An Analysis of Traveler’s Evaluation Frame Toward Public Transport Focusing on Dynamic Nature of Reference Point

The internal reference point of traveler’s decision-making is dynamic in nature. Public transport ridership considers a decision based on the utility value of gains and losses which can be modeled by using mental accounting theory. This study aims to analyze the dynamic of internal reference points for public transport ridership after implementing transport policies. It describes the decision of travelers’ behavior when facing the dynamic value of the utility, whether it is increasing, decreases or stable. This study developed a travelers’ behavior model based on mental accounting theory. The result showed that the public transport ridership’s are more likely to change their reference point when realizing gains than losses for transport policies. Furthermore, the way of public transport ridership combines the decrease and increase of the utility value showed that travelers tend to consider which gains and losses occurred simultaneously. Therefore, the integration outcome is more desirable than segregation outcomes, and revealed that mental accounting theory plays a major role in public transport ridership. This survey was conducted for the short-term distance trip, particularly in shopping trip from the residential area (origin) to Community Business District (destination) in Matsuyama city, Japan

Comparative Study of Density over Time by Several Approaches Using Individual and Sample Data in the Mixed Traffic

At the macroscopic perspective, traffic analysis requires the knowledge of Fundamental Diagram, which involves the relationship between the variables of density, flow, and speed. As one of the macroscopic traffic flow variables, density can be derived by several approaches. At first, the density of traffic was measured over space, which difficult to be collected mainly in the long section of the road. Therefore, the density variable was simply derived from the fundamental relation of macroscopic traffic flow variable. By this method, the individual speed and flow variable are required in the local measurement. Both traffic density and flow will apply the concept of PCU, which refers to the Indonesian Highway Capacity Manual, 1997 to consider the different characteristic of the vehicle. In the mixed traffic of developing countries, providing traffic data was difficult due to the limitation of the traffic sensor infrastructures. Frequently, providing density variable relies on the sample data for speed analysis. In the present study, the estimation of density will focus on the local measurement over a time interval. By using individual data, density is proposed to be measured directly over time, in which the equation can be modified to utilize the sample data. The number of sample for speed analysis will be varied to know the accuracy and the performance of each approach in the density estimation of mixed traffic. Several approaches for density estimation will be summarized and compared each other. Theoretically, the estimated density which measured over time and space by using individual data can provide the most appropriate result. So, this estimated density will be established as an actual density throughout the study. Then, the performance of each approach either using individual or sample data will be evaluated upon the actual traffic density by mean absolute percentage error (MAPE). The result shows by using the same trap length to measure the speed, the existing and the proposed approaches provide a good estimation of density either by utilizing individual data or sample data of the vehicle speed. This result was indicated by the MAPE value, which obtained under ten percent. Based on the further evaluation of the MAPE value, the performance of each approach was changed by utilizing the different category of data. In addition, estimation of traffic density which utilizes the sample data of vehicle speed has good reliability

A STUDY OF THE SIGNAL CONTROL FOR THE MINIMIZATION OF CO 2 EMISSION

ABSTRACT This research analyses the difference between the signal control parameters from the different control policies for minimizing CO 2 emission and minimizing total delay time. First, a method to estimate the volume of CO 2 emission using probe vehicle data and traffic simulation is proposed. In this method, the volumes of CO 2 emission of each vehicle can be estimated using their travel time, travel distance and the acceleration energy equivalent, and using the CO 2 estimating method the isolated signal control parameters can be calculated, which minimize the volume of CO 2 emission. Next, these two signal control policies are compared in order to confirm in which condition these two signal control parameters become different. As a result, this study indicated that these two signal control parameters must be different but difference does not appear in some traffic situations

Estimation of a Time Dependent OD Matrix from Traffic Counts Using Dynamic Traffic Simulation

ABSTRACT This study proposes a method of estimating a time dependent OD (Origin-Destination) matrix from traffic counts using dynamic traffic simulation and investigates how accurately the OD matrix can be estimated in relation to the simulation parameter values

An Evaluation of Effects of Dynamic Route Guidance on an Urban Expressway Network”,

