Sharif Digital Repository

This paper describes an attempt to shed some light on road safety in Asia Pacific region by characterizing and assessing its road accidents. The relevant national road accident data were extracted from centralized data sources of international agencies. Due to data incompleteness and missing values, 21 Asia Pacific countries, presenting more than half of the world's population, were selected for detailed analysis. The study database consisted of 7 variables, covering years 1980 and 1995. The univariate and multivariate statistical analyses for the selected countries showed interesting results and relations for the selected variables. Accident rates, reflecting road accident risk and... 

Roadway traffic noise pollution for the Greater Tehran Metropolitan Area (GTMA) was analyzed. The study database consisted of relevant information about the noise level, traffic, roadway and meteorological characteristics. The collected noise level information at the roadway sound level meter receptor site included equivalent noise level. The equivalent noise level at reception points along the GTMA roadways was found often in breach of noise standards  

Development of a highway congestion index on the basis of expert and user opinions with fuzzy set theory was attempted. Forty 1-min videotape segments showing different highway traffic flow conditions were displayed to a group of highway experts and users. They were asked to complete the relevant questionnaires on the existence and acceptability of congestion for each video segment display. Five congestion-descriptive variables of travel speed, travel rate, delay rate, travel rate ratio, and delay ratio were determined for each video segment. Information about the values of congestion-descriptive variables for the displayed videos, questionnaire responses, and fuzzy set theory were used to... 

The municipalities of large Iranian cities require regular air pollutant emission monitoring for motor vehicles. The recorded data include information about commonly regulated air pollutants and motor vehicle characteristics which were randomly selected and studied from the Tehran database. Regression analysis was found ineffective in modeling the relationships among air pollutant, meteorological and motor vehicle characteristics. However, the artificial neural network, ANN, modeling seem to be a useful tool for prediction of air pollutants. The developed ANN models were found to be superior to the developed regression models. Application of the study approach and results could improve motor... 

The challenges of water resources sustainable development are enormous. Around the globe, the increasing use of water coupled with environmental deterioration calls for sustainable development of the limited water resources. As a significant part of the world's population still lacks access to safe water and adequate sanitation, and as global urbanization continues to increase, continuous, comprehensive, coordinated and cooperative water resources management is required for the sustainable future of urban areas. The objective of this study was to assess water resources sustainable development for selected urban areas around the world. Using centralized databases of international agencies for... 

International trade is the backbone of our modern, commercial world, as producers in various nations try to profit from an expanded market, rather than be limited to selling within their own borders. There are many reasons that trade across national borders occurs, including lower production costs in one region versus another, specialized industries, lack or surplus of natural resources and consumer tastes. In this paper, international trade distribution is analyzed using the Asian multimodal network. This network consists of 31 countries and for the purpose of this study trade is assumed to be distributed between the capitals of the countries. The study concentrates on the Gravity model of... 

Globalization is shaping a new socio-economic order with profound, and still unfolding, implications for transportation development. A prerequisite for national competitiveness in the global market place is efficacious transportation when its recent technological advances have created an unprecedented rise in mobility and accessibility. Developments of efficient and effective transportation infrastructure and services are among the principal driving forces for the globalization process. Using international databanks, this paper describes an attempt to shed some light on national trends of globalization and transportation, and their relationships. Deploying a comparative macroscopic approach... 

In this paper, an attempt to identify and characterize minor road traffic behavior at unsignalized urban intersections in a city situated in a developing country is described. Information about the particular traffic behavior was collected using video cameras placed at 12 unsignalized intersections connecting minor to major roadways in Tehran. Stop signs and/or blinking red signals provided the stopping message at the minor approaches of the selected intersections. Relevant information about the behavior of more than 2400 vehicles was extracted from the video displays and the database records consisted of 31 variables reflecting driver, pedestrian, passenger, vehicle and intersection...