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The development of artificial intelligence has brought rapid changes to human life and brought great convenience to human activities. The development of various modes of transportation has also brought convenience to people's travel and commodity transactions, but it has also added more issues that need to be carefully considered. Because of the diversification of transportation methods, transportation problems also arise many fields, such as air transportation, water transportation, and land transportation. The development of mathematical models and algorithms for transportation problems is also in full swing, and it is a major trend to introduce mathematical models and algorithms into the solution of transportation problems. This paper deals with the multi-index transportation problem by establishing a multi-index mathematical model and algorithm to find a scientific transportation method for the goods to be transported, so as to save the cost and time of transportation. Experiments show that the mathematical model established in this paper has high efficiency for solving the multi-index transportation problem. At the same time, the most suitable transportation method can also be selected for the transportation of goods, and the route planned by the mathematical model and algorithm can reduce the risk to 12.34%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we studied a stochastic bi-objective mathematical model for effective and reliable rescue operations in multigraph network. The problem is addressed by a two-stage stochastic nonlinear mixed-integer program where the reliability of routes is explicitly traded-off with total weighted completion time. The underlying transportation network is able to keep a group of multiattribute parallel arcs between every pair of nodes. By this, the proposed model should consider the routing decision in logistic planning along with the path selection in an uncertain condition. The first stage of the model concerns with the vehicle routing decisions which is not involved with random parameters; besides, the second stage of the model involves with the departure time at each demand node and path finding decisions after observation of random vectors in the first stage considering a finite number of scenarios. To efficiently solve the presented model, an enhanced nondominated sorting genetic algorithm II (NSGA-II) is proposed. The effectiveness of the introduced method is then evaluated by conducting several numerical examples. The results implied the high performance of our method in comparison to the standard NSGA-II. In further analyses, we investigated the beneficiary of using multigraph setting and showed the applicability of the proposed model using a real transportation case. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to study the adaptability of urban agglomeration transport supply and demand structure, and to provide the basis for decision-makers when optimizing the structure of transport supply and demand in urban agglomeration, this paper proposed and verified a structure equilibrium theory on the basis of entropy theory. Firstly, based on the analysis of the influencing factors, an urban agglomeration transport demand structure model was established using entropy theory. Secondly, according to the actual passenger and freight turnover of urban agglomeration, a transport supply structure model was proposed with entropy theory. Then, by comparing the two entropy models, the equilibrium state of an urban agglomeration transport structure was analyzed. Finally, HuBaoOr urban agglomeration was taken as an example to verify the science and effectiveness of this discriminant model. The research in this paper lays a theoretical foundation for the achievement of urban agglomeration transport equilibrium structure and for realizing the best economic benefits and social benefits. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is known that it is critical for train rescheduling problem to address some uncertain disturbances to keep the normal condition of railway traffic. This paper is keen on a mathematical model to reschedule high-speed trains controlled by the quasi-moving blocking signalling system impacted by multidisturbances (i.e., primary delay, speed limitation, and siding line blockage). To be specific, a mixed-integer linear programming is formulated based on an improved alternative graph theory, by the means of rerouting, reordering, retiming, and train control. In order to adjust the train speed and find the best routes for trains, the set of alternative arcs and alternative arrival/departure paths are considered in the constraints, respectively. Due to this complex NP-hard problem, a two-step algorithm with three scheduling rules based on a commercial optimizer is applied to solve the problem efficiently in a real-word case, and the efficiency, validity, and feasibility of this method are demonstrated by a series of experimental tests. Finally, the graphical timetables rescheduled are analysed in terms of free conflicts of the solution. Consequently, the proposed mathematical model enriches the existing theory about train rescheduling, and it can also assist train dispatchers to figure out disturbances efficiently. