Car Size Research Articles

Corporate Governance and Financial Performance of Bank in Asian Regions and Recommendations

This research analyzes the bank’s corporate governance with financial performance relationship in Asian regions. As we know, corporate governance helps to promote prosperity, financial performance and economic growth. In this research, we use multiple linear regression analysis and correlation matrix to explain the effect of explanatory variable; namely, Capital ( CAR ), Profitability ( PTC and ROAA ), Asset Size ( TA ) and Asset Quality ( NPL ) on a proxy variable which are the Corporate Governance ( CG ), Board Size ( BS ) and Board Meeting ( BM ). Findings are that there is statistically significant relationship between CAR, PTC and corporate governance. TA, NPL, ROAA are not statistically significant relationship between corporate governance. There is also statistically significant relationship between CAR, PTC and board size. TA, NPL and ROAA are not statistically significant relationship between board sizes. Besides, there is showed statistically significant relationship between PTC, TA, ROAA and board meeting. CAR and NPL are not statistically significant relationship between board meetings. Additionally, this study also finds that financial performance of banks in Year 2007-2008 (financial crisis) is statistically different from that of Year 2011-2012. Since banks faced slowdown in the US economy and financial crisis in Year 2007-2008. It shows that PTC and ROAA are no statistically significant difference. CAR, TA and NPL are statistically significant difference. The methods of banks use to improve corporate governance and financial performance via strengthen internal control and ensure compliance is important. It can help management to respond risk quickly and achievement of objectives.

Saudi Women's Beliefs on the Use of Car Infant Restraints: A Qualitative Study

Objective: The focus of this study was to identify the salient beliefs of pregnant women in Saudi Arabia that may influence their intentions to use infant restraints for their children. These beliefs were later used to inform a subsequent quantitative study.Methods: This qualitative study employed Ajzen's theory of planned behavior to elicit the salient behavioral, normative, and control beliefs of Saudi pregnant women regarding the use of infant restraints for their future children. Twenty-five pregnant women participated in 2 focus groups conducted in June 2013 at Dallah Hospital in Riyadh.Results: Lack of health education and law enforcement; cultural pressure and traditions; counsel from family, specifically from husbands and mothers; desire to stay close to the child; family size; and car size were key factors in deciding whether or not to use car seats; the high cost of car seats was not.Conclusions: Aside from providing awareness to future mothers and the general public, health interventions should target the specific beliefs identified in this study. Because participants identified husbands as significant referents, further studies are needed to examine the husbands’ attitudes and beliefs.

Alternative fuels from forest residues for passenger cars - an assessment under German framework conditions

Due to the available volumes, biogenic residues are a promising resource for renewable fuels for passenger cars to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. In this study, we compare three fuels from forest residues under German framework conditions: biogenic electricity, substitute natural gas (SNG), and Fischer-Tropsch (FT) diesel. Fuels from forest residues are compared with regard to their technical efficiency (here defined as ‘pkm per kg biomass’), costs, and environmental impacts with a focus on GHG emissions. We took into consideration the real-life driving conditions and corresponding car classes as well as market penetration scenarios for electric and gaseous fuel cars. Our results show that the technical efficiency of biogenic electricity is high, while the economic and environmental results strongly depend on the car size and market penetration assumptions. Furthermore, it is essential to clearly define the main goal of introducing fuels from forest residues. If the goal is to reduce GHG emissions at the lowest cost, SNG (and natural gas) in bigger cars is preferable. For high GHG reductions at the lowest forest residue consumption, biogenic electricity in smaller commuter-type cars are found to be a good solution. This also proves true for the aggregated environmental impact score ReCiPe Total. It is important to include mobility patterns and a clear goal definition when comparing biogenic fuels. In Germany, biogenic electricity, SNG, and FT diesel can reduce GHG emissions at reduction costs of around 100 €/t CO2-Eq when used the right way.

