Different Means Of Transport Research Articles

Evolution and development tendencies of material handling machines

The tools used during mobilities are very diverse, but their operation and structure can be traced back to the same basic principles that created the material handling machines during the previous centuries. Today, knowledge of material handling machines has become a basic necessity not only for industrial and service processes, but also for people's everyday lives, since our lives are almost unimaginably filled with different means of transportation, or without using the vehicles that transport and load our daily consumer goods. As in all areas, material handling is becoming more and more modern, and equipment that serves social and economic needs at a high level is used. One of the most defining characteristics of today's consumer society is extremely rapid change, which also affects our devices, so the design of material handling machines is also constantly changing. An important question of competitive service is how to meet rapidly changing needs. In my article, I review the development of material handling equipment, or the most important handling machines used in modern systems. Based on the outlined processes and technical changes, I will try to show where material handling is headed, what trends prevail today or are expected in server systems of the near future.

Design of flexible partitions for physical distancing in buses in Colombia during COVID-19

The scientific community recognizes that the transport of cargo and passengers is a key factor in the spread of infectious disease pandemics. In particular, during the COVID-19 pandemic, public transport systems have been considered high-risk environments for the transmission of the virus; therefore, in many places around the world, restrictions have been imposed on passenger transport. Although different aspects of transport have been studied during the pandemic, there are still gaps in knowledge about the effect of different means of transport and specific interventions for vehicle design strategies to reduce transmission rates. In this context, this article presents the process of co-designing a flexible partition to divide seats on articulated, standard and complementary vehicles of a bus rapid transit system in a Colombian capital city as a vehicle design strategy to contain the spread of the virus and generate a physical barrier when the physical distance of one meter, as required by national regulations, was unable to be maintained. The design methodology followed an incremental and iterative process of 6 stages until reaching the final design. The process began with the identification of the need, the establishment of the design requirements and determinants, the generation of proposals framed within the requirements, the performance of functionality and cost feasibility tests and the building of the prototype with the chosen design. Additionally, a participatory evaluation was carried out based on the identification of relevant aspects, doubts, criticisms and new contributions to the prioritized prototype. Finally, the generated prototype met the design requirements in addition to a significant cost reduction of 70% compared with the initial proposal by the bus rapid transit. The low cost allows the implementation of the partition throughout the bus fleet, but controlled observational and clinical studies on the effectiveness of the partition in the prevention of COVID-19 are required.

Salmon trade duration: The application of firm‐level trade transaction data from the Norwegian salmon industry

AbstractSeafood products are mainly provided through trade to international markets and Norway is the major international player for the export of salmon products. It is argued that fresh or chilled salmon, which are perishable products and Norway's main seafood export, need stable trade partners to safely and properly reach consumption markets. In this study, the firm‐to‐firm level trade transactional data for both exporters and importers for the 2005–2018 period was utilized for a trade duration analysis. The Kaplan–Meier survival estimators, Cox proportional hazard model, and frailty model were used to study the stability of trade relations between the partners through survival and hazard models. The study considers the heterogeneous firm trade model along with a theoretical framework. The results show that, on average, the trade duration for the salmon trade between firms is 2.39 years, which is relatively low for a perishable product such as salmon. It shows that the market entry and exit is relatively fast, and that the survival rate between the EU as a major demand market and non‐EU countries is not very different. However, core and periphery markets can be defined by considering the survival rate, as major processing hubs in the EU, such as Poland and France as core markets, have higher survival rates compared with other countries that can be considered peripheries. Both extensive and intensive margins were found to reduce the hazard ratio. Different hazard ratios were also found between different types of exporter or ones utilizing different means of transport. We conclude that the trade duration between the partners can be increased if the competition in the market increases, which is probably possible in markets like the United States where other exporters such as Chile are available.

