Distribution of Value of Time and Ways to Model Value of Time in Long-Range Planning Models

As managed lanes (ML) become more integrated in regional urban networks with existing general purpose (GP) lanes, the distribution of travelers’ value of time (VOT) is becoming more important for transportation planning agencies to quantify in order to accurately predict future travel patterns. Since travelers’ VOT varies depending on a multitude of factors, this study investigates ways that we can determine the VOT distribution of a region from existing travel data as well as effective ways that we can model VOT using traffic assignment algorithms. In networks with available link volumes and toll data on segments where travelers have the option of choosing to stay on the GP lanes or entering a ML facility, a VOT distribution can be inferred assuming that travelers who enter the ML choose to do so based on a certain “threshold” VOT. When modeling these VOT distributions, errors are observed in the traffic assignment results when both the continuous nature of VOT distributions are discretized, and when varying toll values are assumed to be constant. Specifically in the context of TransCAD software, link travel time errors appear to be much less significant than flow errors when tested on a nine node network. Additional experimentation on larger regional networks is needed to verify the significance of these errors and their impact on predicted travel patterns.Civil, Architectural, and Environmental Engineerin

MEASURING THE RETURNS TO AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION RESEARCH EXPENDITURES FOR CORN, WHEAT AND SOYBEANS

Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies,

Experimental and theoretical research on the electrical conductivity of a liquid desiccant for the liquid desiccant air-conditioning system: LiCl aqueous solution

At present, the energy consumption in buildings occupies a large proportion of total energy use, and air-conditionings cost a large proportion of energy in the buildings. The liquid desiccant air-conditioning system has a good energy saving potential and the electrodialysis (ED) regeneration is a reliable choice for the liquid desiccant regeneration. In order to establish the energy consumption model and the performance coefficient model of liquid desiccant air-conditioning system based on ED regeneration using LiCl, experimental and theoretical research on the electrical conductivity of LiCl aqueous solution with a lot of concentrations and temperatures was conducted in this paper. The results show that when polynomial degrees of the mass concentration and the temperature of the LiCl aqueous solution are both 3, the electrical conductivity model for the LiCl aqueous solution is most suitable as its simplicity and high accuracy. Moreover, when the concentration is 36% and the temperature is 22 °C, the liquid desiccant cooling system has the maximum COP of about 5. Finally, a case study of a small office room was conducted, and the result shows that the liquid desiccant cooling system based on electrodialysis regeneration has a good energy-saving potential

Orbital Resonance Mode in Superconducting Iron Pnictides

We show that the fluctuations associated with ferro orbital order in the $d_{xz}$ and $d_{yz}$ orbitals can develop a sharp resonance mode in the superconducting state with a nodeless gap on the Fermi surface. This orbital resonance mode appears below the particle-hole continuum and is analogous to the magnetic resonance mode found in various unconventional superconductors. If the pairing symmetry is $s_{\pm}$, a dynamical coupling between the orbital ordering and the d-wave subdominant pairing channels is present by symmetry. Therefore the nature of the resonance mode depends on the relative strengths of the fluctuations in these two channels, which could vary significantly for different families of the iron based superconductors. The application of our theory to a recent observation of a new $\delta$-function-like peak in the B$_{1g}$ Raman spectrum of Ba$_{0.6}$K$_{0.4}$Fe$_2$As$_2$ is discussed.Comment: 6 pages, 3 figure