Autonomous and connected cars (ACCs), together with edge computing (EC), have been recognized as a promising solution to achieve green intelligent transportation for smart cities. This paper aims to ...address short-term traffic prediction, a fundamental enabler for the success of ACC applications, under the European Telecommunications Standards Institute multi-access EC (MEC) architecture that exhibits constraints different from conventional cloud computing. First, a data-centric experiment platform is designed and implemented to facilitate traffic prediction algorithm development. This paper further proposes a novel short-term traffic prediction model that integrates a traffic light model and a vehicle velocity model, considering limited computing resources of MEC servers. We note that the effects of traffic lights are complicated and have not been rigorously examined in most, if not all, of the related work. This work models the queueing time when a driver arrives at a road intersection and faces a red light. Moreover, to forecast the vehicle velocity, we propose a novel low-complexity semiparametric prediction model considering periodic features and spatial/temporal correlations of dynamic road events. The experiment results demonstrate that our vehicle-velocity prediction model achieves almost equivalent accuracy to the well-known Long Short-Term Memory Neural Network model, requiring much lower computational complexity. Our experiment results also confirm that since our integrated model pays attention to the traffic-light effects and the individual driver behavior, it can more effectively capture the real-time changes of traffic conditions.
Lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) individuals often experience internalized and/or externalized religious rejection due to their sexual orientation. Initial steps in the coming-out process can be ...especially difficult and can result in existential crises, including questioning one’s place within the religious/spiritual realm. The authors propose a developmental framework for conceptualizing the role of religion and spirituality in the coming-out process. Cass’s (1979, 1984) stage model of coming out and Genia’s (1995) model of religious development, along with additional literature addressing LGB spirituality, serve as foundations for this framework. Counseling and research implications of the framework are also discussed.
For a class of discrete-time queueing systems, we present a new exact method of computing both the expectation and the distribution of the queue length. This class of systems includes the ...bulk-service queue and the fixed-cycle traffic-light (FCTL) queue, which is a basic model in traffic-control research and can be seen as a non-exhaustive time-limited polling system. Our method avoids finding the roots of the characteristic equation, which enhances both the reliability and the speed of the computations compared to the classical root-finding approach. We represent the queue-length expectation in an exact closed-form expression using a contour integral. We also introduce several realistic modifications of the FCTL model. For the FCTL model for a turning flow, we prove a decomposition result. This allows us to derive a bound on the difference between the bulk-service and FCTL expected queue lengths, which turns out to be small in most of the realistic cases.
Trust has become more and more important in the context of mixed use of longitudinal face-to-face and computer mediated group collaboration using Group Support System tools. Previous research has ...investigated trust factors in different dimensions. This paper takes the perspective of individual trust and aims to explore the new trust factors and also their detailed second level trust sub-factors in computer mediated collaboration over time. We have taken the interviews using the student groups during the two year-long collaboration project based case studies. We have validated the previous factors and found seven new trust factors and thirty one sub-factors which are associated with the main factors. Furthermore, based on the new factors, this paper has also designed an innovative trust traffic light model with suggested steps which could be easily used to help analyze the trust factors development over time for future longitudinal studies.
The impact of beef consumption on sustainability is a complex and evolving area, as sustainability covers many areas from human nutrient adequacy to ecosystem stability. Three sustainability ...assessment frameworks have been created to help policy makers unpack the complexities of sustainable food systems and healthy sustainable dietary change. However, none of these frameworks have yet to be applied to a case study or individual policy issue. This paper uses a hybrid version of the sustainability assessment frameworks to investigate the impact of reducing beef consumption (with a concurrent increase in consumption of plant-based foods, with a focus on legumes) on sustainability at a UK level. The aim of this paper is to understand the applicability of these overarching frameworks at the scale of an individual policy. Such an assessment is important, as this application of previously high-level frameworks to individual policies makes it possible to summarise, at a glance, the various co-benefits and trade-offs associated with a given policy, which may be of particular value in terms of stakeholder decision-making. We find that many of the proposed metrics found within the sustainability assessment frameworks are difficult to implement at an individual issue level; however, overall they show that a reduction in beef consumption and an increase in consumption of general plant-based foods, with a focus around legumes production, would be expected to be strongly beneficial in five of the eight overarching measures which were assessed.
The electrification of the mobility sector comes with multiple challenges such as the lack of information on when, where, how long and how fast charging processes of electric vehicles will take ...place. In order to keep up with increasing power demand of charging processes, besides better predictions also the active control of charging processes will be necessary to minimize infrastructure costs. This work deals with a real-time mechanism for supporting the Power Quality (PQ) in electric distribution grids in terms of congestion and voltage management. In the paper, we propose a distributed smart charging approach that considers real-time conditions of the distribution grid provided by an event-driven architecture that collects data from different points in the grid. Our approach adopts the traffic light model, which allows smooth changing of the charging power to avoid drastic changes of the grid state. In order to be ready for real-world application, the algorithm is validated by a series of experiments on two setups: Pure software (co-)simulation and Power Hardware In the Loop (PHIL) where physical charging stations and electric cars are controlled in a laboratory setup.