Cross-border mobility: Rail or road? Space-time-lines as an evidence base for policy debates

ABSTRACT Mobility and transport patterns in border regions are highly relevant topics, as these regions still tend to be areas of limited accessibility, embedded in complex political settings of transport policy. Moreover, the contemporary call for a transition to sustainable mobility applies also to border regions. Nevertheless, limited data availability and harmonization across borders hamper the debate. In this paper, we develop a methodological approach that builds on open-source data and allows for comparative analysis and visualization of cross-border mobility and accessibility. The key elements are “space-time-lines’, combined with an indexation approach. Our study aims to position the different means of transportation in border regions. More concretely speaking, we seek to answer three main questions: In which regional settings are rail or road connections quicker? Can we identify categories of accessibility patterns? How do domestic und cross-border accessibility relate? We respond to these questions with a rail and road accessibility analysis of German border regions from a comparative perspective. Our results show that (a) the catch-up process for cross-border accessibility is not yet complete and that (b) some regions show tunnel effects, as cross-border infrastructure improvements can bypass the border region in the local sense.

Intelligent Community Scheme Based on Vehicle Design

With the help of cutting-edge technologies, we propose a feasible intelligent community scheme concept by designing vehicles with different functions. Firstly, we send a questionnaire to the public and use the AHP method to analyze. We find that residents have a greater demand for leisure travel, medical security and safety protection. Secondly, we design three different means of transportation, namely intelligent drones, intelligent medical vehicles and intelligent leisure vehicles to solve the problem. In each design, its importance and its innovation points are detailed. Then, in order to meet the intelligent needs of residents, we design the intelligent community APP, which is divided into the elder version and the younger version, to provide residents with more convenient and comprehensive services. The scheme we proposed improved the automation and intelligence of the community, thus providing a more comfortable environment.

Trends in passenger transport optimisation

AbstractThe growing number and complexity of modern megalopolises, where several millions of inhabitants request efficient transport services, pose colossal challenges to urban mobility. To capture the ever‐increasing demand for mobility without further deteriorating the traffic congestion, it is essential that the resources available are used as efficiently as possible. Besides, the traditional means of transport (train, metro, bus, taxi), each responds to a particular segment of the global demand for mobility. Nowadays, transport planners can take advantage of the progress in information technologies and optimisation methods to design modern services that integrate and coordinate different means of transport. These services are potentially capable of capturing additional segments of mobility demand and, as an outcome, reduce the usage of private vehicles. Building upon these general ideas, a growing number of researchers have studied various forms of transport flexibility as well as the integration among different means of transport. This survey provides an overview of the trends emerging from contributions from the operational research literature on urban passenger transportation. We have analysed the literature according to the dimensions of flexibility and integration of the transport service studied. For each of the application areas identified, we convey the main trends studied, summarise the most relevant solution approaches and outline some open research directions that deserve particular attention.

Optimal path planning and data simulation of emergency material distribution based on improved neural network algorithm.

Today, data storage technology is also gradually improving. Various industries can store massive amounts of data for analysis. The global climate change and the bad ecology led to frequent occurrence of natural disasters. Therefore, it is necessary to establish an effective emergency materials distribution system. The neural network model is used to calculate and the optimal emergency distribution route is analyzed according to the historical information and the data. Considering backpropagation, this paper further disposing a method to further improve the calculation of neural network algorithm. From the perspective of structural parameters of neural network algorithms, this paper uses genetic algorithms to construct predictions, and combines the actual purpose of material distribution after disasters. Considering the capacity constraints of distribution centers, time constraints, material needs of disaster relief points and different means of transportation, a dual-objective path planning with multiple distribution centers and multiple disaster relief points with the shortest overall delivery time and lowest overall delivery cost is constructed. By establishing an emergency material distribution system, it can maximize the prompt and accurate delivery after a natural disaster occurs, and solves the urgent needs of the people.

An eco-aware framework for AI-based analysis of contextually enriched automotive trip data

ABSTRACT The transport sector is one of the main contributors to gas emissions and the greenhouse effect. Mobility as a Service seeks to combine different means of transport (public transport, bicycles, cars, etc.) in an integrated way to solve this problem. Raising drivers’ awareness and advising them to drive more efficiently and economically can help reduce environmental impact. Ultimately, eco-driving can help save fuel, money and provide higher passenger satisfaction during the trip. The research uses a contextually enriched automotive data set collected via OBD, during passenger transportation in private cars. A multilevel analysis was conducted using a variety of approaches. With AI-based analysis, using unsupervised learning, we identified five groups of similarities as a function of speed and acceleration. The efficiency of each driver was examined and speed and acceleration/deceleration were noted as the most influential factors. Also, passengers’ perception of driving quality is negatively affected by sudden acceleration and deceleration. Passengers have a poor perception of the driving efficiency and additional efforts should be made to educate them about the environmental aspect of driving. Finally, the main contribution is the eco-aware framework, which covers and describes the entire process from data collection to analysis. The collected data are publicly available and include 110 trips represented by more than 65,000 data points.

