Day 19: June 27, 2013

We began the morning with the weekly safety group meeting. Both Professor Saat and Professor Barkan joined us in a conference call. We all described briefly what we have been doing for the past days and then Jesus gave a great presentation focusing in the analysis of multiple consequences of tank car release. It was very interesting, not only the presentation but also all the comments that he received.

Then I read Xiang's article: Liu, X., M.R. Saat, C.P.L. Barkan, 2013. Safety Effectiveness of Integrated Risk Reduction Strategies for the Transportation of Hazardous Materials by Rail. Transportation Research Record - Journal of the Transportation Research Board. In the article a new methodology is developed to estimate the reduction of hazardous materials release risk by implementing integrated risk reduction strategies. The strategies that are considered are tank car safety design enhancement, reduction of train speed, accident prevention. One of the tables in this article shows the speed dependent CPR for different types of tank cars. I plan on using the speed dependent CPR on the model to evaluate risk more precisely.

For the rest of the day I work on a preliminary outline for the ppt modules of the final project (Railroad Risk Analysis Case Study). I plan on finishing it by tomorrow and then I will start to work on the power point presentation.

Today:

-Create an outline of the different "udemy" modules                                     (to be finished)

-Start to work on the "udemy" ppt (module 1 introduction)                            (no time)
-Read Xiang's article regarding Safety Effectiveness strategies for the Transportation of Hazardous Materials by rail                                                                                                              (done)                                       

-Determine the risk model to be used in the case study                               (to be finished)
-Literature review on Railroad Hazmat Transportation                                  (to be finished)

-Safety group meeting (Jesus presentation)                                                  (done)

Next day:

-Create an outline of the different "udemy" modules
-Start to work on the "udemy" ppt (module 1 introduction)
-Determine the risk model to be used in the case study
-Literature review on Railroad Hazmat Transportation

Day 18: June 26, 2013

This morning, I kept reading articles from AAR and EIA. I located the most important crude oil rail loading facilities in North Dakota as it can be observed in FIG7. I had a especial interest in the Rangeland Energy's Crude Oil Loading Terminal, often called COLT (in the map is label as Inergy) because it can process up to 160,000 bbl/d. This is a considerable value as it is about one fifth of the total crude oil produced in North Dakota. Due to the importance of this facility I will take this point as the origin of my route.

After doing an analysis of most common crude oil destinations, (they vary significantly in response to market needs and price opportunities) originated in North Dakota, I found that the Gulf Coast is one of the top destinations as it is the area with more refineries. Hence, I decided that my route would go from the COLT loading facility in ND to the GT Omniport unloading facility in TX, which can up to 100,000 bbl/d. Both of this facilities are connected directly to BNSF. 

On the afternoon all the interns had a small discussion with Xiang to talk about what we have been doing for the past days and to explain and justify to the rest of the group the route that each of us chose to do our case study.

Moreover, today I have been thinking that in my risk quantitative analysis I want to take into account the effect of the speed of the rail. I think I can do this by using a speed-dependent CPR. Tomorrow, among other things, I will read a couple articles that Xiang has recommended me to have a better understanding of how I can include this parameter on the risk equation.

FIG7: Rail loading facilities of Crude oil in North Dakota.
Source: North Dakota Pipeline Authority 2013

Today:

-Find key origins and destinations of crude oil transportation               (done)
-Work on presentation of oil transportation by rail                             (done)
-Literature review on Railroad Hazmat Transportation                       (to be finished)

*-Decide the route of my case study                                                (done)

Next day:

-Create an outline of the different "udemy" modules
-Start to work on the "udemy" ppt (module 1 introduction)
-Read Xiangs article regarding Safety Effectiveness strategies for the Transportation of Hazardous Materials by rail 
-Determine the risk model to be used in the case study
-Literature review on Railroad Hazmat Transportation
-Safety group meeting (Jesus presentation)

Day 17: June 25, 2013

Today I spent most of the day searching online for the reasons behind the rise of crude oil transportation by rail and the key origins and destinations of this transportation. I found very helpful data in both AAR (Association of American Railroads) and EIA (U.S. Energy Information Administration) websites. I first analyzed the trend of the past years and then, after some research, I located the main areas of crude oil production and the location of the most important refineries in the U.S. Tomorrow, I will try to analysis this data to determine the frequent routes that are followed by the crude oil unit trains. In addition, I will prepare a couple of slides summarizing all of this information so that Xiang and Jesus can take a look at it.

At 12:00 we had the RailTEC weekly meeting where Athaphon (uiuc alumnus) gave a short presentation on the Thai Railways Development Plan. He first briefly summarized the railway situation in Thailand to then talk about the important investments that are taking place in order to improve the infrastructure and also to develop the high speed train system. Among other things, it was very surprising to see how they use different materials for certain infrastructure elements due to different cost (example: majority use of concrete ties)

Today:

-Understand the reasons for the rise of crude oil transportation by rail      (done)
-Find key origins and destinations of this transportation                           (to be finished)
-Literature review on Railroad Hazmat Transportation                             (to be finished)
-Attend the RailTEC weekly meeting                                                     (done)

*-Safety group meeting with Athaphon Kawprasert's (Kwan)                      (done)

Next day:
-Find key origins and destinations of crude oil transportation
-Work on presentation of oil transportation by rail
-Literature review on Railroad Hazmat Transportation

Day 16: June 24, 2013

Today, I worked on the task that Xiang assigned me. After finishing the excel file with all the data and calculations that he required, I prepared some graphs to facilitate the understanding of the results. Then we both discussed them and we agreed that they were reasonable. He may perform a further analysis but for now he doesn't need my help any more. 