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a new variant of vehicle routing problem with paired transshipment demands (VRPT) between retail stores (customers) in addition to the regular demand from depot to retail stores. The problem originates in a real distribution network of high-end retail department stores in Thailand. Transshipment demands arise for one-order-per-season expensive items, whose inventories at the depot may become shortage after the middle of a season, while they remain available at some retail stores. A transshipment demand is a request for items that need to be picked up from a specific store that has the items and delivered to the store that requests the items. The objective of solving the VRPT is to find delivery routes that can satisfy both regular demands and transshipment demands in the same routes without incurring too much additional transportation distance. A mixed integer linear programming model is formulated to represent the VRPT. Six small problem instances are used to test the model. A hybrid threshold accepting and neighborhood search heuristic is also developed to solve large problem instances of VRPT. The heuristic is further extended to include a forbidden list of transshipment demands that should not be included in the same routes. The purpose is to prevent incurring too much additional distance from satisfying transshipment demands. With the forbidden list, the problem becomes vehicle routing problem with optional transshipment demands (VRPOT). Computational testing shows promising results that indicate effectiveness of the proposed hybrid heuristics as well as the forbidden list. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cross-docking is a logistics strategy in which products arriving at a distribution center are unloaded from inbound trucks and sorted for transfer directly to outbound trucks, reducing costs and storage and product handling times. This paper addresses a cross-docking problem by designing a mixed-integer linear programming (MILP) model to determine a schedule for inbound and outbound trucks in a mixed service-mode dock area that minimizes the time from when the first inbound truck arrives until the last outbound truck departs (makespan). The model is developed using AMPL software with the CPLEX and Gurobi solvers, which provide results for different instances, most of these with actual shift data from an integrated distribution center of a multinational food company located in Concepción, Chile. The results obtained from the case study are notable and show the effectiveness of the proposed mathematical model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Train dwell time estimation is a critical issue in both scheduling and rescheduling phases. In a previous paper, the authors proposed a novel dwell time estimation model at short stops which did not require the passenger data. This model shows promising results when applied to Dutch railway stations. This paper focuses on testing and improving the generality of the model by two steps: first, the model is tested by applying more independent datasets from another city and comparing the estimation accuracy with the previous Dutch case; second, the model’s generality is tested by a theoretical approach through the analysis of individual model parameters, variables, model scenarios, and model structure as well as work conditions. The validation results during peak hours show that the MAPE of the model is 11.4%, which is slightly better than the results for the Dutch railway stations. A more generalized predictor called “dwell time at the associated station” is used to replace the square root term in the original model. The improved model can estimate train dwell time in all the investigated stations during both peak and off-peak periods. We conclude that the proposed train dwell time estimation model is generic in the given condition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper proposes a mathematical model, the competing risks method, to investigate highway-rail grade crossing (HRGC) crash frequency and crash severity simultaneously over a 30-year period. The proposed competing risks model is a special type of survival analysis to accommodate the competing nature of multiple outcomes from the same event of interest; in this case, the competing multiple outcomes are crash severities, while event of interest is crash occurrence. Knowledge-gain-based benefits to be discovered through the application of this model and 30-year dataset are as follows: (1) a straightforward and integrated one-step estimation process that considers both crash frequency and severity likelihood in the same model, so direct hazard ranking considering both crash frequency and severity likelihood is possible; (2) interpretative effects of identified covariates from both the direction and magnitude perspectives; and (3) the long-term cumulative effect of contributors with the cumulative incidence function. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the rapid development of data acquisition technology, data acquisition departments can collect increasingly more data. Various data from government agencies are gradually becoming available to the public, including license plate recognition (VLPR) data. As a result, privacy protection is becoming increasingly significant. In this paper, an adversary model based on passing time, color, type, and brand of VLPR data is proposed. Through experimental analysis, the tracking probability of a vehicle's trajectory can be more than 94% if utilizing the original data. To decrease the tracking probability, a novel approach called the (m, n)-bucket model based on time series is proposed since previous works, such as those using generalization and bucketization models, cannot deal with data with multiple sensitive attributes (SAs) or data with time