12,707 research outputs found
Riassicurazione e rischi non indipendenti: un modello multivariato per il pricing di coperture di rischi aggregati
No full textD'Ortona Nicolino Ettore, Massabò Ivar, Vannucci Luig
A study of tour-based mode choice based on a Support Vector Machine classifier
No full textA new approach in recognizing travel mode choice patterns is proposed, based on the Support Vector Machine classification technique. The tour-based travel demand dataset that is analysed is for New York State, derived from the 2009 U.S. National Household Travel Survey. The main features characterizing each tour are the means used, travel-related variables and socioeconomic aspects. Results obtained demonstrate the ability to predict to some extent, in real settings where car use dominates, which tours are likely to be made by public transport or non-motorized means. Moreover, the flexibility of the technique allows assessing the predictive power of each feature according to the combination of travel means used in different tours. Potential applications range from activity-based travel choice simulators to search engines supporting personalized travel planners – in general, whenever ‘best guesses’ on mode choice patterns have to be made quickly on large amounts of data prejudicing the possibility of setting up a statistical model
Integrating mobility data sources to define and quantify a vehicle-level congestion indicator: an application for the city of Turin
No full textPurpose: Traffic congestion is a large-scale problem in urban areas all over the world that can lead to substantial costs for travellers and business operations. This paper focus on how to measure the way in which congestion selectively affects different traffic streams, with special emphasis on light duty vehicles travelling around a city.
Methods: The idea is to integrate a dataset collecting Global Positioning System (GPS) vehicle traces with road side data sources related to traffic conditions in a road network, which on the other hand usually lack focus on specific traffic streams. The core of the data integration method is the creation of a specific indicator focusing on the time lost in congestion. This is a Key Performance Indicator (KPI) of an urban network that is of paramount importance as a decision support tool for policy makers, also because it has an impact on other key issues such as air pollution, noise emissions, energy efficiency and health problems. Then, a method is proposed to quantify the congestion KPI in a highly disaggregated fashion (each single vehicle travelling on each single link or street segment).
Results: This KPI can be used to inform a wide range of policy actions within the transport sector, both from the viewpoint of a city and from that of an individual actor of the transport system, such as the operator of a fleet of vehicles for urban freight deliveries. Some preliminary examples of how the aggregation of the KPI at different scales can provide insights into the transport system are presented
Classification of tours in the U.S. National Household Travel Survey through clustering techniques
No full textTours are increasingly being considered as an appropriate unit of observation of mobility behaviors and are one of the key ideas underpinning contemporary activity-based modeling approaches. Identifying typologies of tours would benefit both modelers and decision makers, striving to set up more tailored actions aimed at promoting environmentally benign travel choices. Different a priori classifications based on activity kinds have been proposed, none of which seems clearly preferable on empirical grounds. This paper takes a complementary approach and defines a data-driven segmentation through a cluster analysis of tours that were derived from the trip records from a United States national survey. The socioeconomic characterization of each cluster is finally carried out to link travelers' profiles with specific kinds of tours. Four main tour clusters have thus been identified: nonwork tours for compulsory activities done by young individuals, tours done by elder or retired persons, short and secondary tours within the travel day, and tours dominated by the working activity. Their relevance on a modeling and policy viewpoint is discusse
Weather Index-Based Insurance in Agricultural Risk Management
No full textThe increase in the frequency and severity of extreme weather events associated with climate changes has
relevant impacts for farmers. Weather parametric insurance schemes are a possible option in managing
agricultural risks because they refer to objective and immediate data to assess the payouts (as e.g. weather
station data) accelerating time of reimbursement and reducing disputes with respect to conventional crop
insurance coverages. These insurance can be considered an attractive opportunity, due to their advantages:
low costs, no information asymmetry, abundant data, wide spectrum of activities covered, flexibility. The
goal of the study is to investigate the potential benefits that the improvement in the design of insurance
solutions (and the predictive analytics techniques) could offer in this area. Specifically, with reference to
grape production in two Italian regions, we study which meteorological indices are most suitable as
predictors of agricultural production and the predictive efficacy of different models: GLM, Neural
Network, Random Forest
Stated interest, actual use or indifference towards car sharing: profiling students and staff of a university campus in Turin (Italy)