색깔 인식에 의한 RC car의 3가지 코스 시험 주행

자동 주행 차량을 구현하기 위해서는 장애물 인식, 차선 인식 및 변경 등 많은 기능들이 필요하다. 본 논문에서는 자동차 주행에 필요한 '차선 인식'의 범위를 확장시킨 '색깔 인식' 개념을 도입 적용시키기 위해 3가지 코스를 주행하는 시스템을 구현하였다. RC car의 크기와 비례하게 축소 제작한 각 코스에서 주행에 필요한 검지선의 위치, 기울기 및 차량의 속도를 고려하여 조향 제어를 하였고, 브레이크 기능이 없는 RC car를 제어하기 위해 차량의 속도와 검지선의 위치를 고려하였다. Automatic driving needs many functions such as the obstacle recognition, the lane recognition, and the lane change, etc. In this paper, we realized a system which automatically drove the three-kinds of vehicle driving course, to introduce and apply the concept of 'color recognition' that expands the scope of 'lane recognition' for vehicle driving. We made the reduced each course compared with RC(Radio Control) car size, and controlled the steering considering the position and the slope of the detection line and the speed. Because the RC car does not have the brake function, we consider the speed and the position of the detection line to stop the RC car.

Large-scale deployment of electric vehicles in Germany by 2030: An analysis of grid-to-vehicle and vehicle-to-grid concepts

This study analyses battery electric vehicles (BEVs) in the future German power system and makes projections of the BEVs hourly load profile by car size (‘mini’, ‘small’, ‘compact’ and ‘large’). By means of a power plant dispatching optimisation model, the study assesses the optimal BEV charging/discharging strategies in grid-to-vehicle (G2V) and vehicle-to-grid (V2G) schemes. The results show that the 2% rise in power demand required to power these BEVs does not hamper system stability provided an optimal G2V scheme is applied. Moreover, such BEV deployment can contribute to further integrating wind and solar power generation. Applying a V2G scheme would increase the capacity factors of base and mid-load power plants, leading to a higher integration of intermittent renewables and resulting in a decrease in system costs. However, the evaluation of the profitability of BEVs shows that applying a V2G scheme is not a viable economic option due to the high cost of investing in batteries. Some BEV owners would make modest profits (€6 a year), but a higher number would sustain losses, for reasons of scale. For BEVs to become part of the power system, further incentives are necessary to make the business model attractive to car owners.

Teleconsultations reduce greenhouse gas emissions

Health services contribute significantly to greenhouse gas emissions. New models of delivering care closer to patients have the potential to reduce travelling and associated emissions. We aimed to compare the emissions of patients attending a teleconsultation - an outpatient appointment using video-conferencing equipment - with those of patients attending a face-to-face appointment. We estimated the total distances travelled and the direct and indirect greenhouse gas emissions for 20,824 teleconsultations performed between 2004 and 2011 in Alentejo, a Portuguese region. These were compared to the distances and emissions that would have resulted if teleconsultations were not available and patients had to attend face-to-face outpatient appointments. Estimates were calculated using survey data on mode of transport, and national aggregate data for car engine size and fuel. A sensitivity analysis using the lower and upper quartiles for survey distances was performed. Teleconsultations led to reductions in distances and emissions of 95%. 2,313,819 km of travelling and 455 tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions were avoided (22 kg of carbon dioxide equivalent per patient). The incorporation of modes of transport and car engine size and fuel in the analysis led to emission estimates which were 12% smaller than those assuming all patients used an average car. The availability of remote care services can significantly reduce road travel and associated emissions. At a time when many countries are committed to reducing their carbon footprint, it is desirable to explore how these reductions could be incorporated into technology assessments and economic evaluations.

Determinants of Tax Evasion on Imported Vehicles

The importance of taxation as a major public finance to developed and developing countries is non-debatable. The issue of smuggling activities related to the indirect taxation had caused a great lost to the government not only in term of monetary aspect, but also non-monetary aspects such as quotas, embargo and product quality. However, the study of a tax evasion and smuggling activities in the indirect taxation have received less attention among the researchers and legislators. Hence, the current study aims to examine factors affecting the tax evasion on excise duties for importation of vehicles that can be associated with smuggling activities in Malaysia. The study has indentified several potential determinants related to tax evasion on imported vehicles, such as the tax rate, penalty structure, the car's brand and size of the business of car importers. To achieve the objectives, this study used sample data from vehicles smuggling cases investigated by the tax authorities in Malaysia. The hypotheses were tested using both univariate and multivariate statistical methods. The statistical results provided evidence on the significant values of evaded excise duties, whereby the excise duties and penalty rates are the contributing factors for the tax evasion in vehicles smuggling activities. Hence, this study contributes towards the body of literature in the discussed area and also provides strategic information to the policymakers in reviewing the tax policy related to excise duties on imported vehicles in the future.