ABSTRACT This study evaluates impacts of dynamic route guidance by applying our traffic simulation model, SOUND, to the Tokyo Metropolitan Expressway network. The focus is placed on how the information quality (present or predicted information) and a share of equipped vehicles of navigation systems influence on traffic condition. Proposing several scenarios with different compositions of driver types and with/without an accident, we examine the impacts qualitatively. In most cases of this study, the predicted information improves traffic condition more than the present one, especially in a case with an accident unexpectedly occurred

A Manual of Verification Process for Road Network Simulation Models - an Examination in Japan

SUMMARY This paper at first introduces an examination in Japan to standardize traffic simulation models. The basic idea of the standardization here is to estimate abilities of existing models how to reproduce traffic conditions through verification and validation. Verification implies qualifying tests using virtual data sets in order to make a connection between the simulation model and the traffic-engineering theory clear, while validation means an evaluation process with real world data. Subsequently to the general introduction, the verification process will be detailed with its philosophy and basic test configurations to verify models' functions concerning to 1) vehicle generation, 2) bottleneck capacity at simple road sections, 3) capacity of merging/diverging areas, 4) traffic jam growing/shrinking with propagation of shock waves, 5) capacity of left/right turn at an intersection, and 6) drivers' route choice behavior. In the last part of this paper, we briefly state the on-going project to compare some popular simulation models in Japan

Successful implantation after reducing matrix metalloproteinase activity in the uterine cavity

BACKGROUND: Recently, the concept of recurrent implantation failure (RIF) in assisted reproductive technology has been enlarged. Chronic uterine inflammation is a known cause of implantation failure and is associated with high matrix metalloproteinase (MMP) activity in uterine cavity flushing. MMP activity of women with RIF has been reported to be higher than that of fertile women. In the present retrospective study we evaluated the efficacy of treatment for high MMP activity in the uterine cavity of patients with RIF. METHODS: Of the 597 patients recruited to the study, 360 patients underwent MMP measurements and 237 patients did not (control group). All patients had failed to become pregnant, despite at least two transfers of good-quality embryos. Gelatinase MMP-2 and MMP-9 activity in uterine flushing fluid was detected by enzymology (MMP test). All samples were classified into two groups (positive or negative) based on the intensity of the bands on the enzyme zymogram, which represents the degree of MMP activity. Patients who tested positive on the initial test were treated for 2 weeks with a quinolone antibiotic and a corticosteroid, and subsequently underwent a second MMP test. Negative results on the second MMP tests after treatment and subsequent rates of pregnancy and miscarriage were used to evaluate the efficacy of treatment. Data were analyzed by the Mann–Whitney U-test and the chi-square test. RESULTS: Of the patients who underwent the MMP test, 15.6% had positive results (high MMP activity). After treatment, 89.3% of patients had negative results on the second MMP test. These patients had a significantly better pregnancy rate (42.0%) than the control group (26.6%), as well as a lower miscarriage rate (28.5% vs 36.5%, respectively). CONCLUSIONS: A 2-week course of antibiotics and corticosteroids effectively improves the uterine environment underlying RIF by reducing MMP activity

The Possibility of the Curriculum Designs implemented by the Social Studies Teachers : A Case Study on the Development and Application of the History Resource Book

The purposes of this paper are to describe the curriculum designs implemented by the four Social Studies teachers in the same school but from the different background, and to explain the reasons why they showed the various designs, even though they are requested to apply the common history resource book into the regular classes. The present results suggested that the ideas and aims concerning the subject which each Social Studies teacher conceived had much influences on the differentiation of their practices, but their experiences of the professional development on the curriculum and instruction, the orientation of the school management, and the leadership demonstrated by the principal had more influences on the assimilation of their attitude toward the class improvement, particularly in the case of sampled teachers and school

Platoon-based traffic flow model for estimating breakdown probability at single-lane expressway bottlenecks

This study investigates the mechanism of traffic breakdown and establishes a traffic flow model that precisely simulates the stochastic and dynamic processes of traffic flow at a bottleneck. The proposed model contains two models of stochastic processes associated with traffic flow dynamics: a model of platoon formation behind a bottleneck and a model of speed transitions within a platoon. After these proposed models are validated, they are applied to a simple one-way, one-lane expressway section containing a bottleneck, and the stochastic nature of traffic breakdown is demonstrated through theoretical exercises