Book Reviews

Fundamentals of Traffic Simulation

Barceló, Jaume, ed. 2010. Fundamentals of Traffic Simulation. Springer, New York. 492 pp. $189.00.

Fundamentals of Traffic Simulation presents the state of the art in traffic simulation in a useful and practical manner. This book fills a gap that has been apparent for at least 15 years. The stability of traffic simulation tools (at least of their core algorithms) makes this a suitable time to publish such a book. Moreover, Barceló's prominent position as the father of one of the most widely used tools (Aimsun) and as a pedagogical authority makes him the appropriate person to write it.

The book has 11 chapters. Chapter 1, written by Barceló, discusses models, traffic models, simulation, and traffic simulation in a clear and pedagogic manner. Chapters 2–11 are a compendium of presentations by the main contributors to 10 of the most important traffic simulation tools. Some tools (VISSIM, AVENUE, Paramics, Aimsun, MITSIMLab, and SUMO) are mostly microscopic; others (DRACULA, Dynameq, and DynaMIT) are mesoscopic; one (METANET) is macroscopic. Some are commercial tools; SUMO is based on the logic of open source; DRACULA and METANET were developed for use inside the academic community only. Each chapter clearly discusses the information that the reader should know about the topic presented.

This book will be useful for practitioners, students, and researchers. For practitioners, it presents current information about the core algorithms of traffic simulation tools. As editor, Barceló has ensured that all the presentations are homogeneous and provide a comparable level of information, thus permitting the reader to compare the various tools. For students, it comprehensively presents the main aspects of traffic simulation principles. It also explains the limitations inherent in the modeling process, the principles of calibration and validation, and the types of traffic modeling—both the assignment part and the traffic flow parts (microscopic, mesoscopic, and macroscopic). For researchers, it offers a global vision of all aspects of traffic simulation. Although most traffic researchers clearly understand their own topic (e.g., flow or route-choice modeling), they are often unfamiliar with topics outside their specific field of knowledge. This book gives them such information. In addition, it allows them to identify how and where commercial tools would benefit from popularizing their academic results.

I believe that this book will be successful and that another edition will eventually be published; therefore, I suggest the following improvements.

• Include more cross references between Chapter 1 and the tool-related papers (i.e., Chapters 2–11).

• Include a single bibliographic list at the end of the book, mentioning where the references are used.

• Although Barceló asked for and obtained some homogeneity in the tools presentations, I recommend that he enhance this homogeneity. For example, the discussion about Vissim includes a history of its development; he should provide a similar history for the other tools. Moreover, equations are given for some tools; for others, only general principles are presented. A deeper and even unified degree of homogeneity in the level of the presentation would make this book even more useful.

• Rearrange some content to make it easier for readers, particularly students, to find the information they need. For example, in Chapter 1, two important aspects of traffic simulation are not discussed in the description of the principles of traffic modeling; however, they are addressed in the discussion of calibration and validation— replications (p. 44)—and the approximation of the OD matrix existing for an “average working day” (p. 54). These two concepts are important and could be included in the discussion of traffic modeling principles.

To summarize, this book will certainly be useful for the whole community and can serve as an introduction to traffic simulation, as a vehicle for selecting among the various tools, and as a comprehensive guide to current traffic simulation tools. A copy should be present in the libraries of every university's civil engineering department and of every traffic consultancy team.

Christine Buisson

IFSTTAR, Lyon, France, [email protected]

Handbook of Terminal Planning

Böse, Jürgen W., ed. 2011. Handbook of Terminal Planning. Springer, New York. 454 pp. $189.00.

Handbook of Terminal Planning deals with contemporary issues involving the planning of seaport container terminals at the suprastructure level. In particular, it touches on layout design and the quantitative dimensioning of terminal resources, and discusses state-of-the-art equipment and decision-planning technologies available to improve port performances. Unlike many technical books, which are a compilation of highly technical research papers and require readers to have substantial technical knowledge, this book is carefully edited such that its contents do not overwhelm with myriad mathematical formulations.

The book's organization is excellent. It provides (1) a holistic view of the considerations in terminal design and planning, (2) an overview of activities and processes in port operations, (3) a discussion of state-of-the-art equipment and modelling technologies, and (4) an in-depth analysis of port planning according to logistic functions—quayside, yardside, and landside operations.