Sunk Cost Fallacy in Driving the World's Costliest Cars

Does the sunk cost fallacy affect decision-makers in high-stakes situations? We develop a behavioral model of usage of a durable good with mental accounting for sunk costs. It predicts that usage increases in the sunk cost, and attenuates with time at a rate that increases in the sunk cost. The model nests conventionally rational behavior as a special case.We take the model to a panel of 7,398 cars between 2001-2011 in Singapore. During that period, the sunk cost involved in a new car purchase varied substantially with the continuing government policy. We found robust evidence of a sunk cost fallacy. The elasticity of usage with respect to the sunk cost was 0.124(±0.015). An increase in the sunk cost by S$4,500 (the outcome of government policy between 2009 and 2010) would have been associated with an increase in monthly usage by 53.5 kilometers or 3.4% in the first four years of purchase. Our results were robust to various checks including alternative controls for selection, differences in model and specification, and allowing for heterogeneous effects by car size.

PS01 Associations of Health, Physical Activity and Weight Status with Motorised Travel and Transport Carbon Dioxide Emissions

BackgroundMotorised travel and associated carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions generate substantial health costs, many of which disproportionately affect socio-economically disadvantaged groups. These health costs may include contributing to rising obesity levels....

Associations of health, physical activity and weight status with motorised travel and transport carbon dioxide emissions: a cross-sectional, observational study

BackgroundMotorised travel and associated carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions generate substantial health costs; in the case of motorised travel, this may include contributing to rising obesity levels. Obesity has in turn been hypothesised to increase motorised travel and/or CO2 emissions, both because heavier people may use motorised travel more and because heavier people may choose larger and less fuel-efficient cars. These hypothesised associations have not been examined empirically, however, nor has previous research examined associations with other health characteristics. Our aim was therefore to examine how and why weight status, health, and physical activity are associated with transport CO2 emissions.Methods3463 adults completed questionnaires in the baseline iConnect survey at three study sites in the UK, reporting their health, weight, height and past-week physical activity. Seven-day recall instruments were used to assess travel behaviour and, together with data on car characteristics, were used to estimate CO2 emissions. We used path analysis to examine the extent to which active travel, motorised travel and car engine size explained associations between health characteristics and CO2 emissions.ResultsCO2 emissions were higher in overweight or obese participants (multivariable standardized probit coefficients 0.16, 95% CI 0.08 to 0.25 for overweight vs. normal weight; 0.16, 95% CI 0.04 to 0.28 for obese vs. normal weight). Lower active travel and, particularly for obesity, larger car engine size explained 19-31% of this effect, but most of the effect was directly explained by greater distance travelled by motor vehicles. Walking for recreation and leisure-time physical activity were associated with higher motorised travel distance and therefore higher CO2 emissions, while active travel was associated with lower CO2 emissions. Poor health and illness were not independently associated with CO2 emissions.ConclusionsEstablishing the direction of causality between weight status and travel behaviour requires longitudinal data, but the association with engine size suggests that there may be at least some causal effect of obesity on CO2 emissions. More generally, transport CO2 emissions are associated in different ways with different health-related characteristics. These include associations between health goods and environmental harms (recreational physical activity and high emissions), indicating that environment-health ‘co-benefits’ cannot be assumed. Instead, attention should also be paid to identifying and mitigating potential areas of tension, for example by promoting low-carbon recreational physical activity.

The impact of more efficient but larger new passenger cars on energy consumption in EU-15 countries

The core objective of this paper is to analyse the impact of changes in fuel intensity and car size on energy demand of passenger cars in EU-15 countries. Of special relevance in this context is how the rebound effect due to the change in car fuel intensity and car size (average engine power) affects the energy conservation effect. Lower fuel intensity reduces the cost of car travel, and may lead to further growth in vehicle kilometre driven and car size, while higher fuel prices may offset this effect to some extent.The major conclusion is that for passenger cars policies that only strive for efficiency improvements will have very limited success. It is necessary to introduce proper additional fuel taxes (to curb the increase in vkm) and size-dependent registration taxes (to avoid excessive increases in car size) to finally harvest the full societal benefits of better car efficiency.

