As part of his sabbatical (fall 2009 and spring 2010 semesters), Dr. Ladimer Nagurney, Associate Professor of Electrical, Computer, and Biomedical Engineering, collaborated with two other researchers to investigate the effect of degraded infrastructure on increased pollution. In particular, Dr. Nagurney, along with Dr. Qiang Qiang (now of Penn State–Great Valley) and Dr. Anna Nagurney (University of Massachusetts–Amherst), wondered how the deterioration of our transportation infrastructure affects carbon emissions from vehicular traffic. They also investigated ranking the links in a transportation network in terms of the impact of their degradation or destruction.
The paper based on the research, "Environmental Impact Assessment of Transportation Networks with Degradable Links in an Era of Climate Change," has been published in the International Journal of Sustainable Transportation [Volume 4 (2010), pp 154-171]. The investigators were able to capture the effects of transportation network infrastructure degradation on pollution in the form of carbon emissions. In addition, they constructed link importance indicators that enable the ranking of links under either user-optimizing (U-O) selfish behavior or system-optimizing (S-O) unselfish behavior in terms of the impacts of degradation and destruction. As is evident from recent disasters like as earthquakes and floods, such quantitative measures are more than timely and relevant.
Here is the abstract of the paper:
This paper proposes environmental impact assessment indices to evaluate the environmental effects of link capacity degradation in transportation (road) networks. The indices are applicable in the case of either user-optimizing or system-optimizing behavior. We also construct environmental link importance indicators that allow for the ranking of links in transportation networks in terms of their environmental importance, should they be removed/destroyed. Numerical transportation network examples illustrate the proposed quantitative environmental indicators and further substantiate that system-optimizing behavior does not necessarily lead to reduced emissions.
To read the paper in the journal, use the following link:
http://www.informaworld.com/smpp/content~db=all~content=a917255896
If you prefer to simply read the paper, use the following link: http://supernet.som.umass.edu/articles/nagurney-qiang-nagurney-environmental-robustness.pdf
