Khaled Shaaban

Bio: Khaled Shaaban is an academic researcher from Utah Valley University. The author has contributed to research in topics: Transport engineering & Poison control. The author has an hindex of 20, co-authored 123 publications receiving 998 citations. Previous affiliations of Khaled Shaaban include Assiut University & Qatar University.

Use of Drivers’ Jerk Profiles in Computer Vision–Based Traffic Safety Evaluations:

Abstract: A traffic conflict is usually composed of a chain of events in which at least one of the involved road users performs some sort of evasive action to avoid a collision. An evasive action usually involves powerful braking, which leads to sudden, negative change in acceleration (deceleration). The temporal dynamics (variation over time) of the acceleration of a vehicle is represented by the jerk profile. More formally, jerk is the derivative of the acceleration. In the case of an evasive action by braking, the jerk profile is characterized by strong, negative values. This study examined two issues in the quest to understand the benefits of evasive action analysis. The first issue was whether jerk profiles can be used to identify critical traffic events (conflicts). The second issue addressed the validity of the assumption that the deceleration profile is inadequate as a stand-alone measure for conflict identification. Automated video analysis was used to collect traffic data and analysis was applied on two d...

Analysis of illegal pedestrian crossing behavior on a major divided arterial road

Abstract: Pedestrians’ illegal mid-block crossing increases the chances of a crash compared to crossing at marked or signalized crosswalks. Therefore, it is necessary to have an accurate understanding of this type of behavior to be able to prevent it. This paper presents the results from a comprehensive study undertaken to gain insight into illegal pedestrian crossing behavior on a high-speed six-lane divided arterial road that runs through a high-density urban area. Pedestrian behavior data were collected during the different stages of illegal crossing including before crossing, during crossing, and after crossing to determine the effect of hindrances, vehicles, and other pedestrians on the crossing behavior. The results showed that the illegal crossing behavior is mostly undertaken by male pedestrians. Over one-third of all pedestrians crossed in the presence of a vehicle on the road. Out of this group, almost one-third crossed using a rolling gap. The waiting time before crossing was affected by the group size, crossing point (curb or median), and the presence of other pedestrians on the opposite side of the road. Most of the pedestrians crossed the road during their first attempt and used the shortest path to cross. The crossing time was affected by gender, age, mobile phone use, type of clothing, crossing in a group, crossing point, path of crossing, and presence of a vehicle. The decision to cross was based on the presence of vehicles in the middle or far lanes for most pedestrians. Overall, the presence of a vehicle, as well as other pedestrians and hindrances, altered the illegal crossing behavior of pedestrians.

Assessing Sidewalk and Corridor Walkability in Developing Countries

Abstract: Finding a simple and less expensive method to assess and improve sidewalk and corridor conditions in developing countries is essential in order to motivate more people to walk. This study aimed to design and test a method that uses direct observations of driver behavior and street measurements to assess sidewalk and corridor walkability in developing countries. The proposed method includes different walkability indicators related to sidewalk features, crossing facilities, sidewalk facilities, and driver behavior to provide one score that represents the walkability of a sidewalk and one that represents the walkability of a corridor. The method was tested on streets from 10 neighborhoods in the city of Doha, Qatar. The results indicated that the developed method was easy to use and could efficiently measure various indicators, illustrating that it can be used to evaluate corridors with different characteristics to identify and rank areas that require improvement. The study’s findings will provide maintenance agencies, policymakers, and practitioners in developing countries with a simple, efficient, and cost-effective method to evaluate, plan, rank, and improve the walkability of sidewalks and corridors.

Assessment of the taxi service in Doha

Abstract: This research focuses on passengers’ satisfaction of the taxi service in Doha, Qatar. Qatar is a rich developing country where taxis are widely considered as a public transportation service due to the limited use of the existing bus service and the profoundly dominant use of private car by expats and Qatari locals. The main objective of this research is to identify the quality attributes of the current taxi service. A descriptive analysis relating the demographic, accessibility, and trip purposes to taxi users in general in Doha with overall service satisfaction was conducted. A Structural Equation Model was used to assess the taxi service attributes that influence the users’ perceived satisfaction. Two models were developed: one was a relationship between the demographic and satisfaction of the users while the other was between the trip time and the satisfaction of the users. The first model supports the premise that income is the greatest attribute in the demographic followed by marital status, age, and occupation. On the other hand, the latter model demonstrated that waiting time is the most contributing variable among the times spent by taxi users followed by walking from work to a station, journey time, and walking from home to a station.

I and i

Abstract: There is, I think, something ethereal about i —the square root of minus one. I remember first hearing about it at school. It seemed an odd beast at that time—an intruder hovering on the edge of reality. Usually familiarity dulls this sense of the bizarre, but in the case of i it was the reverse: over the years the sense of its surreal nature intensified. It seemed that it was impossible to write mathematics that described the real world in …

A User’s Guide

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Conceptualising sustainability assessment

Abstract: Sustainability assessment is being increasingly viewed as an important tool to aid in the shift towards sustainability. However, this is a new and evolving concept and there remain very few examples of effective sustainability assessment processes implemented anywhere in the world. Sustainability assessment is often described as a process by which the implications of an initiative on sustainability are evaluated, where the initiative can be a proposed or existing policy, plan, programme, project, piece of legislation, or a current practice or activity. However, this generic definition covers a broad range of different processes, many of which have been described in the literature as 'sustainability assessment'. This article seeks to provide some clarification by reflecting on the different approaches described in the literature as being forms of sustainability assessment, and evaluating them in terms of their potential contributions to sustainability. Many of these are actually examples of 'integrated assessment', derived from environmental impact assessment (EIA) and strategic environmental assessment (SEA), but which have been extended to incorporate social and economic considerations as well as environmental ones, reflecting a 'triple bottom line' (TBL) approach to sustainability. These integrated assessment processes typically either seek to minimise 'unsustainability', or to achieve TBL objectives. Both aims may, or may not, result in sustainable practice. We present an alternative conception of sustainability assessment, with the more ambitious aim of seeking to determine whether or not an initiative is actually sustainable. We term such processes 'assessment for sustainability'. 'Assessment for sustainability' firstly requires that the concept of sustainability be well-defined. The article compares TBL approaches and principles-based approaches to developing such sustainability criteria, concluding that the latter are more appropriate, since they avoid many of the inherent limitations of the triple-bottom-line as a conception of sustainability.

A Survey of Smart Parking Solutions

Abstract: Considering the increase of urban population and traffic congestion, smart parking is always a strategic issue to work on, not only in the research field, but also from economic interests. Thanks to information and communication technology evolution, drivers can more efficiently find satisfying parking spaces with smart parking services. The existing and ongoing works on smart parking are complicated and transdisciplinary. While deploying a smart parking system, cities, as well as urban engineers, need to spend a very long time to survey and inspect all the possibilities. Moreover, many varied works involve multiple disciplines, which are closely linked and inseparable. To give a clear overview, we introduce a smart parking ecosystem and propose a comprehensive and thoughtful classification by identifying their functionalities and problematic focuses. We go through the literature over the period of 2000–2016 on parking solutions as they were applied to smart parking development and evolution, and propose three macro-themes: information collection, system deployment, and service dissemination. In each macro-theme, we explain and synthesize the main methodologies used in the existing works and summarize their common goals and visions to solve current parking difficulties. Finally, we give our engineering insights and show some challenges and open issues. Our survey gives an exhaustive study and a prospect in a multidisciplinary approach. Besides, the main findings of the current state-of-the-art throw out recommendations for future research on smart cities and the Internet architecture.