soon as possible by compressing train inter-station run-time. Case studies on real-life metro line prove that some passengers cannot board the train during peak hours due to insufficient dwell time. In this context, strategy a brings low-quality service because passengers are stranded at platform even though the train has surplus capacity. In contrast, more passengers can board the train with strategies b and c because dwell time is extended for passengers’ boarding when train has surplus capacity. Compared to strategy b, strategy c reduces the average in-vehicle time of passengers by 2.5% through compressing inter-station run-time to recover the delay. The timetable optimized based on strategy c saves total travel time of passengers by 3.1% without increasing operating cost when compared to the practical timetable. Document type: Article

Abstract

Companies play an important role in the mobility debate as they can be considered as the primary 'creators' of commuting traffic. In recent years, companies have developed a variety of initiatives to improve the mobility of their employees, although their visions and actions are often neglected in the research literature. This paper aims at identifying the good practice in mobility policies of workplaces located in Belgium. To achieve this objective, existing research and two large-scale Belgian surveys of commuting are analysed. First, workplaces are clustered in order to identify those where the alternative modes of transport which are promoted by the policy are popular among employees. Then, quantitative analyses are performed to find out what are the good practices of mobility policies. The results show that the best way of promoting an alternative mode of transport depends on company's characteristics. The promotion of bicycles is most appropriate for small workplaces, while larger workplaces and those located in built-up areas or city centres are more suitable for the promotion of public transport. Financial incentives, provision of facilities, diffusion of information and parking management all play an important role in mobility management. (C) 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Abstract

Fuel Cell Vehicles (FCVs) has been introduced to the market around the world in recent years. As the largest automobile market of the world, China is also one of the potential FCVs market. However, a series of factors and barriers influence the willingness of China's customers to accept FCVs. By using Fishbone Diagram, field survey and workshop discussions, this paper proposes a group of factors that may affect customers' preferences on FCVs. Furthermore, Fuzzy AHP and Pareto Analysis are employed to prioritize these factors, and identify the critical ones. The results indicate that fuel availability, vehicle performance, and economic costs are the most important dimensions in affecting customers' attitude towards FCVs. More specifically, vehicle reliability and safety, purchasing cost, industry development, vehicle model and space contribute the most significance in customers' purchase decision. According to the results, some policy implications are proposed from the prospective of improving and demonstrating vehicle performance, government leading facility construction and operation, and costs reductions. (C) 2016 Hydrogen Energy Publications LLC. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Abstract

Inefficient transport systems impose extra travel time for travelers, cause dissatisfaction and reduce service levels. In this study, the demand-oriented train scheduling problem is addressed using a robust skip-stop method under uncertain arrival rates during peak hours. This paper presents alternative mathematical models, including a two-stage scenario-based stochastic programming model and two robust optimization models, to minimize the total travel time of passengers and their waiting time at stations. The modeling framework accounts for the design and implementation of robust skip-stop schedules with earliness and tardiness penalties. As a case study, each of the developed models is implemented on line No. 5 of the Tehran metro, and the results are compared. To validate the skip-stop schedules, the values of the stochastic solution and the expected value of perfect information are calculated. In addition, a sensitivity analysis is conducted to test the performance of the model under different scenarios. According to the obtained results, having perfect information can reduce up to 16% of the value of the weighted objective function. The proposed skip-stop method has been shown to save about 5% in total travel time and 49% in weighted objective function, which is a summation of travel times and waiting times as against regular all-stop service. The value of stochastic solutions is about 21% of the value of the weighted objective function, which shows that the stochastic model demonstrates better performance than the deterministic model. Document type: Article