Valve Profile Adaptation, Stratification, Boosting and 2-Stroke Strategies for Raising Loads of Gasoline HCCI Engines

The development of high efficiency powertrains is a key objective for car manufacturers. One approach for improving the efficiency of gasoline engines is based on homogeneous charge compression ignition, HCCI, which provides higher efficiency than conventional strategies. However, HCCI is only currently viable at relatively low loads, primarily because at high loads it involves rapid combustion that generates pressure oscillations in the cylinder (ringing), and partly because it gives rise to relatively high NOX emissions. This paper describes studies aimed at increasing the viability of HCCI combustion at higher loads by using fully flexible valve trains, direct injection with charge stratification (SCCI), and intake air boosting. These approaches were complemented by using EGR to control NOX emissions by stoichiometric operation, which enables the use of a three-way catalyst. Experiments were carried out using a single-cylinder engine of passenger car size running on gasoline and controlled with negative valve overlap. By adapting the valve profiles (lift, duration and phasing) for high loads, a fuel saving of 3% at constant load or a load increase of 6% could be achieved for lean HCCI compared to those obtained using camshafts that were not adapted for high load operation. Further, using intake pressures up to 180 kPa provided almost linear increases in load for lean HCCI, stoichiometric HCCI and stoichiometric SCCI. However, lean SCCI did not profit from boosting because the charge became too lean and stratification lost its effect as a ringing inhibitor. At intake pressures exceeding 140 kPa, stoichiometric HCCI operation becomes redundant since NOX ceases to be a limiting factor. Additionally, promising results were obtained in initial tests of two-stroke operation, which yielded higher maximum loads, lower fuel consumption and lower NOX emissions than the other strategies.

Regional characteristics and the distribution of car engine sizes: A case study of Ireland

This paper examines whether regional characteristics can have a significant impact on the engine sizes of the car fleet in Ireland. Disposable income is found to be the dominant factor in determining the purchase probabilities of car engine size, but in addition a combination of high population density and the availability of rail transport can reduce the demand for medium and large engine sized vehicles, as well as for new cars generally. Bus services, however, only serve as a substitute for small engine cars.

Psychological determinants of fuel consumption of purchased new cars

With regard to reducing fuel consumption and CO2 emissions of road transport consumers' adoption of fuel-efficient vehicles is crucial. However, facing the ongoing trend of increasing car size and power, fuel consumption is apparently of lesser importance to most buyers. For the design of effective measures to change behavior and promote fuel-efficient cars, psychological factors should be considered. Drawing from psychological research on environmental behavior, we propose a model which integrates psychological variables to explain the purchase of fuel-efficient vehicles by private consumers. This model is tested with survey data from 302 Swiss respondents whose households have bought a new car since 2002. SEM analyses confirm valence of less power and smaller size, and perceived behavioral control as direct predictors of the purchase of a fuel-efficient vehicle. Problem awareness, symbolic motives, and response efficacy influence the respective behavior indirectly via affecting the direct predictors. The design, implementation and evaluation of measures aimed at changing car choice behavior with respect to fuel consumption should account for these factors.

Using GIS for evaluating retail centres location at Jeddah City

The aim of this paper is to discuss a GIS application created for evaluation exiting location of retail centres in Jeddah City, Saudi Arabia. In order to build this application, several data sets were collected including the location of existing retail centres as well as road network and city district boundaries. Detailed information about each retail centre were covered in this application including retail centre size, name, car parking size, number of rented and vacant shops. AecGIS software has been used to build a geo-database that covers all of the collected data for this application. The created geo-database has been designed with clear and user friendly interface. In order to analyse the existing location of retail centres, single and multiple layer functions have been applied on the created database. In addition, retail centres were classified based on single and multiple attributes. To evaluate the existing location of retail centres, spatial statistic functions have been used to measure the geog...

Requirements for change in new car buying practices—observations from Sweden

The Swedish car fleet today consists of the largest, heaviest, most powerful and most fuel-consuming automobiles in Europe. This cannot be explained by demographics, national income, geography and climate reasons only. Beyond the reasons for the current state of affairs, the main focus for the present study is to learn more on how the individual car buyer deliberates when considering buying a new automobile. Have there been any substantial changes in preferences, especially in regard to car size, engine choice and the type of fuel (energy source) used to propel the vehicle? Around the individual consumer there are a number of stakeholders that have a vested interest in affecting the choice of the individual consumer. Among these stakeholders, we find car producers, car dealers, importers, the government represented by many different agents, the automobile industry organisations, environmental organisations and representatives for the media. These stakeholders are all taking action in pursuing their interests and achieving their goals, which by nature are in conflict towards other stakeholders. The study maps the way these stakeholders act to affect the development of the new car market. All this is taking place in the midst of the present debate on global warming and increased fuel prices, which enhances the interest from most parties and stakeholders to navigate in these turbulent times of changing consumer preferences and car-buying patterns.