Opportunities for Water Reuse Implementation in Metropolitan Areas in a Complex Approach with an LCA Analysis, Taking Warsaw, Poland as an Example

Water shortages are currently becoming a more global than local issue. This paper aims to demonstrate a complex, universal urban water reuse system, allowing for a reduction of freshwater withdrawal. Opportunities for improvement were analyzed in the categories of municipal services: power and heat production, greenery irrigation, landscaping, street and public transport fleet cleaning. Technical possibilities were coupled with current international legislative requirements. Two scenarios for universal, complex water reuse systems in the municipal area were evaluated, including all essential city services. Results of the case study show that ozonation and filtration of treated wastewater should be sufficient to obtain the desired water quality for urban purposes. Current legislation mainly addresses agricultural water reuse, so their requirements should be adjusted to assess the water quality needed for other applications. When water is used in public spaces, constant monitoring for the presence of pathogens should be maintained due to the risk of human exposure. A life cycle assessment was conducted to evaluate the environmental impacts associated with the topic of water transportation in urban areas, which is infrequently considered in such studies. Two scenarios including different means of transport were compared. It was shown that with constant daily operation, it is necessary to build an independent water network, since the environmental impact of water delivery by tank lorries increases substantially.

Analysis of the time and number of stops during the operation of selected public bus line in Rzeszow

Public transport fulfils many functions in the city. Its efficient functioning improves the comfort of residents’ life and eliminates communication exclusions. One of the basic criteria to evaluate different means of transport is the travel time on a given route. This time is largely dependent on stops. In the case of city buses, some of these stops result from the need to stop at bus stops. The second major part of these stops is forced by external traffic conditions. The article is devoted to examination of the number of stops and stopping times of a city bus on a selected route. The results obtained from the research indicate the possibility of reducing travel time and thus fuel consumption. These activities are part of the development of sustainable transport and contribute to the increase in the competitiveness of public transport in the city.

Role of Social Inclusion in Sustainable Urban Developments: An Analyse by PRISMA Technique

The world is becoming ever more urban. Cities housed were 50% of the world's population in 2007, and by 2030, that number is projected to increase 60%. Cities and metropolitan regions are the primary drivers of economic growth, contributing over 60% of the global GDP. Furthermore, they are responsible for about 70% of global carbon emissions and around 60% of resource utilisation. This research’s main objective is to address how sustainable development in urban areas leads to social inclusion. The paper is of great interest to industrialists and academicians who are interested in understanding the relationship between sustainable goals. The systematic review was conducted on the reporting checklist of the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA). 1373 publications were found after searching Scopus and other similar databases; 40 papers were included after being screened according to the pre-established standards. Out of 1373 articles only 40 articles were selected from the data base. Only a few researches from Africa and Asia were included, with the majority coming from Italy, China, and North America. According to the research, there were more empirical investigations than conceptual studies. Social, economic, and environmental factors all play a role in sustainable development. Social inclusion was commonly incorporated in urban sustainability, although it was often treated as a stand-alone component rather than being mainstreamed. Urbanization addresses issues of long-term development such as population expansion, slow economic and social progress, unemployment, and slums. Economic growth and technological advancement have altered people's quality of life. Citizen participation is essential for developing sustainable policy. Participation helps in improving the qualitative aspects of the project. Multiple theories were utilized for the purpose of understanding sustainable goals. Key strategy implications include prioritizing the most vulnerable socially excluded populations, ensuring equal representation in urban planning, designing people-centred systems, building partnerships with communities, considering socio-cultural-political-economic contexts, and recognizing both intended and unintended effects. Communication plays an important role in understanding sustainable development goals. To have sustainable development, a combination of different means of transport, a multi-model transport system should be prioritized. Future research needs to focus on Middle and Low income earning nations at the function of social inclusion using cross-disciplinary approaches in achieving sustainable development.