With the stiffer competition port operators are facing, growth in the number of mega-size vessels, and demands for high port throughput, cost efficiency and capacity can be competitive advantages. This book provides port planners with information on tools that can make their planning more effective, valuable insights from the examples and the solutions generated by the planning tools, and new ideas for designing sustainable terminals. It educates researchers on the requirements, constraints, and intricacies of port planning, thus facilitating meaningful research. It also includes references to a substantial body of literature to allow researchers to keep abreast of recent development in terminal planning and operations, and it documents the comprehensive activities required for port planning, including berth allocation, quay assignment, dimensioning of traffic areas, yard storage, container rehandling, yard crane scheduling, landside operations requirements, and information technology (IT) for coordination among various stakeholders.

The chapters on sustainability and port life cycle (Chapter 4, 18, and 19) particularly caught my attention. These topics are timely because of the debates on the effects of global warming resulting from carbon and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. As the authors point out in Chapter 4, terminal design should consider factors such as reduction in energy use, eco-efficient operations and design, and durable facilities and handling systems. This chapter highlights the need for sustainable ports and discusses their attributes. Chapter 18 discusses the life-cycle approach to terminal planning to solve capacity and other problems that could constrain the growth of many of today's ports; the dry port concept is presented as a viable solution to congested ports. Whether this concept will be accepted as a norm for a congested port has yet to be determined; however, the important message of these chapters is that for sustainability, ports must be designed for flexibility so that they can adapt to changes with minimal cost or waste.

I particularly like the discussion of online systems in Chapter 14, RMG Crane Scheduling and Stacking. Data on this topic are abundant but are often not used to make decisions on real-time operations. The reasons why such data are not used should be discussed in detail to make port operators and academia aware that such developments and research are important in bringing port systems to a higher productivity level.

Although most of the chapters are relevant and important to terminal planning, some areas could be enhanced. First, the port-planning system is written from a European perspective. I acknowledge that port operators in Europe are leaders in port automation; however, many large container ports, including the top seven in terms of container traffic (TEU), are located in Asia. An analysis of the design and planning of container ports in Asia would improve this book. Although the main activities of European and Asian ports are similar, there are some subtle differences. For example, in European ports, stacking is usually low; in Asian ports, stacking can be very high and dense. Therefore, the statement (p. 27) that high stacking is rare is not always true. Moreover, the book's discussions of terminal design and planning at the storage yard are based on a perpendicular layout. However, most Asian ports use a horizontal layout. Because the bulk of container activities come from Asia, information about horizontal layout design would be equally important, if not more so.

Second, some Asian ports handle large volumes of containers and face constraints in land, while the container volumes in European ports are relatively low. Interesting issues to be addressed are whether existing automation equipment can manage the large volume of containers and what storage yard design could best handle this high volume.

Third, the number of mega-size container ships serving 12,000–16,000 TEUs is growing and will contribute significantly to future transshipment activities. This trend should not be ignored. For economic reasons, these larger vessels prefer to enter fewer strategic ports; therefore, feeder vessels (smaller vessels) will be used between the strategic port and neighboring ports, indirectly resulting in a hub-and-spoke system. Therefore, in addition to ports having to deal with larger peak volumes from these vessels (Chapter 11), the key strategic ports will see an increase in transshipment activities. When this volume becomes significant in a port, these containers cannot be treated as export containers; thus, they will require different planning strategies in the storage yard (e.g., the port in Singapore has transshipment activities of 85 percent). A discussion and analysis of transshipment activities would be useful.

Fourth, because IT is crucial to ensuring efficient and effective port planning and operations, any handbook on ports should include a discussion of IT usage. Although Chapter 17 addresses this issue, it would be more complete if it also addressed state-of-the-art communication networks (e.g., terminal operations systems and cargo community services) as implemented in major ports worldwide and the gaps, if any.

In summary, this book, which is based on the real-life experiences of both its practitioner and researcher contributors, will be a valuable addition to the libraries of all port planners.

Ek Peng Chew

Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering, National University of Singapore, Singapore, [email protected]

Boolean Models and Methods in Mathematics, Computer Science, and Engineering. Boolean Functions: Theory, Algorithms, and Applications

Crama, Yves, Peter L. Hammer, eds. 2010. Boolean Models and Methods in Mathematics, Computer Science, and Engineering. Cambridge University Press, New York. 759 pp. $175.00.

Crama, Yves, Peter L. Hammer, eds. 2011. Boolean Functions: Theory, Algorithms, and Applications. Cambridge University Press, New York. 687 pp. $150.00.