correlations. Meanwhile, a mathematical model is established to expound the privacy protection principle of the (m, n)-bucket model. By comparing the average calculated linking probability of all individuals and the actual linking probability, it is shown that the mathematical model that is proposed can well expound the privacy protection principle of the (m, n)-bucket model. Extensive experiments confirm that our technique can effectively prevent trajectory privacy disclosures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There are differences between the requirements for traffic network for traffic demand in daily and emergency situations. In order to evaluate how the network designed for daily needs can meet the surging demand for emergency evacuation, the concept of emergency reliability and corresponding evaluation method is proposed. This paper constructs a bilevel programming model to describe the proposed problem. The upper level problem takes the maximum reserve capacity multiplier as the optimization objective and considers the influence of reversible lane measures taken under emergency conditions. The lower level model adopts the combined traffic distribution/assignment model with capacity limits, to describe evacuees' path and shelter choice behavior under emergency conditions and take into account the traits of crowded traffic. An iterative optimization method is proposed to solve the upper level model, and the lower level model is transformed into a UE assignment problem with capacity limits over a network of multiple origins and single destination, by adding a dummy node and several dummy links in the network. Then a dynamic penalty function algorithm is used to solve the problem. In the end, numerical studies and results are provided to demonstrate the rationality of the proposed model and feasibility of the proposed solution algorithms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bus bunching can lead to unreliable bus services if not controlled properly. Passengers will suffer from the uncertainty of travel time and the excessive waiting time. Existing dynamic holding strategies to address bus bunching have two major limitations. First, existing models often rely on large slack time to ensure the validity of the underlying model. Such large slack time can significantly reduce the bus operation efficiency by increasing the overall route travel times. Second, the existing holding strategies rarely consider the impact on the schedule planning. Undesirable results such as bus overloading issues arise when the bus fleet size is limited. This paper explores analytically the relationship between the slack time and the effect of holding control. The optimal slack time determined based on the derived relationship is found to be ten times smaller than in previous models based on numerical simulation results. An optimization model is developed with passenger-orient objective function in terms of travel cost and constraints such as fleet size limit, layover time at terminals, and other schedule planning factors. The optimal choice of control stops, control parameters, and slack time can be achieved by solving the optimization. The proposed model is validated with a case study established based on field data collected from Chengdu, China. The numerical simulation uses the field passenger demand, bus average travel time, travel time variance of road segments, and signal timings. Results show that the proposed model significantly reduce passengers average travel time compared with existing methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Due to their simplicity and operating mode, magnetic loops are one of the most used traffic sensors in Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS). However, at this moment, their potential is not being fully exploited, as neither the speed nor the length of the vehicles can be surely ascertained with the use of a single magnetic loop. In this way, the vast majority of them are only being used to count vehicles on urban and interurban roads. For this reason, in order to contribute to the development of new traffic sensors and make roads safer, this paper introduces a theoretical study to explain the design and peculiarities of the innovative double loops, how to calculate their magnetic field and three different methods to calculate their inductance. Finally, the different inductance values obtained by these three methods will be analyzed and compared with experimental measurements carried out by our research group in order to know which method is more accurate and if all of them are equally reliable. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As one of the effective methods to reduce congestion, grade intersection has already been changed to interchange in port collecting and distributing network (PCDN) of many Chinese ports, since the first interchange was built in the PCDN of Dalian port in 1924. Due to the growing demand for port freight transportation, congestion in PCDN is becoming one of the inevitable problems that need to be solved. This paper addresses the best interchange scheduling multistage decision problem in PCDN at a network level. The main challenges are how to estimate the delay time and cope with high uncertainties in port network and PCDN. Therefore, a simulation-based dynamic programming (DP) model is proposed with the purpose of minimizing total cost in lifetime period by combining a DP model and two nested simulation models together. Two simulation models are built to figure out the delay cost in the optimization model, which cannot be calculated by mathematical analysis due to complex vehicle travel patterns and irregular traffic volume caused by random events, such as the arrival pattern of ships’, natural conditions, and storage period of cargos. Finally, a real project in northern China is presented as a case study. The proposed method can be applied in similar cases and can help solve analogous complicated multistage problems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

