RSS Feeds

Earth Science

Space Science

Life Science

Fields of Scientific Study

Nanotechnology

Cancer

Definitions of The Fields of Scientific Study

Model predicts motorway journey time reliability

April 17, 2008

For car users and drivers of freight vehicles on motorways, being able to rely on the time taken to complete a journey is as important as the actual duration of the trip itself. For that reason the Ministry of Transport, Public Works and Water Management has listed the improvement of the reliability of door-to-door journey times as one of the main objectives in its latest Mobility Memorandum. PhD candidate Huizhao Tu has developed a model that can calculate the reliability of journey times and the effects traffic measures and the design of roads have on it. Tu will be awarded his doctorate on Tuesday 15 April 2008 on this subject at TU Delft in the Netherlands.

Motorway journey times can be rather unpredictable: one day everything will be fine, while the next, the traffic will be rock solid, even though the weather conditions and the quantity of traffic appear to be the same. For commuters and transporters the fact that journey times are so unpredictable is very annoying. Moreover, they factor this into their journey plans, and this leads to even more uncertainty about how long trips will take. Up to now, little was known about the mechanism that caused journey times to be so unreliable or the factors that played a role.

TU Delft PhD candidate Huizhao Tu has analysed journey time information covering several years for various motorways in the Randstad region. He found - naturally enough - that the busier the roads, the more unpredictable the journey time was. This aspect is important even where traffic intensity is far below the capacity of the road. Journey times are also unreliable on motorways with many junctions and on highways with short entrance and exit roads. It goes without saying that this too has an important influence on the predictability of journey times.

Huizhao Tu's model calculates the effects of traffic measures (such as the closure of certain road sections and the introduction of maximum speed levels) and of the design of motorways (such as the length of entrance and exit roads) on the predictability of journey times. The model can therefore help contribute to improving the predictability of journey times.

Delft University of Technology

Related Predictability Current Events and Predictability News Articles

Predictability Current Events and Predictability News RSS

Unlocking the secrets of the seafloor: The future of scientific ocean drilling
Close to 600 scientists from 21 countries met Sept. 23 - 25 2009 in Bremen, Germany, to outline major scientific targets for a new and ambitious ocean drilling research program.

Bugs in Boxes Shed Light on Biological Invasions
Bugs in boxes are helping UC Davis researcher Alan Hastings improve scientific tools used to predict the spread of invasive plants and animals.

FSU scientists unveil new seasonal hurricane forecasting model
Scientists at The Florida State University's Center for Ocean-Atmospheric Prediction Studies (COAPS) have developed a new computer model that they hope will predict with unprecedented accuracy how many hurricanes will occur in a given season.

Computer scientists develop model for studying arrangements of tissue networks by cell division
Computer scientists at Harvard have developed a framework for studying the arrangement of tissue networks created by cell division across a diverse set of organisms, including fruit flies, tadpoles, and plants.

Tumor growth and chemo response may be predicted by mathematical model
The aggressiveness of tumors and their susceptibility to chemotherapy may become easier to predict based on a mathematical model developed at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston.

Scatological clues lead to an intimate view
The guys were all stressed out. There were new infants in the community, and the guys knew from experience that that's when invaders were likely to come and kill the babies, particularly the male infants.

Mechanical thinning increases fruit size, reduces labor
Hand thinning is a necessary but costly management practice in peach and organic apple production. Mechanical devices designed to help with thinning have been developed, but none has proven highly effective and capable of completely replacing hand thinning.

NRL's P-3 aircraft support project to study tropical cyclones
The Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) has been hunting for tropical cyclones as part of a multi-national study to understand, observe, and predict the potential impacts of Pacific tropical cyclones.

Creating lung cancer risk models for specific populations refines prediction
Lung cancer risk prediction models are enhanced by taking into account risk factors by race and by measuring DNA repair capacity, according to research teams led by epidemiologists at The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center in two complementary papers appearing in the September issue of Cancer Prevention Research.

