Cooperative Driving in Mixed Traffic: An Infrastructure-Assisted Approach

Automated driving in urban traffic requires extensive information from the surroundings. The most promisring approach to facilitate automated driving in mixed traffic is platooning of connected and automated vehicles (CAV). In this research, we investigate a human-leading strategy (HL) by which CAVs drive in platoons with the CAV leading the platoon driven by a human. We thoroughly formulate the problem of managing CAV platoons by the HL strategy, systematically model the platoon dynamics and the traffic system, as well as propose two approaches to implement this strategy. By conducting experiments in a simulation framework that combines the traffic and the communication network, the implementation of the HL strategy is evaluated with the consideration of travel time, automated driving experience, and communication reliability. The simulation results revealed that the HL strategy makes it feasible for CAVs to drive in automated mode in an urban mixed traffic network, while its performance relies on the CAV penetration rate and communication reliability. In addition, the results suggest that the performance of the HL strategy can be significantly improved by approaches that allow uninterrupted platooning and result in stable platoon dynamics

Enterprise Reform and China’s Modernization

In China’s modernization, enterprises have experienced a complex process of change, which has promoted or restricted the process of China’s modernization. From the perspective of government function adjustment; this chapter studies the enterprise transformation process in China’s modernization from a historical perspective. It is found that although micro problems such as corporate governance and principal-agent are very important, they are only the second problem. The first problem should be the adjustment of government functions. The transformation practice of western countries has also proved the importance of flexible adjustment of government functions. In China, during the imperial period, enterprises in modern China did not develop due to the failure of government function adjustment. Thus, to catch up with and surpass the world powers, the new China after 1949 adopted a planned economic system, which is reasonable in the path. The Chinese government carried out the social transformation of market economy orientation after 1979. From then, the enterprises have become modern enterprises in the market economy. The findings of this chapter are of great significance to enhance the institutional innovation of enterprises and promote the process of China’s modernization

An expert PI controller with dead time compensation of monitor AGC in hot strip mill

Hot strip rolling production is a high-speed process which requires high-speed control and communication system, but because of the long distance between the delivery stand of the finishing mill and the gauge meter, dead time occurs when strip is transported from the site of the actuator to another location where the gauge meter takes its reading, which seriously affects the thickness control effect. According to the process model which is developed based on the measured data, a filtered Smith predictor is applied to predict the thickness deviation of the finishing mill. At the same time, an expert PI controller based on feature information is proposed for the strip thinning during looper rising and coiler biting period and the strip thickening during the tension loss period of the strip tail end. As a result, the thickness accuracy has been improved by about 1.06% at a steady rolling speed and about 1.23% in acceleration and deceleration

Diversification Strategy and Comparative Financial Performance in the Chinese Non-life Insurance Industry

This dissertation investigates the impacts of a firm’s diversification strategy and firm-specific factors on the financial performance in the Chinese non-life insurance industry using data from 2003 to 2007. The return on assets and risk-adjusted return on assets are chosen as the proxies of a firm’s financial performance. With the separation of product and geographic diversification, as measured by a modified Herfindahl index of gross written premiums, the results from both the panel data analysis and the cross-sectional data analysis indicate that large firms or firms with a high degree of product diversification outperform the others. In addition, the inconclusive results from the impacts of the group status, ownership structures and other firm-specific factors may suggest a complex relationship between the factors and a firm’s financial performance, which is unique for the characteristics in the Chinese non-life insurance industry

Pursuing Equilibrium of Medical Resources via Data Empowerment in Parallel Healthcare System

The imbalance between the supply and demand of healthcare resources is a global challenge, which is particularly severe in developing countries. Governments and academic communities have made various efforts to increase healthcare supply and improve resource allocation. However, these efforts often remain passive and inflexible. Alongside these issues, the emergence of the parallel healthcare system has the potential to solve these problems by unlocking the data value. The parallel healthcare system comprises Medicine-Oriented Operating Systems (MOOS), Medicine-Oriented Scenario Engineering (MOSE), and Medicine-Oriented Large Models (MOLMs), which could collect, circulate, and empower data. In this paper, we propose that achieving equilibrium in medical resource allocation is possible through parallel healthcare systems via data empowerment. The supply-demand relationship can be balanced in parallel healthcare systems by (1) increasing the supply provided by digital and robotic doctors in MOOS, (2) identifying individual and potential demands by proactive diagnosis and treatment in MOSE, and (3) improving supply-demand matching using large models in MOLMs. To illustrate the effectiveness of this approach, we present a case study optimizing resource allocation from the perspective of facility accessibility. Results demonstrate that the parallel healthcare system could result in up to 300% improvement in accessibility

Evolutionary City: Towards a Flexible, Agile and Symbiotic System

Urban growth sometimes leads to rigid infrastructure that struggles to adapt to changing demand. This paper introduces a novel approach, aiming to enable cities to evolve and respond more effectively to such dynamic demand. It identifies the limitations arising from the complexity and inflexibility of existing urban systems. A framework is presented for enhancing the city's adaptability perception through advanced sensing technologies, conducting parallel simulation via graph-based techniques, and facilitating autonomous decision-making across domains through decentralized and autonomous organization and operation. Notably, a symbiotic mechanism is employed to implement these technologies practically, thereby making urban management more agile and responsive. In the case study, we explore how this approach can optimize traffic flow by adjusting lane allocations. This case not only enhances traffic efficiency but also reduces emissions. The proposed evolutionary city offers a new perspective on sustainable urban development, highliting the importance of integrated intelligence within urban systems.Comment: 11 pages, 11 figure

Towards Integrated Traffic Control with Operating Decentralized Autonomous Organization

With a growing complexity of the intelligent traffic system (ITS), an integrated control of ITS that is capable of considering plentiful heterogeneous intelligent agents is desired. However, existing control methods based on the centralized or the decentralized scheme have not presented their competencies in considering the optimality and the scalability simultaneously. To address this issue, we propose an integrated control method based on the framework of Decentralized Autonomous Organization (DAO). The proposed method achieves a global consensus on energy consumption efficiency (ECE), meanwhile to optimize the local objectives of all involved intelligent agents, through a consensus and incentive mechanism. Furthermore, an operation algorithm is proposed regarding the issue of structural rigidity in DAO. Specifically, the proposed operation approach identifies critical agents to execute the smart contract in DAO, which ultimately extends the capability of DAO-based control. In addition, a numerical experiment is designed to examine the performance of the proposed method. The experiment results indicate that the controlled agents can achieve a consensus faster on the global objective with improved local objectives by the proposed method, compare to existing decentralized control methods. In general, the proposed method shows a great potential in developing an integrated control system in the ITSComment: 6 pages, 6 figures. To be published in 2023 IEEE 26th International Conference on Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITSC