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The measurement of social capacity / deficit in the regions of the Scandinavian and Visegrad countries

Jenő Zsolt Farkas Róbert Péter Bódi Ferenc

Publication Name: Teruleti Statisztika

Publication Date: 2016-01-01

Volume: 56

Issue: 2

Page Range: 158-182

Description:

The focus of the research was to measure and compare social capacity and anomie between four Scandinavian states (Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden) and four post-socialist countries (the Visegrad Group: Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia) in order to analyze similarities and differences. The analysis was conducted utilizing both micro and macro approaches. Four new complex indicators were developed from the social well-being module of the 2012 6. ESS survey. These new complex indicators were used to measure the quality of the society, the quality of life and subjective wellbeing. Macro level analysis consisted of indicators from the database of Eurostat Regions and the 2011 Census that are most used in professional literature. The characteristics of each country then the features of the regions (60 NUTS2 field units) were analyzed using data obtained from micro level surveys utilizing the newly created complex indicators. Following this step, a regional analysis of the aforementioned macro level indicators was completed. The results of these two levels of analysis were compared cross-nationally and regionally. Significant differences were found between the Scandinavian group and the Visegrad group revealing underlying connections supporting the results of other European studies. Namely that the 2008 crisis with respect to subjective well being created far more trauma for individuals in countries with a weak social safety net. The analysis also demonstrated that using complex indicators as well as both a micro and macro approach complement each other bringing about an understanding of nuances and subtle differences not found in singular approaches thus creating a more accurate assessment of the status of the society.

Open Access: Yes

DOI: 10.15196/TS560204

Safety Ranking of Railway Crossings in Hungary

Csaba Koren A. Borsos Miklos Gabor

Publication Name: Transportation Research Procedia

Publication Date: 2016-01-01

Volume: 14

Issue: Unknown

Page Range: 2111-2120

Description:

Regarding traffic safety, railway crossings are crucial points in the rail and road network. In Hungary the safety ranking of railway crossings has been performed since 1993 and the results have been used for selecting unsafe locations and for prioritizing safety measures. Prioritization is based on a complex point system taking into account accident data, traffic volumes and various traffic engineering aspects. Weights of various indicators were based on engineering judgement. Although this method has been renewed a few times, there is a need to update this method involving more thorough statistical methods. The objective of this paper is to calibrate a new model and to compare it with previous models. A sample of about 1700 railway crossings satisfying a few requirements (railway with public service, traffic volume data available) was set up. The first part of the paper describes data collection. Five years (2010-2014) of accident data, AADT (Annual Average Daily Traffic) for rail and road, speed limits and further data (road pavement width, control devices, crossing angle, alignment, number of tracks, sight distances) were gathered. The modeling was conducted in two steps. First, each variable was entered into the model alone to see which ones significantly affect accident frequency. As a next step, two-variable models were built where expected injury accident frequency is predicted by annual daily road traffic and annual daily rail traffic. The sample was also split up into subgroups based on the type of control devices in order to analyze their effect on safety. Models are proposed using the Generalized Linear Modeling approach (GLM) assuming a negative binomial error structure. The results give estimation of the impacts of explanatory factors on the safety of railway crossings. Annual daily road traffic and annual daily train traffic are significant predictors. A number of predictors such as crossing angle, track alignment, number of tracks and sight distances turned out to be not significant. As far as the type of control devices are concerned, as expected coefficients are decreasing, hence safety is increasing in the following order: passive crossings, flashing lights, flashing lights + half barriers. Based on the above results, the complex point system used by practitioners for safety ranking was simplified considerably leaving out variables which turned out to be not significant.