SUMMARY We consider the assignment of gates to arriving and departing flights at a large hub airport. This problem is highly complex even in planning stage when all flight arrivals and departures are assumed to be known precisely in advance. There are various considerations that are involved while assigning gates to incoming and outgoing flights (such a flight pair for the same aircraft is called a turn) at an airport. Different gates have restrictions, such as adjacency, last-in first-out gates and towing requirements, which are known from the structure and layout of the airport. Some of the cost components in the objective function of the basic assignment model include notional penalty for not being able to assign a gate to an aircraft, penalty for the cost of towing an aircraft with a long layover, and penalty for not assigning preferred gates to certain turns. One of the major contributions of this paper is to provide mathematical model for all these complex constraints that are observed at a real airport. Further, we study the problem in both planning and operations modes simultaneously, and such an attempt is, perhaps, unique and unprecedented. For planning mode, we sequentially introduce new additional objectives to our gate assignment problem that have not been studied in the literature so far-(i) maximization of passenger connection revenues, (ii) minimization of zone usage costs, and (iii) maximization of gate plan robustness-and include them to the model along with the relevant constraints. For operations mode, the main objectives studied in this paper are recovery of schedule by minimizing schedule variations and maintaining feasibility by minimal retiming in the event of major disruptions. Additionally, the operations mode models must have very, very short run times of the order of a few seconds. These models are then applied to a functional airline at one of its most congested hubs. Implementation is carried out using Optimization Programming Language, and computational results for actual data sets are reported. For the planning mode, analyst perception of weights for the different objectives in the multi-objective model is used wherever actual dollar value of the objective coefficient is not available. The results are also reported for large, reasonable changes in objective function coefficients. For the operations mode, flight delays are simulated, and the performance of the model is studied. The final results indicate that it is possible to apply this model to even large real-life problems instances to optimality within short run times with clever formulation of conventional continuous time assignment model. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Traffic flow models are of vital significance to study the traffic system and reproduce typical traffic phenomena. In the process of establishing traffic flow models, human factors need to be considered particularly to enhance the performance of the models. Accordingly, a series of car-following models and cellular automaton models were proposed based on comprehensive consideration of various driving behaviors. Based on the comfortable driving (CD) model, this paper innovatively proposed an improved cellular automaton model incorporating impaired driver’s radical feature (RF). The impaired driver’s radical feature was added to the model with respect to three aspects, that is, desired speed, car-following behavior, and braking behavior. Empirical data obtained from a highway segment was used to initialize impaired driver’s radical feature distribution and calibrate the proposed model. Then, numerical simulations validated that the proposed improved model can well reproduce the traffic phenomena, as shown by the fundamental diagram and space-time diagram. Also, in low-density state, it can be found that the RF model is superior to the CD model in simulating the speed difference characteristics, where the average speed difference of adjacent vehicles for RF model is more consistent with reality. The result also discussed the potential impact of impaired drivers on rear-end collisions. It should be noted that this study is an early stage work to evaluate the existence of impaired driving behavior. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, two-tier mathematical models were developed to simulate the microscopic pedestrian decision-making process of route choice at signalized crosswalks. In the first tier, a discrete choice model was proposed to predict the choices of walking direction. In the second tier, an exponential model was calibrated to determine the step size in the chosen direction. First, a utility function was defined in the first-tier model to describe the change of utility in response to deviation from a pedestrian's target direction and the conflicting effects of neighboring pedestrians. A mixed logit model was adopted to estimate the effects of the explanatory variables on the pedestrians' decisions. Compared with the standard multinomial logit model, it was shown that the mixed logit model could accommodate the heterogeneity. The repeated observations for each