Streetscape Scenarios of Ephemeral Public Spaces before and during the pandemic of COVID-19 in Ura-Harajuku, Tokyo

Over the past two years, the Coronavirus pandemic has affected not only the modern working lifestyle but also has impacted street life by demanding social distance and avoiding closed and crowded places. Since then, the public spaces around the world have been trying to adapt to this new environment. Tokyo, one of the most populated metropolises in the world, known for its small apartments and lively streets, has previously made use of the street as a public space, for instance, some commercial Streets in Tokyo are enjoyed as an entire sidewalk by sharing the same space with different means of transportation, providing a walkable environment as a sustainable solution for accessibility in the actual city life. This study will clarify some of the necessities of the new streetscape environment, it will contribute to learning from the ephemeral and close relationship of the use of the street as public spaces in the COVID-19 pandemic and before, enlightening safe but lively pedestrian activities as sustainable and dynamic strategies for a constantly changing lifestyle, helping our cities to be resilient in unpredictable situations for the street life of today and the future emergencies.

EVALUATION OF THE USE OF SMART GLASSES IN IRS LOGISTICS

To effectively transport materials through different means of transport, it is essential to have an optimized warehouse logistics first. Thanks to the Industry 4.0 platform, there are several ways to accomplish the delivery of materials from a warehouse through transport by road, rail or air. This paper deals with a primary warehouse problem, which is the fast and accurate search and selection of required items in the stock. For this issue, the use of smart glass technology and its implementation in the logistic processes of warehouses could help. In a particular way, an IRS (Integrated Rescue System) warehouse was selected as an example. The augmented reality (AR) type of glasses was selected. The introductory part of this paper deals with the current situation in the warehouse and logistic processes, where the problem of lack of qualified staff and material supply is prevalent, particularly during different crisis situations, such as pandemics or high employee turnovers. The use of smart glasses is one of the many possible problem-solving variants in this field. Further, a basic description of smart glasses, possible uses and sorting are presented in this paper. For the experiment, it was necessary to choose several different commercially available models of smart glasses. An evaluation was provided by the Simple comparative method, Saaty's method and Linear partial utility function method and the best options were identified. Also, there is an example of smart glasses application for picking a particular component in an IRS warehouse in the last part of this paper.

Comparing children and parental preferences for active commuting to school. A focus on Italian middle-school students

Active commuting to school has significant positive health and environmental impacts; however, the increasing use of private vehicles has transformed school commuting from an active to a passive activity. Our research is aimed at analyzing which factors influence the choice on how to commute to school with a special focus on the role played by the Covid-19 health emergency.We carried out an online survey involving a sample of 193 students of a middle school of Trieste (Italy) and 217 parents. We find that attitudes and perceptions of children and parents significantly differ with respect to both the risks and benefits of different means of transportation and with respect to the policies that should be implemented to support active commuting to school.Our study is innovative with respect to the age range we focused on, since most of the literature deals with young children (elementary school) or with adolescents (high school) whose modal choice are taken either by their parents or by the students themselves. With reference to middle school students, instead, it is expected that children and parents jointly take the choice on how to commute and it is relevant to detect the role played by each family member in the decision-making process.Our results will be useful to local administrators, policy-makers and decision-makers in order to design, implement and support transport and demand management policies that are effective in shifting the mobility habits of middle school students toward healthier and more sustainable means of transportation.

Characterizing passenger-ship emissions: towards improved sustainability for MedMar fleet (gulf of Naples)

Promoting energetic and environmental sustainability in the naval sector requires a necessary understanding of the energy demand of vessels and of the factors affecting it. This article shows the results of a study conducted by the shipping company MedMar aimed at acquiring a detailed analysis of the energetic performances of its fleet. The study involved the analysis of fuel consumption and emissions of the fleet using a specific software and under different scenarios, assuming the navigation speed and the cargo level of the vessels as reference parameters. Simulations also provided a comparison, concerning emissions and externalities, between ships and two different means of transport. The purpose of this study was to identify potential areas of improvement, where ad hoc strategies could be used to further optimise the energetic and environmental performance of MedMar fleet and mitigate its impact on the delicate ecosystem of the gulf of Naples, where the fleet sails.

