Critical enhancements of a dynamic traffic assignment model for highly congested, complex urban network

Thesis (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Civil and Environmental Engineering, 2010.Cataloged from PDF version of thesis.Includes bibliographical references (p. 109-115).To accurately replicate the highly congested traffic situation of a complex urban network, significant challenges are posed to current simulation-based dynamic traffic assignment (DTA) models. This thesis discusses these challenges and corresponding solutions with consideration of model accuracy and computational efficiency. DynaMITP, an off-line mesoscopic DTA model is enhanced. Model success is achieved by several critical enhancements aimed to better capture the traffic characteristics in urban networks. A Path-Size Logit route choice model is implemented to address the overlapping routes problem. The explicit representation of lane-groups accounts for traffic delays and queues at intersections. A modified treatment of acceptance capacity is required to deal with the large number of short links in the urban network. The network coding is revised to maintain enough loader access capacity in order to avoid artificial bottlenecks. In addition, the impacts of bicycles and pedestrians on automobile traffic is modeled by calibrating dynamic road segment capacities. The enhanced model is calibrated and applied to a case study network extracted from the city of Beijing, China. Data used in the calibration include sensor counts and floating car travel time. The improvements of the model performance are indicated by promising results from validation tests.by Zheng Wei.S.M

The 2010 Winter Olympics: A Mixed-Methods Investigation of the Hotel Industry and Tourism in the Demographic Clusters metro–Vancouver versus the alpine–Resort Whistler

In this thesis, applying an innovative postmodern equal-weight/sequential QUAN→PHEN Mixed-Methods Phenomenological Research (‘MMPR’) approach to study an Olympics’ impact within its two-cluster socio-demographic footprint forms its main contribution to knowledge. Facilitating between-methods triangulation is a novel eclectic pragmatic approach that is used to capture the richness of thematic data flowing from in-depth, open-ended interviews with most – 62 in all – senior Hoteliers spread evenly between distinct urban Metro-Vancouver and rural alpine-Whistler, whilst concurrently capitalizing on the availability of a unique BC Stats proprietary micro-municipal-level secondary data source, i.e., British Columbia’s ‘Additional Hotel Room Tax’ (‘AHRT’). Typically, traditional mono-method-positivist neo-classical economic syntheses are used to quantify an Olympic Games’ ex-ante or ex-post impact. This study’s findings confirm that such syntheses attempts, at the micro-municipal level, lead to inevitable dead-ends. At a sub-national level of micro-granularity, using available economic models is an impossible task due to the insurmountable practical problem of complete lack of, or paucity, of data. When applied to assess mega-events, such modelling is shown to lack credibility; models are insufficiently comprehensive or its users consciously engage in ‘shenanigans’ by force-fitting input/output to produce pre-ordained outcomes for political expedience and meeting agency interests. The ‘MMPR’ approach acknowledges and respects the established and ‘current-thinking’ paradigmatic epistemological and ontological perspectives. ‘Hotel Activity’, measured via ‘AHRT’, is substituted as a ‘Proxy’ for ‘Tourism’ following empirically establishing these three variables as highly correlated. Prevalent academic findings of negative impacts from Winter Olympics are not borne out. Phenomenological issues of ‘illusory correlations’ and ‘data saturation’ are addressed

Introduction to Data Science

This book was developed for ICT/LIS 661: Introduction to Data Science, as offered in the University of Kentucky\u27s School of Information Science. It adapts and expands on openly licensed materials to introduce readers to basic statistical concepts, the R programming language, and philosophical critique of data science. This open access textbook was supported by the University of Kentucky Libraries Alternative Textbook programhttps://uknowledge.uky.edu/slis_textbooks/1000/thumbnail.jp

Library buildings around the world

"Library Buildings around the World" is a survey based on researches of several years. The objective was to gather library buildings on an international level starting with 1990

News Clipping from 1994 Relevant to Our Interest in Chernobyl

News coverage that could inform our work in Chernobyl and USA... eg, CLINTON WEIGHS NEXT STEP ON RADIATION TESTSRTw 1/1/94 9:42 AM HILTON HEAD, SC, Jan 1 (Reuter) - President Clinton said Saturday he supports Energy Secretary Hazel O\u27Leary\u27s release of documents disclosing secret Cold War radiation tests on people and said the next step is to decide what to do with the information. See more at https://archives.library.tmc.edu/dm-ms211-012-0025

International Navigation Market

Economic record of human society in the last period has involved an unprecedented growth of world trade, trafficking of basic raw materials needed for industry and agriculture, and trade in industrial products or food. To the huge volume of movement of goods, shipping takes back the role of first order both quantitatively as well as efficiency. This situation is encouraged by factors such as diversification of trade, number of participants in this process and the increasingly complex international trade