Innovative Interior Designs for Urban Freight Distribution Using Light Rail Systems

High pollution levels and congestion in urban centres are an increasing concern for local councils in the UK. Heavy goods vehicles delivering urban freight to city centres are a leading cause of this problem. This paper discusses the concept of using light rail networks to deliver freight to city centres from surrounding businesses. Specifically various innovative designs are considered for the interior of the metro carriage and developed into visual models using Autodesk Inventor software. A full evaluation of all the designs developed is completed, resulting in a proposed design for consideration. The conclusion reached is that the proposed interior design is viable and coincides with the future metro fleet designs and concepts

New urban freight issues for the Paris region: results of recent consultation processes with business organizations

This article describes recent freight consultations in the Paris region (called the Ile de France) and assesses their usefulness to the urban freight policy. The Ile de France is one of 22 French regions, and is one of the largest and most developed metropolitan areas in Europe. It is currently confronting major economic, environmental, and institutional challenges. In this changing context, freight and logistics activities have been acknowledged as major contributors to the region's economic well being that nonetheless have negative environmental effects such as noise, air pollution, and CO2 emissions. To manage freight transport in a more sustainable manner, the City of Paris and, more recently, the Ile-de-France Region, have engaged in consultations with freight transport firms, carriers' organizations, and shippers' associations. Method : Our method is based on personal knowledge and experience, on a quantitative analysis of meeting records, and on interviews with local practitioners and elected officials. We examine consultations at three levels in the Ile de France Region's institutional framework: the local level, represented by the 'neighbourhood councils' in the city of Paris's individual districts; the municipal level, with the Paris Delivery Charter experience (2006-2009); and the regional level, through the Ile-de-France Regional Council's recent experiences with freight consultation. Results and conclusion : We analyse the difficulties encountered when conducting negotiations with the freight and logistics sectors in a complex urban environment. We describe the relationships between local and regional processes, showing how they have benefited from and sometimes overlapped with one another. Conditions for success are suggested, and a few guidelines are proposed. The Paris case leads to three conclusions. First of all, with regard to freight issues, specific consultations need to be implemented, because regular consultationsneglect freight transport issues. Secondly, freight consultations are of little use at the local and municipal levels. They need to be combined with metropolitan or region-wide consultation, because freight movement in urban areas is logistically connected to regional and national supply chains. Finally, it is important that consultation outcomes translate into effective changes in policies and behaviours. If not, well-intentioned freight companies willing to improve their urban operations will be discouraged from doing so and the very purpose of freight consultations, which is to promote more efficient and sustainable urban supply chains based on voluntary commitments, will be lost

Stability of the self-assembled polymer film from PAH et PSS

International audienc

Investigations in the initial build-up stages of polyelectrolyte multilayers by laser reflectometry and atomic force microscopy

This work aims to investigate the initial build-up stages of polyelectrolyte multilayers formed by the successive deposition of the weakly charged Poly(Allyl amine, HCl), PAH and the strong acid Poly(Styrene Sulfonate), PSS, on silica at pH = 9. Two complementary tools were used: laser reflectometry to determine the step-by-step deposited weight of each polymer and Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM) to characterize the topography and measure the thickness of the film. The experiments show that the deposited weight of PAH is the same at each step (around 0.5 mg.m− 2), whereas that of PSS increases more or less linearly along with the step number. Starting at the second polymer deposit (PSS), the structure of the film is very heterogeneous, with a thin polymer layer and bumps that are attributed to the presence of PSS/PAH hydrophobic complexes. The amount of bumps and their height were determined at each of the ten first polymer deposits. The film thickness between the bumps was evaluated by scratching small areas with an AFM tip. Our results support a former description of film growth, based on the electrostatic interactions between the two polymers and the substrate. They also reveal different the roles of the two polymers in the growth of the films: PAH is responsible for the progressive bi-dimensional coverage of the surface area and PSS for the increase in the thickness of the film

Stability of Self-Assembled Polymer Films Investigated by Optical Laser Reflectometry

We studied the influence of post-treatment rinsing after the formation of self-assembled polyelectrolyte films made with the weak base poly(allylamine hydrochloride) (PAH) and the strong acid poly(styrene sulfonate) (PSS). The stability of the film was studied using optical fixed-angle laser reflectometry to measure the release of polymeric material and AFM experiments to reveal the change of morphology and thickness. We found that the polymer films were stable upon rinsing when the pH was the same in the solution as that used in the buildup (pH 9). The films released most of the polymeric material when rinsed at higher pH values, but a layer remained that corresponded to a PAH monolayer directly bound with the silica surface. Films containing at least four bilayers were stable upon rinsing at lower pH values, but the stability of thinner films depended on the type of the last polymer deposited. They were stable in the case of PSS as an outermost deposit, but they released a large part of their material in the case of PAH. The stability results were determined using a simple model of the step-by-step assembly of the polymer film described formerly

Croissance et stabilité de films auto-assemblés de polyélectrolytes

International audienc