Open Access: Yes

DOI: 10.1016/j.trpro.2016.05.226

Evaluation and improvement of parallel discrete event simulation performance predictions: A rough-set-based approach

László Muka István Derka

Publication Name: Acta Polytechnica Hungarica

Publication Date: 2016-01-01

Volume: 13

Issue: 6

Page Range: 125-145

Description:

Simulation performance prediction methods make possible the realization of performance improvement potentials of Parallel Discrete Event Simulation (PDES) methods, important in the analysis of complex systems and large-scale networks. Currently, high performance execution environments (emerging clusters and computing clouds) advance the development of quality/cost analysis capabilities of performance prediction methods. In this paper, for the evaluation and management of prediction correctness/cost, the efficacy, efficiency and effectiveness coefficients and improvement operations are defined for predictions. The performance coefficients and improvement operations are embedded in the rough-set-modeling and learning process and presented as an enhancement approach of the conventional Coupling Factor Method (CFM). A case study based on the CFM analysis of PDES of a closed queuing network model is presented. In the example, after rough-modeling and train-and-test analysis, the correctness/cost evaluation and effectiveness improvement operations are shown for series of predictions and the feedback connection to modeling refinement phase is demonstrated too.

Open Access: Yes

DOI: DOI not available

The Measurement of Indirect Effects in Project Appraisal

Mattias Juhász Tünde Vörös Krisztián Koppány

Publication Name: Transportation Research Procedia

Publication Date: 2016-01-01

Volume: 13

Issue: Unknown

Page Range: 114-123

Description:

Imperative for growth is dominating the present economic conditions also influencing decision-making to a large extent. Therefore, the analysis of economic impacts plays a more and more significant role in the selection of transport projects. However, ex-ante project appraisal is facing an increasing problem concerning the measurement of indirect economic effects. This paper aims to investigate the accurate way of quantifying such benefits via the analysis of theoretical issues, the review of existing approaches and a case study.

Open Access: Yes

DOI: 10.1016/j.trpro.2016.05.012

Comparison of Italian and Hungarian Black Spot Ranking

D. Miletics A. Borsos S. Cafiso C. D'Agostino

Publication Name: Transportation Research Procedia

Publication Date: 2016-01-01

Volume: 14

Issue: Unknown

Page Range: 2148-2157

Description:

Black spot ranking is an important tool for finding the sites with potential safety improvement on the road network. The EU Directive on Road Infrastructure Safety Management also demands the ranking of high accident concentration sites. This paper gives an introduction to localizing high accident concentration sites and the indicators used by Italy and Hungary. Accident and traffic volume data are gathered for motorway sections from both countries. Safety ranking is made using two conventional indicators, absolute number of accidents and accident rate. A more sophisticated ranking using the Empirical Bayes method is applied. Expected average crash frequency with Empirical Bayes adjustment is calculated. Based on the estimation of the crash frequency, the Critical Crash Rate (CCR) was added to identify and rank black spots. This additional performance measure is able to take into account traffic volume as required by the EU Directive. Results of the Empirical Bayes method are compared with the conventional procedures. It is concluded that the results are not comparable; inasmuch as there are modifications in the order of black spots. Based on the comparison of results recommendations are given to change the practice in both countries.

Open Access: Yes

DOI: 10.1016/j.trpro.2016.05.230

Evaluation of physicochemical, microbiological and sensory properties of croissants fortified with arthrospira platensis (Spirulina)

Ramona Massoud Fereshteh Nakhsaz Kianoush Khosravi-Darani László Varga

Publication Name: Czech Journal of Food Sciences

Publication Date: 2016-01-01

Volume: 34

Issue: 4

Page Range: 350-355

Description:

The major physical, chemical, microbiological, and sensory properties of croissants enriched with Spirulina at concentrations ranging between 0.5 and 1.5% were evaluated. The results showed that the use of A. platensis biomass for the production of croissants improved the textural and organoleptic properties of the final products. Spirulina fortification also increased the protein and moisture levels and water-holding capacity, whereas it decreased the crumb firmness and lightness of croissants. Optimum sensory results were obtained when Spirulina was applied at a rate of 1%. Besides these benefits, the A. platensis biomass enhanced the levels of biologically active substances (i.e. essential amino acids, chlorophyll, phycocyanin, carotenoids, minerals, vitamins, and essential fatty acids) in croissant samples. To our knowledge, this is the first scientific study on Spirulina-fortified croissants.

