Sharif Digital Repository

In this article, the relation between meteorological parameters and dust activities in western Iran has been studied. Satellite-based data achieved from TOMS are used to investigate the dust activities within a time period of 30 years. In the first part of this study, we examine the statistical trend of Aerosol Index (AI) and local meteorological parameters in 15 different stations. The same patterns of AI variations in all stations indicate that this region has always been subjected to dust storms which originate from similar sources in the neighboring countries that could be known as a sole dust transfer system. In the second part, we investigate the spatial correlation between the... 

With the growing rate of urbanization, freight transportation systems have become critical in supporting economic and social needs in the United States. In order to achieve efficient and effective operations, freight transportation systems are recognizing the value of using Cyber-Physical (CP) technologies. This research provides a scenario-based assessment of CP technology penetration to improve sustainability in freight transportation systems with a focus on the use of smart GPS technologies by the trucking industry in Tennessee. Based on the case study, CP technologies can result in significant benefits to the economy, environment, and society. A cost-benefit analysis shows that benefits... 

Purpose: This work aims to study factors, such as driver characteristics, environmental conditions, and vehicle characteristics, that affect different crash types with a special focus on distraction parameters. For this purpose, distraction factors are divided into five groups: cellphone usage, cognitive distractions, passengers distracting the driver, outside events attracting the driver’s attention, and in-vehicle activities. Methods: Taking the crashes that occurred in the USA into account, the crash types are divided into two main groups, single-vehicle crashes and two-vehicle crashes. Since there were different crash types (alternatives) in the dataset and the probable correlation in... 

Performing maneuvers such as braking and lane changing can hinder the occurrence of a crash. The driver tends to escape from the crash occurrence or reduce its severity by doing the maneuver, so finding the factors affecting this type of maneuver can help the driver to react better. This work aims to discover the effect of distraction-related factors on the performance of a crash avoidance maneuver. In order to pave the way for a more thorough comprehension of this matter, variables related to the characteristics of the driver, road, crash, vehicle, and environmental properties are also considered in the analysis. The used data is based on General Estimate System 2010 dataset, a dataset... 

This study provides a comprehensive literature review to summarize all contributing factors and the logit-based models that were used to predict the severity of crashes. Using the General Estimates Systems (GES) dataset, as a subset and a branch of the National Automotive Sampling System in the US, a Generalized Ordered Logit (GLM) model is developed to predict the crash severity. The developed severity model detects the most important parameters based on characteristics of the driver, the environment, the vehicle, the road, and the type of crash. This study aims to take a more in-depth look into the distraction-related factors as one of the most important groups of contributing factors to... 

To achieve economic stability, distribution Company as an economic institution should be managed by various processes. In this way, knowledge of different processes is the first step. Furthermore, expectations, outputs, requirement data, and sub-processes should be extracted and determined. Accordingly, to assign the performance responsibility of each process, the decision making points must be introduced and, the deviation or change in set-points should be investigated into processes. Also, the performance of processes could be monitored by introducing of the sub-indictors. In this study, a practical method is presented for monitoring of reliability and power loss indices from viewpoint... 

The development of new technologies has confronted the entire domain of science and industry with issues of big data's scalability as well as its integration with the purpose of forecasting analytics in its life cycle. In predictive analytics, the forecast of near-future and recent past - or in other words, the now-casting - is the continuous study of real-time events and constantly updated where it considers eventuality. So, it is necessary to consider the highly data-driven technologies and to use new methods of analysis, like machine learning and visualization tools, with the ability of interaction and connection to different data resources with varieties of data regarding the type of big... 

This study investigates validity of continuity assumption of error terms underlying multiple linear regression approach of trip generation models for infrequent trips. Since not many household members make daily trips for purposes like shopping or personal business, estimation of such trips with their discrete and non- negative nature and still close to zero averages, using conventional multiple linear regression, needs to be investigated. This study employs a two-stage trip generation model; the probability of making/not making trip is modeled first by binary probit, then, number of trips for those who have already made trips are estimated by the weighted least square method. The results... 

In this paper, a disaggregate model is developed for household car ownership based on a data set from the city of Mashad. The approach adopted in this study is a two-level nested logit in which conditional probability of owning one car vs two or more is modeled at level 1, then marginal probability of owning a car is modeled at level 2. Seven groups of descriptive variables, each including one or more variables divided into two separate classes for each level, were employed in the model building process. Household demographics and socio-economic indicators, including head of the household characteristics like gender, age and occupation, as well as life style and life cycle stage, were among...