A comprehensive sample of breakfast cereals (a total of 221 breakfast cereals available in the market) were compared according to their nutritional composition, being analysed using three nutrient ...profiling systems to categorise foods as “healthier” or “less healthy”. Differences were further on investigated focusing on the use of nutrition and health claims on the labelling. The aim was to determine how much the use of such a claim corresponds to the categorisation into “healthier” or “less healthy” group.
The sample contained 161 (72.9%) items with claims and 60 (27.1%) items, without claims. The nutrient profiles of the foods were determined by the UK Ofcom model, the FSANZ model and the modified Traffic Light model. All the models use similar but nevertheless different ways of determining the final score of “healthier” or “less healthy”. The percentage of foods classified as “healthier” was well below 72.9% (from 24.8% to 52.2%), indicating that profiling with each model involves stricter criteria for the classifying of foods compared to the permission to carry a nutrition and/or health claim. The difference is the most pronounced for the modified Traffic Light system, while the UK Ofcom and FSANZ systems give results closer to the use of claims.
Zusammenfassung
Der steigende Anteil volatiler dezentraler Erzeuger im elektrischen Versorgungssystem führt zu einer örtlich erhöhten Netzauslastung und stellt die Balancehaltung zwischen Erzeugung ...und Verbrauch vor eine Herausforderung. Während im Bereich der steigenden Netzauslastung vor allem Maßnahmen wie Netzausbau oder Smart Grid-Regelungslösungen als Lösungsansatz verfolgt werden, wird im Bereich der Systembalance vor allem auf Marktmechanismen gesetzt. Es ist zu erwarten, dass zukünftig kleine Erzeugungsanlagen zu Spitzenzeiten aufgrund von Netzengpässen nur einen Teil ihrer zur Verfügung stehenden Leistung einspeisen können. Gleichzeitig ist zu erwarten, dass zukünftig kleine Anlagen in (ggf. wechselnden) Vertragsverhältnissen mit virtuellen Kraftwerken stehen und bestimmte vorab geregelte Leistungen erbringen. Vor dem Hintergrund dieser Entwicklungen sind eindeutige Regeln im Umgang mit Netzkonflikten zu definieren. Eine mögliche auch in dieser Arbeit verfolgte Strategie ist die Suche nach geeigneten Marktmechanismen, die einen volkswirtschaftlich sinnvollen Netzausbau ermöglichen. Solche Mechanismen müssen auch geeignete lokale Flexibilitätsmärkte enthalten, die es erlauben, Netzengpässe auszugleichen. In dieser Arbeit werden Strategien und technische Schnittstellen zur Koordination von Markt und Netz in Form eines „Flexibility Operators“ vorgeschlagen und dessen Einbettung in ein Smart Grid-Gesamtkonzept diskutiert.
The increase in Electric Vehicles (EV) penetration may add a significant amount of load to the power grid potentially causing several challenges like overloading of assets and big voltage drops on ...feeder lines. Overcoming those challenges will be hard because of the variability and unpredictability of EV loads, namely, the lack of information on when, where, for how long or how fast charging processes of EVs would take place. However, the EV extra load had arguably not been taken into account when the distribution grid was designed originally. In addition, expanding the distribution and transmission capacity is a very costly and long process. Hence, it is necessary to adopt a smart EV charging approach to address the issues of peak load and power quality. This work focuses on proposing and evaluating a new smart EV charging controller inspired by the slow start mechanism of the Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) on the Internet. The controller is a part of a distributed smart charging architecture and responds to indication signals regarding the grid state in real time. The indication process adopts a traffic light model and is performed in a distributed way at the grid connection point of each individual Charging Station (CS). Thanks to the notification mechanism, the controller is able to deal with the overloading of assets and keeps the voltage within the allowed boundaries as predefined by the grid operator. The voltage control considers not only the CS but also predetermined remote points.
Occupational exposure limits (OELs) developed by authorities play a key role in the implementation of programs to protect workers against hazardous chemicals. Unfortunately, many hazardous substances ...do not have OELs or the OEL could be outdated. To assure the health of the workers, it is therefore useful for companies to develop corporate OELs. An inhouse strategy will be presented hereafter. Expertise in toxicology, industrial hygiene, and occupational health should be available within the company and clear selection criteria for substances are needed. A corporate OEL is only developed for hazardous substances (e.g., carcinogenic or reprotoxic) with a high potential for worker exposure when an appropriate national OEL or threshold limit value is not available. The methodology to calculate corporate OELs is based on the existing methods for national or community OELs and also on the guidance from the European Union's (EU) regulation on the Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemicals (REACH). For carcinogenic substances with a nonthreshold mode of action, there is always a residual chance that a cancer develops even when the exposure of workers is low. To establish an OEL for these substances, the “German traffic light model” is recommended. It is pragmatic, defines an unacceptable, tolerable, and acceptable risk level when workers are exposed to these substances, and determines risk management for exposure reduction. Overall, the professional practice to develop OELs is a good example of corporate leadership to proactively protect the health of workers.
PDF
