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This study aims to evaluate the influence of connected and autonomous vehicle (CAV) merging algorithms on the driver behavior of human-driven vehicles on the mainline.

Previous studies designed their merging algorithms mostly based on either the simulation or the restricted field testing, which lacks consideration of realistic driving behaviors in the merging scenario. This study developed a multi-driver simulator system to embed realistic driving behavior in the validation of merging algorithms.

Four types of CAV merging algorithms were evaluated regarding their influences on driving safety and driving comfort of the mainline vehicle platoon. The results revealed significant variation of the algorithm influences. Specifically, the results show that the reference-trajectory-based merging algorithm may outperform the social-psychology-based merging algorithm which only considers the ramp vehicles.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first time to evaluate a CAV control algorithm considering realistic driver interactions rather than by the simulation. To achieve the research purpose, a novel multi-driver driving simulator was developed, which enables multi-drivers to simultaneously interact with each other during a virtual driving test. The results are expected to have practical implications for further improvement of the CAV merging algorithm.

On-ramp merging areas are typical bottlenecks in the freeway network since merging on-ramp vehicles may cause intensive disturbances on the mainline traffic flow and lead to various negative impacts on traffic efficiency and safety. The connected and autonomous vehicles (CAVs), with their capabilities of real-time communication and precise motion control, hold a great potential to facilitate ramp merging operation through enhanced coordination strategies. This paper aims to present a comprehensive review of the existing ramp merging strategies leveraging CAVs, focusing on the latest trends and developments in the research field.

The review comprehensively covers 44 papers recently published in leading transportation journals. Based on the application context, control strategies are categorized into three categories: merging into sing-lane freeways with total CAVs, merging into sing-lane freeways with mixed traffic flows and merging into multilane freeways.

Relevant literature is reviewed regarding the required technologies, control decision level, applied methods and impacts on traffic performance. More importantly, the authors identify the existing research gaps and provide insightful discussions on the potential and promising directions for future research based on the review, which facilitates further advancement in this research topic.

Many strategies based on the communication and automation capabilities of CAVs have been developed over the past decades, devoted to facilitating the merging/lane-changing maneuvers at freeway on-ramps. Despite the significant progress made, an up-to-date review covering these latest developments is missing to the authors’ best knowledge. This paper conducts a thorough review of the cooperation/coordination strategies that facilitate freeway on-ramp merging using CAVs, focusing on the latest developments in this field. Based on the review, the authors identify the existing research gaps in CAV ramp merging and discuss the potential and promising future research directions to address the gaps.

With the aid of naturalistic simulations, this paper aims to investigate human behavior during manual and autonomous driving modes in complex scenarios.

The simulation environment is established by integrating virtual reality interface with a micro-simulation model. In the simulation, the vehicle autonomy is developed by a framework that integrates artificial neural networks and genetic algorithms. Human-subject experiments are carried, and participants are asked to virtually sit in the developed autonomous vehicle (AV) that allows for both human driving and autopilot functions within a mixed traffic environment.

Not surprisingly, the inconsistency is identified between two driving modes, in which the AV’s driving maneuver causes the cognitive bias and makes participants feel unsafe. Even though only a shallow portion of the cases that the AV ended up with an accident during the testing stage, participants still frequently intervened during the AV operation. On a similar note, even though the statistical results reflect that the AV drives under perceived high-risk conditions, rarely an actual crash can happen. This suggests that the classic safety surrogate measurement, e.g. time-to-collision, may require adjustment for the mixed traffic flow.

Understanding the behavior of AVs and the behavioral difference between AVs and human drivers are important, where the developed platform is only the first effort to identify the critical scenarios where the AVs might fail to react.

This paper attempts to fill the existing research gap in preparing close-to-reality tools for AV experience and further understanding human behavior during high-level autonomous driving.

This work aims to systematically analyze the inconsistency in driving patterns between manual and autopilot modes in various driving scenarios (i.e. multiple scenes and various traffic conditions) to facilitate user acceptance of AV technology.

A close-to-reality tool for AV experience and AV-related behavioral study. A systematic analysis in relation to the inconsistency in driving patterns between manual and autonomous driving. A foundation for identifying the critical scenarios where the AVs might fail to react.

The complexity of business environments often causes organizations to produce several inconsistent views of the same business process (BP), leading to fragmentation. BP view integration attempts to produce an integrated view from different views of the same model, facilitating the management of BP models.

To study the trends of BP view integration, the authors conduct an extensive and systematic literature review to summarize findings since the 1970s. With a starting corpus of 918 documents, this survey draws up a systematic inventory of solutions used in academia and industry. By narrowing it down to 71 articles, the authors discuss in-depth 17 BP integration techniques papers, classifying each solution according to 9 criteria.

The authors' study shows that most view-integration methods (11) utilize annotation-based matching, based on formal merging rules. While most solutions are formalized, only approximately half are validated with a real-world use case scenario. View integration can be applied to areas other than database schema integration and BP view integration.

By summarizing existing knowledge up to June 2021, the authors explore possible future research directions. The authors highlight the application of view integration to the blockchain research area, where stakeholders can have different views on the same blockchain. The authors expect that this study contributes to interdisciplinary research across view integration, namely to the context of blockchain.

This survey serves to pave the way for future trends, where the authors highlight the application of view integration to blockchain research.

The purpose of this paper is to report a study of post-integration mechanisms carried out by five multinational mergers and acquisitions (M & A) transactions taken place in Indian context. This study has been woven around the concept of human integration and task integration as separate objectives of acquiring organizations to be achieved.