No full textA mobility survey was proposed to the staff and to the students of Politecnico di Torino (a technical university located in Turin, Italy) in autumn 2016 with a focus on the interest and on the current use of car sharing. Turin is in fact offering a relatively broad variety of such services, with several different operators and a fleet of about 700 vehicles. A data mining technique, named co-clustering, is then applied to the dataset of 1314 answers in order to characterise respondents’ profiles and assess to which extent specific combinations of variables describing personal, travel-related or satisfaction with travel aspects are associated with the actual use, the interest or the lack of interest in car sharing. Early adopters of car sharing are more frequently encountered among students than among staff and show more multimodal behaviours. The levels of use of different modes can be helpful in discriminating between mere positive attitudes towards car sharing and actual intention to use it, while travel related satisfaction ratings are rather indicating the interest or lack of interest in this service. Among university workers, younger females living in the outer part of the metropolitan city showed a good interest in car sharing, although the service is not available in the place where they live. Policy implications of such findings within a mobility management perspective are discussed
A comparative assessment of synthetic indices to measure multimodality behaviours
No full textThe study of how people jointly use different travel means is one of the key issues in contemporary transport research. However, measuring multimodality behaviours presents some intricacies that deserve more attention in order to come up with an instrument that is effective both on a modelling and on a policy viewpoint. The present work considers some methods that have been proposed in different disciplinary ambits to measure diversity and assesses to what extent they are useful to measure multimodality. A broad set of indices is then analysed, ranging from welfare economics (Gini, Dalton and Atkinson indices) to information theory and ecology (entropy, Herfindahl index). Theoretical investigations and empirical experiments on the properties of such indices show that there is not a measure of multimodality that consistently outperforms all the others in any circumstance. On the other hand, it emerged that some methods are clearly preferable for specific problem instances, as discussed in the conclusion
A risk-based model for the Solvency Capital Requirement assessment for Life and Market risk.
No full textTransport quality profiles of European cities based on a multidimensional set of satisfaction ratings indicators
No full textA monitoring system of the perceived quality of transport services at the city level is proposed, based on a set of 92 indicators covering different travel modes and considering the viewpoint of different groups. Special emphasis is given to public transport, bicycles and pedestrians and to travelers with special needs (e.g. commuters, visitors, mobility challenged or communication impaired). Indicators are found through Principal Component Analysis from a set of satisfaction ratings elicited through a survey in eight European cities, implemented within the METPEX research project. Benchmarking values are computed for all indicators to provide the analyst with some initial guidance. All indicators are then visualized through a dashboard that can give policy makers a synthetic overview of the main areas where perceived quality and accessibility are above or below average. At the same time, jointly considering indicators from different dimensions of the evaluation exercise (by travel means, by traveler profile, by phase of the journey experience) provides additional insights on specific issues that would be overlooked in a coarser quality assessment activity
Assessing Gender Gaps in Educational Provision, Research and Employment Opportunities in the Transport Sector at the European Level
No full textSerious gaps are found when evaluating the recognition and inclusion of gender aspects in transport strategies, research and innovation. Similar issues can be spotted in the transport labor market, where only 22% of workers are women at the European level. The roots of these limitations are in the low participation of women in Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths (STEM) studies and, therefore, in the traditionally male-dominated transport field occupations. Stemming from the European project TInnGO, the current paper proposes a descriptive analysis to evaluate the gender gaps in educational provision and research in ten European countries. Specific indicators, such as percentages in the gender composition or the presence of university courses dealing with mobility and transport, have been defined and their availability in different countries is verified. In addition, a desktop review of practices for encouraging and supporting women in STEM studies is operated, underling characteristics such as the kind of initiative, the methods and tools used, the target group or the type of promoter. The results of this activity show that a wide network of associations and mentoring operates in various European nations, mostly targeting secondary school students, trying to make females aware of their potentialities in a deeply gender-biased field like the STEM one
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