Although the objectives of these two books differ, I consider them to be companion books that can be discussed appropriately in one review. Boolean Models and Methods in Mathematics, Computer Science, and Engineering seeks to present an extensive collection of domains in which Boolean methods have been used successfully and to “highlight the role of Boolean theory in a number of such areas” (p. vii). Boolean Functions: Theory, Algorithms, and Applications has a more basic objective—to introduce the reader to the fundamental elements of the theory of Boolean functions.

Boolean Models and Methods in Mathematics, Computer Science, and Engineering comprises five parts, each of which can be read independently. Part I, Algebraic Structures, deals with compositions and decompositions of Boolean functions. As such, it is particularly suitable for reading in conjunction with the volume about these functions. Part II, Logic, includes chapters on proof theory (including an examination of Frege systems), probabilistic analysis of satisfiabilty algorithms, and optimization methods in logic. The chapters in Part III, Learning Models and Cryptography, address probabilistic learning, learning Boolean functions with queries, Boolean functions for error-correcting codes, and vectorial Boolean functions for cryptography. Part IV, Graph Representations and Efficient Computation Models, describes graph representations (e.g., circuit complexity, neural networks, binary decision diagrams, and decision lists). The last part, Part V, Applications in Engineering, provides chapters on the design of digital electronic systems, synthesis of multilevel Boolean networks, and network reliability.

The chapters raise many diverse and interesting questions, which they then investigate in detail. Although more than 20 authors contributed to this book, the editors were effective in ensuring that the presentation style throughout the chapters was uniform. Although the editors do not specify a recommended audience, I think that to gain the most value from this book, a reader's level of knowledge should be beyond that of an advanced undergraduate student; however, any reader with an inquisitive nature and a desire to learn this topic will gain from exploring this volume's contents.

Boolean Functions: Theory, Algorithms, and Applications will undoubtedly become the bible of Boolean functions because it covers this topic in depth and presents the various aspects of these functions in a comprehensive way. Where it stops, research can start.

The book has three parts: Foundations (Part I), Special Classes (Part II), and Generalizations (Part III). In Chapter 1, readers learn that Boolean functions have different forms and sometimes occur in unexpected contexts. The authors effectively generate reader interest by including applications from electrical and computer engineering, game theory, reliability, combinatorial optimization, propositional logic, and artificial intelligence. They also discuss algebraic and geometric aspects of Boolean functions. Chapter 2 addresses the resolution of Boolean equations by reviewing a variety of methods, including mathematical programming approaches. The remaining two chapters of Part I are dedicated to the concepts of prime implicants, minimum disjunctive normal forms, and duality.

In Part II, the authors systematically study the most important classes of functions; these include the quadratic functions, which represent the simplest Boolean functions and are closely related to graph-theoretical models. Horn functions, regular functions, threshold functions, the special read-once functions, orthogonal forms, and the shellability property are also studied in depth.

Part III presents some generalizations of the ideas and concepts introduced in Parts I and II. This section includes chapters on partially defined Boolean functions and pseudo-Boolean functions. As the authors imply, an adequate discussion of this latter topic would require an entire volume; therefore, they provide only a brief overview. Applications, representations, and the presentation of special classes of pseudo-Boolean functions are also discussed, thus giving the reader an opportunity to examine their close connections to graph theory.

The chapters in Parts II and III could easily be read independently, especially because the main definitions are repeated when necessary to facilitate the reader's understanding of the concepts discussed.

Three appendices address graphs and hypergraphs, the complexity of algorithms, and JBool, a useful tool for the reader who wants to work with the basic concepts and use real examples to understand the material presented. In addition, a bibliography of more than 900 references is included to help the reader in finding more detailed information on the topics presented.

The book is written in an extremely didactic style. Many concepts and definitions are introduced progressively and examples are interspersed throughout the text, allowing the reader to easily assimilate more advanced material as it is presented. When I tried to imagine what could be missing from this work, I could think of nothing essential (other than some variations and extensions of the basic concepts). The only objection that operations research professionals might have is that the section on pseudo-Boolean optimization, a topic that could fill a book, could have been more developed, as Hammer did years ago (Hammer 1980). I found it equally hard to think of what could have been removed from this volume to shorten it without deleting vital material.

In summary, Boolean Functions: Theory, Algorithms, and Applications shows the extensive experience and deep knowledge the authors and their coauthors have about Boolean functions. It is a reference in which every researcher and user of discrete concepts will find a mine of useful concepts and methods presented in a clear and systematic way.

Dominique de Werra

École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland, [email protected]