This study is based on descriptive research design. Qualitative data were collected, where the managers from the acquiring organizations and employees from the acquired firms have taken part in the data collection process through interviews. Interview schedule was developed for managers consisting questions on organizations’ strategy to achieve success post-M & A integration (PMI), while interview schedule developed for employees investigated their reactions after organizational change.

Results revealed that the organizations where human integration mechanisms were given due credence also harbored highly committed employees from their organizational counterparts, whereas the transactions where task integration objective was given preference while ignoring human integration, employees developed the negative emotions of anger and insecurity for their newly merged firm.

The M & A literature observes a huge gap in the field of M & As in India, especially in PMI mechanisms worldwide, as the emphasis has always been on financial and operational aspects of M & As. Thus, this study addresses this gap in research and opens the avenues for M & A researchers to consider HR as the strategic partner during M & As.

The study has important implications for MNCs operating in India and for those which want to excel the Indian market through M & A.

This paper is based on the original field work and every information given is authentic.

Ignition process is a critical issue in combustion systems. It is particularly important for reliability and safety prospects of aero-engine. This paper aims to numerically investigate the burner-to-burner propagation during ignition process in a full annular multiple-injector combustor and then validate it by comparing with experimental results.

The annular multiple-injector experimental setup features 16 swirling injectors and two quartz tubes providing optical accesses to high-speed imaging of flames. A Reynolds averaged Navier–Stokes model, adaptive mesh refinement (AMR) and complete San Diego chemistry are used to predict the ignition process.

The ignition process shows an overall agreement with experiment. The integrated heat release rate of simulation and the integrated light intensity of experiment is also within reasonable agreement. The flow structure and flame propagation dynamics are carefully analyzed. It is found that the flame fronts propagate symmetrically at an early stage and asymmetrically near merging stage. The flame speed slows down before flame merging. Overall, the numerical results show that the present numerical model can reliably predict the flame propagation during the ignition process.

The dedicated AMR method together with detailed chemistry is used for predicting the unsteady ignition procedure in a laboratory-scale annular combustor for the first time. The validation shows satisfying agreements with the experimental investigations. Some details of flow structures are revealed to explain the characteristics of unsteady flame propagations.

The diversity of perspectives means that one can find many factors and models of proenvironmental behavior. However, they typically suffer from limitations and varying degrees of validity in specific contexts, suggesting that today the prime goal should be to learn and improve the models which have been already developed. In this study, the authors build on the model for predicting proenvironmental behavior developed by Oreg and Katz-Gerro (2006), namely one of the most comprehensive cross-national proenvironmental behavior models and one of the few not to be limited to either a local or single-country context or specific proenvironmental behavior.

By using the statistical matching technique, the authors merged data from two existing databases without common identifiers – the International Social Survey Program (environmental module) and the European Social Survey (Round 5). The resulting multinational data concerning 9,710 observations enabled a replication with extensions of Oreg and Katz-Gerro's (2006) proenvironmental behavior model that incorporates newly added Schwartz's theory of human values. To achieve the study's main objective, that is, to present improvements to the original model of proenvironmental behavior, the authors used structural equation modeling (SEM) procedures to estimate four competing models in the R program.

This study implies that Schwartz's individually measured motivational types of values (benevolence [BE], universalism [UN], self-direction [SD]) are predictors of people's proenvironmental behavior, while his conceptualization of post-materialism yields a better model fit than Inglehart's country-level post-materialism scores. The results also corroborate previous findings that post-materialist values can stimulate proenvironmental behaviors through attitudes, perceived behavioral control and intentions. The present study reveals that proenvironmental attitudes did not change substantially in the 10-year period, even though the world's environmental and sustainability challenges have largely increased. Surprisingly, the mean value of several of the perceived threat variables even decreased.

The authors externally validate one of the most comprehensive proenvironmental behavior models by reproducing it using new multinational large-sample data with nearly 10,000 observations collected 10 years later. The most significant addition to the original model introduced in the current study is the inclusion of Schwartz's motivational types of values, which are measured at the individual level, namely BE, UN and SD. The authors also extend the model by adding proenvironmental behavior measures and group the construct into three latent variables: saving natural resources, green purchasing and environmental activism.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the effects of the post-merger integration duration on acquiring firms’ leverage behavior before and after a merger, using a dynamic model in which full merger benefits cannot be consumed at the instant of a merger, but rather after a pre-specified post-merger integration period.

This paper presents a dynamic model and empirical tests that describe the impact of the post-merger integration period on the capital structure dynamics of the acquiring and target firms prior to a merger and during the post-merger integration period. By incorporating costs associated with the post-merger integration period, the model can provide new implications for the leverage behavior around the merger.

Empirical tests support the model implications by showing that the longer the expected post-merger integration process, the less likely the acquirer will structure the financing of the combined firm in a manner that increases firm leverage. Since integration takes time to complete, an acquirer tends to retain financial flexibility during the integration process by assuming lower levels of debt when determining the capital structure of the merged entity.

The model generates new implications related to acquiring firms’ leverage dynamics along with the method of payment choice. The analysis of the duration of the post-merger integration period extends both the theoretical and empirical literature that tacitly assumes that the merger-related synergy is realized immediately at the merger date. This is the first model in the literature that assumes that both the acquiring and the target firms can change their capital structure overtime, which allows us to analyze both the financing structure and the merger timing. Previous empirical studies also ignore the integration period in the analysis of the method of payment choice and leverage behavior around mergers. The model in this paper can be extended along a number of dimensions.