Open Access: Yes

DOI: 10.17221/289/2015-CJFS

Three level modelling of uncertainties in the condition assessment of buildings

Ádám Bukovics István Harmati L. T. Kóczy

Publication Name: Isciia 2016 7th International Symposium on Computational Intelligence and Industrial Applications

Publication Date: 2016-01-01

Volume: Unknown

Issue: Unknown

Page Range: Unknown

Description:

Condition survey evaluation analyses (enginering-static expert reports) are often prepared about building structures (often focusing on load-bearing structures) in order to support appropriate maintenance and repair of the existing buildings. Based on these analyses modelling of the condition of buildings and building structures can be a big help to adopt decisions on intervention. In the course of our former research condition evaluation, decision support and ranking method was worked out which, based on a unified system of viewpoints, considering various priorities, is able to determine the condition of residential buildings. We have used tree-structure, fuzzy singleton signature based model, in which the expert specifies one discrete value for the condition of every examined building structure. In the course of our research it was experienced that the elaborated method is too subjective and uncertain, therefore the method is being further developed so that modelling of objective and subjective uncertainties become possible in the course of preparing expert opinions. Three levels were created to model uncertainties. Uncertainty on level 1 is how to transform verbal evaluations into fuzzy membership functions (verbal values cannot be unambiguously transformed into numerical values). In this model instead of membership values, which were used in the former model, we assign linguistic label modelling membership functions to the leaves of the structure. Level 2 we are modelling an uncertainty where even the expert is unable to precisely determine the condition of the examined structure. Often an interval is specified for the condition of the structure instead of a specific status value. It means that the condition of structure can have any value between two specified values with the same probability. To model it the triangular-shaped membership function is transformed into a trapezoidal-shaped membership function with the help of linguistic hedges. On level 3 it is modelled that the expert evaluation itself is not considered totally reliable. Subjectivity, professional preparedness of the expert, conducting the examination, or the quality of available circumstances and data may significantly influence the reliability of the final result. These uncertainties can be modelled by modifying the shapes of the membership function. The fuzzy set signature based model created by modelling the uncertainties at three levels is able to model with proper accuracy (more sophistically as compared to the former model) the condition of buildings, which were specified by verbal evaluation in expert opinion.

Open Access: Yes

DOI: DOI not available

Practical robot edutainment activities program for junior high school students

János Botzheim Takuya Hashimoto Noriko Takase Naoyuki Takesue Naoyuki Kubota

Publication Name: Lecture Notes in Computer Science Including Subseries Lecture Notes in Artificial Intelligence and Lecture Notes in Bioinformatics

Publication Date: 2016-01-01

Volume: 9834 LNCS

Issue: Unknown

Page Range: 111-121

Description:

In this paper, we describe the approach of the research activities in order to take advantage of the creativity and thinking abilities in practical research of the robot for junior high school female students. The students mainly understand the main idea and the definition of robots and they created them based on information and advice provided by our university and teachers. As a result, the students created the robots by their unique imagination.

Open Access: Yes

DOI: 10.1007/978-3-319-43506-0_10

Getting an Insight into the Effects of Traffic Calming Measures on Road Safety

Csaba Koren Mattias Juhász

Publication Name: Transportation Research Procedia

Publication Date: 2016-01-01

Volume: 14

Issue: Unknown

Page Range: 3811-3820

Description:

The objective of this paper is to assess the significance of urban traffic calming and to get an insight into the safety impacts of local and area-wide traffic calming interventions enabling a better understanding and therefore 'better-informed' decisions on different schemes. Safety effects of traffic calming initiatives have been analysed on a city-level for larger Hungarian cities and an in-depth research has also been carried out for a more detailed case from the capital of Hungary. Results show that traffic calming initiatives have a very significant role in enhancing road safety of urban areas. Meanwhile the case study of Budapest explains observed effects in detail allowing for more accurate appraisal tools to be developed.

Open Access: Yes

DOI: 10.1016/j.trpro.2016.05.466