Security from chaos
There's safety (and security) in numbers - especially when those numbers are random. That's the lesson learned from a DHS-sponsored research project out of the University of Southern California (USC).

More Predictability Current Events and Predictability News Articles

	Predictably Irrational, Revised and Expanded Edition: The Hidden Forces That Shape Our Decisions by Dan Ariely (Author) Why do our headaches persist after taking a one-cent aspirin but disappear when we take a 50-cent aspirin? Why does recalling the Ten Commandments reduce our tendency to lie, even when we couldn't possibly be caught? Why do we splurge on a lavish meal but cut coupons to save twenty-five cents on a can of soup? Why do we go back for second helpings at the unlimited buffet, even when our stomachs are already full? And how did we ever start spending $4.15 on a cup of coffee when, just a few years ago, we used to pay less than a dollar? When it comes to making decisions in our lives, we think we're in control. We think we're making smart, rational choices. But are we? In a series of illuminating, often surprising experiments, MIT...
	Predict IB intestinal balancing system: restores intestinal predictability within 2 weeks by integrative therapeutics psyllium, probiotic blend, guar gum, marshmallow root, pectin and melatonin.
	The Unpredictability of Predictability solo recorded live at Soundscape 7/79
	Predictably Irrational, Revised and Expanded Edition: The Hidden Forces That Shape Our Decisions by Dan Ariely (Author) How do we think about money? What caused bankers to lose sight of the economy? What caused individuals to take on mortgages that were not within their means? What irrational forces guided our decisions? And how can we recover from an economic crisis? In this revised and expanded edition of the New York Times and Wall Street Journal bestseller Predictably Irrational, Duke University's behavioral economist Dan Ariely explores the hidden forces that shape our decisions, including some of the causes responsible for the current economic crisis. Bringing a much-needed dose of sophisticated psychological study to the realm of public policy, Ariely offers his own insights into the irrationalities of everyday life, the decisions that led us to the financial meltdown of...
	Predictability The Caulfields! (Primary Contributor)
	Secret Meatball Also With: Sony (Producer)
	3 each: Ace Screw-In Programmable Light Control (3236858) by American Tack/Hemco Sold as 3 UNITS at $11.38 per unit. (1 unit = each.) 100 watts maximum compact fluorescent bulb. Indoor and outdoor. Automatically on at dusk. Programmable off after 2, 5 or 8 hours. Dusk to dawn default timer. Random settings avoids predictability. Compact design fits most outdoor and indoor fixtures. Incandescent. Carded . Manufacturer number: 3236858. SKU #: 3236858. Country of origin: (TBA). Distributed by American Tack/Hemco.
	Predictability of Weather and Climate by Tim Palmer (Editor), Renate Hagedorn (Editor) The topic of predictability in weather and climate has advanced significantly in recent years, both in understanding the phenomena that affect weather and climate and in techniques used to model and forecast them. This book brings together some of the world's leading experts on predicting weather and climate. It addresses predictability from the theoretical to the practical, on timescales from days to decades. Topics such as the predictability of weather phenomena, coupled ocean-atmosphere systems and anthropogenic climate change are among those included. Ensemble systems for forecasting predictability are discussed extensively. Ed Lorenz, father of chaos theory, makes a contribution to theoretical analysis with a previously unpublished paper. This well-balanced volume will be a valuable...
	Predictability Moc Moc (Primary Contributor)
	Do Lunch or Be Lunch: The Power of Predictability in Creating Your Future by Howard H. Stevenson (Author), Jeffrey L. Cruikshank (Author), Mihnea C. Moldoveanu (Author) Here is a provocative argument for predictability as the most powerful of management tools. The book presents tools to hone predictive powers, make decisions, and measure risk. It is as much a useful lens for individuals, as they interpret their own lives as for corporations as they predict and improve on their own futures. Passionate, down-to-earth, and highly readable, Do Lunch or Be Lunch will entertain, provoke, and prompt you to action.