การศึกษาปัจจัยที่มีผลต่อยอดจำหน่ายน้ำมันเชื้อเพลิงของสถานีบริการน้ำมันกรณีศึกษาจังหวัดนครราชสีมา

The objective of this research to develop models for fuel sale of a gas station and proportion of fuel sale to various vehicle types in order to estimate vehicle kilometers of travel. This study randomly selected 31 gas stations in Nakhon Ratchasima province. The fuel sale models were developed using multiple linear regression to find a relationship between fuel sale of a gas station with physical conditions, the location vehicles passing station. The final models have coefficient of determinant (R2) of 0.512 and 0.280 for gasoline and diesel groups, respectively. Factors influencing gasoline sale of a gas station include the number of gasoline nozzles, the distance from the gas station to CBD and road density. For diesel group, factors include the distance from the gas station to CBD and the percentage of heavy vehicle passing gas stations. For the proportion of fuel sale to various vehicle types, multinomial logit models were developed. The final models have likelihood ratio index (ρ2) of 0.290 and 0.405 for gasoline and diesel, respectively. The benefit of the study is to estimate vehicle kilometer of travel (VKT) for various vehicle types in Nakhon Ratchasima which will be useful for transport-related energy planning in the future

Departure Time Choice (DTC) Behavior for Intercity Travel during a Long-Holiday in Bangkok, Thailand

Time-of-day (TOD) or departure time choice (DTC) has become an interesting issue over two decades. Many researches have intensely focused on time-of-day or departure time choice study, especially workday departures. However, the travel behavior during long-holiday/intercity travel has received relatively little attention in previous studies. This paper shows the characteristics of long-holiday intercity travel patterns based on 2012 New Year data collected in Thailand with a specific focus on departure time choice of car commuters due to traffic congestion occurring during the beginning of festivals. 590 interview data were analyzed to provide more understanding of general characteristics of DTC behavior for intercity travel at the beginning of a Bangkok long-holiday. Moreover, the Multinomial Logit Model (MNL) was used to find the car-based DTC model. The results showed that travelers tend to travel at the peak period when the parameters of personal and household are not so significant, in contrast to the trip-related characteristics and holiday variables that play important roles in traveler decision on departure time choice. Finally, some policies to distribute travel demand and reduce the repeatable traffic congestion at the beginning of festivals are recommended. Document type: Articl

Diagnostic accuracy of a noninvasive hepatic ultrasound score for non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) in the Brazilian Longitudinal Study of Adult Health (ELSA-Brasil)

CONTEXT AND OBJECTIVE: Noninvasive strategies for evaluating non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) have been investigated over the last few decades. Our aim was to evaluate the diagnostic accuracy of a new hepatic ultrasound score for NAFLD in the ELSA-Brasil study.DESIGN AND SETTINGS: Diagnostic accuracy study conducted in the ELSA center, in the hospital of a public university.METHODS: Among the 15,105 participants of the ELSA study who were evaluated for NAFLD, 195 individuals were included in this sub-study. Hepatic ultrasound was performed (deep beam attenuation, hepatorenal index and anteroposterior diameter of the right hepatic lobe) and compared with the hepatic steatosis findings from 64-channel high-resolution computed tomography (CT). We also evaluated two clinical indices relating to NAFLD: the fatty liver index (FLI) and the hepatic steatosis index (HSI).RESULTS: Among the 195 participants, the NAFLD frequency was 34.4%. High body mass index, high waist circumference, diabetes and hypertriglyceridemia were associated with high hepatic attenuation and large anteroposterior diameter of the right hepatic lobe, but not with the hepatorenal index. The hepatic ultrasound score, based on hepatic attenuation and the anteroposterior diameter of the right hepatic lobe, presented the best performance for NAFLD screening at the cutoff point ≥ 1 point; sensitivity: 85.1%; specificity: 73.4%; accuracy: 79.3%; and area under the curve (AUC 0.85; 95% confidence interval, CI: 0.78-0.91)]. FLI and HSI presented lower performance (AUC 0.76; 95% CI: 0.69-0.83) than CT.CONCLUSION: The hepatic ultrasound score based on hepatic attenuation and the anteroposterior diameter of the right hepatic lobe has good reproducibility and accuracy for NAFLD screening

The diagnostic accuracy of US, CT, MRI and 1H-MRS for the evaluation of hepatic steatosis compared with liver biopsy: a meta-analysis

OBJECTIVE: To meta-analyse the diagnostic accuracy of US, CT, MRI and (1)H-MRS for the evaluation of hepatic steatosis. METHODS: From a comprehensive literature search in MEDLINE, EMBASE, CINAHL and Cochrane (up to November 2009), articles were selected that investigated the diagnostic performance imaging techniques for evaluating hepatic steatosis with histopathology as the reference standard. Cut-off values for the presence of steatosis on liver biopsy were subdivided into four groups: (1) >0, >2 and >5% steatosis; (2) >10, >15 and >20%; (3) >25, >30 and >33%; (4) >50, >60 and >66%. Per group, summary estimates for sensitivity and specificity were calculated. The natural-logarithm of the diagnostic odds ratio (lnDOR) was used as a single indicator of test performance. RESULTS: 46 articles were included. Mean sensitivity estimates for subgroups were 73.3-90.5% (US), 46.1-72.0% (CT), 82.0-97.4% (MRI) and 72.7-88.5% ((1)H-MRS). Mean specificity ranges were 69.6-85.2% (US), 88.1-94.6% (CT), 76.1-95.3% (MRI) and 92.0-95.7% ((1)H-MRS). Overall performance (lnDOR) of MRI and (1)H-MRS was better than that for US and CT for all subgroups, with significant differences in groups 1 and 2. CONCLUSION: MRI and (1)H-MRS can be considered techniques of choice for accurate evaluation of hepatic steatosi