pedestrian were grouped as panel data to ensure that the parameters remained constant for individual pedestrians but varied among the pedestrians. The mixed logit model with panel data was found to effectively address inter-pedestrian heterogeneity and resulted in a better fit than the standard multinomial logit model. Second, an exponential model in the second tier was proposed to further determine the step size of individual pedestrians in the chosen direction; it indicates the change in walking speed in response to the presence of other pedestrians. Finally, validation was conducted on an independent set of observation data in Hong Kong. The pedestrians' routes and destinations were predicted with the two-tier models. Compared with the tracked trajectories, the average error between the predicted destinations and the observed destinations was within an acceptable margin. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hook turn (HT) is a unique traffic regulation rule for right-turning vehicles at intersections (in the system where driving is on the left), which was proposed in Melbourne to improve the safety level and operational efficiency of intersections. However, existing coordination plans for HT intersections are fixed and determined empirically, which restricts the further improvements of the efficiency. In this paper, mathematical models are developed for the calculation of the average vehicle delay, with consideration of the spillback phenomenon of HT vehicles in waiting areas. The platoon dispersion model is used to describe the traffic movements between coordinated intersections. With the aim of minimizing average delay of all vehicles, a mixed nonlinear integer model is developed for the optimal coordination plan, which is solved by a genetic algorithm due to the complexity of the model. Finally, a numerical example is built based on three HT intersections in downtown Melbourne, to verify the proposed methodology. Based on a comparison with the current signal plan, the optimal signal plan can significantly reduce the average delay as well as the number of spillbacks, in both the peak hour and off-peak hour cases. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The problem of designing a layout of bike stations for public bike-sharing systems entails selecting a number of stations and then constructing them within a planning area having many bike traffic zones and candidate bike stations. In this paper, we proposed a mathematical model to formulate the layout of public bike stations with the objective of minimizing users' total travel time and investment budget constraints. The model can guarantee that the needs for picking up and dropping off bikes amidst all bike travel demands are satisfied. Using this model, the number and locations of bike stations and the number of bikes and parking lockers at each bike station can be simultaneously determined. A typical example solved by LINGO solver is created to illustrate the proposed model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper proposes a novel dynamic tolling model based on distance and accounts for uncertain traffic demand and supply conditions. The distance-based tolling controller is modeled as an intelligent agent interacting within the stochastic network environment dynamically by taking actions, which are to decide different distance-based tolling rates of vehicles. The distance-based tolls are determined according to various metrics, for example, total traffic flow throughput, delay time, vehicular emissions, which are set as objectives in the modeling framework. The optimal tolling rate is determined by an R-Markov Average Reward Technique based reinforcement learning algorithm. In the numerical case study, we test the proposed tolling scheme on a benchmark test network-the Sioux Falls network-where specified links are candidate toll links. The result shows that the total travel time of tolling links reduces by 25% over simulation runs. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Considerable efforts have been devoted to the development of dynamic origin-destination (OD) estimation models, which are a key step to realizing self-adaptive traffic control systems for urban traffic management. However, most of the models proposed to date estimate OD flows based on a single traffic data source, and their performance is limited by the coverage and accuracy of traffic sensors. The inherent difficulty in estimating the dynamic traffic assignment matrix means that dynamic OD estimation remains a challenge for real-life applications. This paper proposes the use of a Kalman filter for dynamic OD estimation using multi-source sensor data. The dynamic characteristic of changing OD flow over time is analyzed, and the problem of dynamic OD estimation is converted to a problem of estimating OD structural deviation. The resulting dynamic relationship between traffic volume and OD structural deviation is then used to establish the Kalman filter model. An improved traffic assignment approach is developed and embedded into the measurement equation of the Kalman filter model to enable dynamic updating of the traffic assignment matrix. A dual self-adaptive mechanism based on the Kalman filter is used to calibrate the model. The proposed method was implemented on a real-life traffic network in the downtown area of Kunshan City, China. The results show that the proposed method is more accurate than, and outperforms, the traditional link-volume-based and turning-movement-based methods. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]