Vehicle mass as a determinant of fuel consumption and secondary safety performance: A comment

Attention is called to evidence that in collisions between vehicles of equal mass, and in single-vehicle collisions, there is unlikely to be a very strong effect of car size on injury severity, and that variation in crashworthiness within the set of car models of a given size has a much larger effect. Consequently, the secondary safety of a national fleet of small cars in the future could be as high as that of a national fleet of large cars today.

Improving the design of higher-capacity railway tank cars for hazardous materials transport: Optimizing the trade-off between weight and safety

As with many aspects of modern industrial society, decision-makers face trade-offs in considering hazardous materials transportation equipment and practices. Tank cars used for transport of hazardous materials can be made more resistant to damage in accidents through use of a thicker steel tank and other protective features. However, the additional weight of these features reduces the car's capacity and thus its efficiency as a transportation vehicle. In this paper the problem of tank car safety versus weight is developed as a multi-attribute decision problem. North American railroads recently developed specifications for higher capacity tank cars for transportation of hazardous materials including enhanced safety design features. A group of tank car safety design features or “risk reduction options” (RROs) were analyzed with regard to their effect on the conditional probability of release in an accident, and their incremental effect on tank car weight. All possible combinations of these RROs were then analyzed in terms of the reduced release probability per unit of weight increase and the Pareto optimal set of options identified. This set included the combinations of RROs that provided the greatest improvement in safety with the least amount of additional weight for any desired level of tank car weight increase. The analysis was conducted for both non-insulated and insulated tank cars and used two objective functions, minimization of conditional probability of release, and minimization of expected quantity lost, given that a car was derailed in an accident. Sensitivity analyses of the effect of tank car size and use of different objective functions were conducted and the optimality results were found to be robust. The results of this analysis were used by the Association of American Railroads Tank Car Committee to develop new specifications for higher capacity non-insulated and insulated, non-pressure tank cars resulting in an estimated 32% and 24% respective improvement in safety.

ECO-TRANSPORT CITIES UTILIZING ITS

This article promotes Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) with Information and Communication Technology (ICT) as a means to achieve Environmentally Sustainable Transport (EST). The author divides approaches to ITS into three categories: automobile measures, alleviating barriers to public transportation usage, and controlling inner-city automobile use. Automobile measures involve reducing car size and making them more fuel efficient, reducing space required between vehicles through automatic components and the use of probe cars to provide traffic information. Methods to increase public transportation use include Travel Demand Management (TDM) that encourages use of public transportation and discourages automobile use. TDM methods include park and rides at train stations as well as eco-point incentives. Another modal shift that ITS can facilitate is controlling inner-city automobile use through Parking Deposit System (PDS), a system in which drivers pay to enter a restricted area, and then can use that deposit to pay for parking or to shop. The author also suggests traffic emergence control, also known as traffic calming, which would use ITS and land use measures to reduce the speed and amount of traffic in residential areas.

Using Head-on Collisions to Compare Risk of Driver Death by Frontal Air Bag Generation: A Matched-Pair Cohort Study

US air bag regulations were changed in 1997 to allow tests of unbelted male dummies in vehicles mounted and accelerated on sleds, resulting in longer crash pulses than rigid-barrier crashes. This change facilitated depowering of frontal air bags and was intended to reduce air bag-induced deaths. Controversy ensued as to whether sled-certified air bags could increase adult fatality risk. A matched-pair cohort study of two-vehicle, head-on, fatal collisions between drivers involving first-generation versus sled-certified air bags during 1998-2005 was conducted by using Fatality Analysis Reporting System data. Sled certification was ascertained from public information and a survey of automakers. Conditional Poisson regression for matched-pair cohorts was used to estimate risk ratios adjusted for age, seat belt status, vehicle type, passenger car size, and model year for driver deaths in vehicles with sled-certified air bags versus first-generation air bags. For all passenger-vehicle pairs, the adjusted risk ratio was 0.87 (95% confidence interval: 0.77, 0.98). In head-on collisions involving only passenger cars, the adjusted risk ratio was 1.04 (95% confidence interval: 0.85, 1.29). Increased fatality risk for drivers with sled-certified air bags was not observed. A borderline significant interaction between vehicle type and air bag generation suggested that sled-certified air bags may have reduced the risk of dying in head-on collisions among drivers of pickup trucks.