Analysing the potential for modal shift based on the logic of modal choice

This article explores how the logic underlying modal practices tends to modulate the population’s responsiveness to improvements in global transport supply. Based on a quantitative survey conducted in 2018–2019 among the working population of the cantons of Bern, Geneva and Vaud, it presents the construction of eight types, each of which corresponds to a specific combination of action logic and allows segmentation of travel behaviour. The exploration of the links between this typology and three metropolitan areas shows that the weight of the types within the active population is associated with the quality of the transport offered, especially at the workplace, and that the use of the different means of transport for commuting within the types stays consistent with the opinions of the respondents, as confirmed by an ordinal regression. All the results presented in this article show that a modal shift objective in daily mobility requires a strategy that is segmented by these types.

A study on The Level of Environmental Pollution by Heavy Metals in The City of Sebha-Libya

Abstract: The concentration of a number of heavy metals Lead, Cadmium, Zinc, Copper, Cobalt, Nickel and Iron was studied in the recent deposits of Sebha city. It was found that the concentration were below the pollution level and the concentration falls within the range of the natural concentrations of similar sediments in the different areas of the world. The concentration rates were as follows: Pb 10.06 ppm, Cd 0.09 ppm, Zn 1.88 ppm, Cu 0.79 ppm, Co 0.64 ppm, Ni 1.03 ppm and Fe 384.55 ppm. The results also indicated that the high concentrations of Pb, Zn, and Fe at the edge of the roads and the decrease with depth might be reflected the role of the different means of transportation represented by hydrocarbon’s exhausts in the concentration of these elements.

The Impact of COVID-19 on the Choice of Transport Means in Journeys to Work Based on the Selected Example from Poland

In recent years, the problem of overusing cars has been amplified by the COVID-19 pandemic. To understand this problem, we analyzed the results of a survey dedicated to mobility patterns of employees of the Wroclaw University of Sciences and Technology conducted in June and July 2021. Consideration was given to the share of different means of transport and their changes in pre-, through and post-COVID-19 periods and factors such as the distance, population and public transport standards specific for various journeys. Overall, we found that the pandemic strongly influenced the choice of transport means. We did not identify any significant influence of the distance or population on the share of transport means between various periods. However, regardless of the period, dependencies between the public transport standards and the share of transport means were evident.

Electric Power Integration Schemes of the Hybrid Fuel Cells and Batteries-Fed Marine Vessels—An Overview

Transportation electrification is undergoing a significant transition toward the utilization of efficient and reliable energy sources and smart integration schemes, where this transitioning is continuously facing ever-tightening challenges in order to comply with the increased environmental regulations. Among the different means of transportation, global maritime transport is responsible for 2%–3% of global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, and it is predicted to increase to 17% by 2050 if no changes are adapted. Hence, the international maritime organization (IMO) has targeted to reach a 50% reduction in GHG emissions by 2050 compared to 2008. Hence, alternative energy sources shall be utilized in order to meet these strict GHG emissions reduction targets, where battery- and hydrogen-fed fuel cells can play a vital role in such aspects. Since the output of these two energy sources is unregulated dc voltage, their connection to the whole ship power system can be accomplished in several ways, where each way has its features, in addition to utilizing different power conditioning stages (PCSs), and these features are not well clarified and compared in the literature. Hence, this article presents an overview of the possible integration schemes that can be utilized in fuel cell- and battery-fed vessels, which is supported with a comparative assessment. This is also presented along with highlighting the state-of-the-art PCSs that are available in the market and can be utilized in these integration schemes within marine vessels. Such overview and comparative assessment are seen to be of significant importance and added value for researchers and developers in both the academic and industrial sides in order to accelerate the adoption of fuel cells in marine systems for zero-emission shipping.

Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic Disruptions on Container Transport

Abstract The COVID-19 pandemic caused unprecedented disruptions in the global economy, and container transport as a predominant means of the goods flow in global supply chains. Different measures employed worldwide to limit the virus spread, such as restrictions and quarantines on border crossings, port staff, container ships, transhipment terminals and the inland transport sector, created a colossal management challenge and caused a domino effect in delays. Consequently, it led to blank sailings and enormous rises in freight transport prices, the lack of supply reliability and shifts between different means of transport. These delays, enhanced by the Suez Canal blockage, exacerbated an already acute problem of the empty container shortage in the market. This paper aims to provide an in-depth overview of the COVID-19 pandemic’s impact on container transport and underline ways to increase resiliency against future disruptions. The research included a literature overview and formulation of recommendations. The paper contributes to the broad research of container transport management and provides insights for practitioners responsible for transport planning and disruption management.