On the afternoon, I started to research about transportation of crude oil by rail. This topic is of special interest as crude oil has just become the most transported hazardous material by rail (measure in ton mile). I'm still trying to understand the reasons behind this growth. However, I found that one of them it is the enormous increase in crude oil production in North Dakota. This increasing amount of crude oil cannot be transported exclusively by pipelines, which are at their maximum capacity, so it is being transported by rail. FIG6 shows the estimated crude oil exported from North Dakota by rail. As it can be observed its growth has been incredible. Tomorrow, I will continue analyzing this phenomenon and I will try to determine the most important pairs of origin-destination of crude oil transportation.

FIG6: Estimated North Dakota Rail Export Volumes.

Today:

-Understand the reasons for the rise of crude oil transportation by rail           (to be finished)
-Find key origins and destinations of this transportation                               (to be finished)
-Gather and edit information Xiang requires for his research                         (done)
-Literature review on Railroad Hazmat Transportation                                 (to be finished)

Next day:
-Understand the reasons for the rise of crude oil transportation by rail
-Find key origins and destinations of this transportation
-Literature review on Railroad Hazmat Transportation

-Attend the weekly RailTEC meeting

Day 15: June 21, 2013

This morning, I continued with the literature review. I wanted to get a better understaing on how the speed of the train affects the overall risk so I started the day off by reading Barkan, C. P. L., Dick, C. T. & Anderson, R., 2003. Railroad Derailment Factors Affecting Hazardous Materials Transportation Risk, Washington, D.C.: Transportation Research Record: 1825. Paper No. 03-4429. In this article, the FRA accident data for the period 1992-2001 is analyzed to determine and understand first what are the most frequent and severe accidents and second what are the factors affecting hazardous materials transportation risk. One of the most significant conclusions is that the speed and number of cars derailed significantly relate to hazardous materials release probability.

Later, I read Saat, M. R. & Barkan, C. P., 2005. Release Risk and Optimization of Railroad Tank Car Safety Design, Washington, D.C.: Transportation Research Record: Journal of the Transportation Research Board, No. 1916: 78-87. In this study a new metric for quantifying hazardous materials releases is developed and applied to evaluate tank car thickness and safety. It is determined that the rate of release and thus the quantity of release depend on the size of the puncture, the tank’s internal pressure, and the viscosity of the commodity. At the end of the document, the trade-off between reduced release probability and increased accident exposure with increased tank thickness is discussed and an optimization of this trade-off is presented.

After lunch I talked to Xiang as I have some questions regarding the procedure and methodology he wanted me to follow to do the analysis he assigned me. I worked on it for the rest of the day and I plan to finish it by Monday. 

Today:
-Literature review on Railroad Hazmat Transportation                               (to be finished)
-Gather and edit information Xiang requires for his research                      (to be finished)

Next day:
-Understand the reasons for the rise of crude oil transportation by rail
-Find key origins and destinations of this transportation.
-Gather and edit information Xiang requires for his research
-Literature review on Railroad Hazmat Transportation

Day 14: June 20, 2013

I spent most of the morning reading Kawprasert's dissertation. The following couple of paragraphs briefly summarize the content of two chapters of Kawpraser's document. 

In chapter 8, the author discusses about the issues that need to be addressed when using route risk as a parameter to compare different routes. He also describes several potential techniques that can be useful in this regard. In addition, he introduces some statistical methods that can allow risk managers to quantitatively distinguish among risk alternatives when, for some reason, the risk analysis could not be completed for the entire route or network. 

In chapter 9, kawprasert develops and shows several new techniques to present and communicate risk results more effectively. Based on the result from a quantitative risk analysis, he discusses how to illustrate the major factors affecting risk depending on the context and the questions of interest of the users 

On the afternoon, Xiang asked me to help him with his current research. He needs me to gather and present some information he requires for his broken rail frequency analysis. I think this is a good opportunity to learn how to work with different railroad databases as well as to understand some factors that affect the behavior of this phenomenon. After Xiang described me precisely his concerns and interests on the topic, Chen-Yu explained me in detail how to work with the FRA database. His "tutorial" was very helpful. Tomorrow, I plan on working in this as well as continue with the literature review.

Today:
-Finish reading Athaphon kawprasert's dissertation (done)
-Literature review on Railroad Hazmat Transportation (to be finished)
*-Gather and edit information Xiang requires for his research. (to be finished)

Next day:
-Literature review on Railroad Hazmat Transportation
-Gather and edit information Xiang requires for his research

Day 13: June 19, 2013

Today, I spent most of the day reading Kawprasert's dissertation. First, I finished chapter 4 where he talks about the effect of train speed on hazmat transportation route risk analysis. I found it very thought-provoking as in the project we didn't consider the effects that the speed of the derailment could cause. It is stated that “The higher the speed of a derailment, the more cars are likely to derail, and of these the higher the probability that one or more will suffer a release (Barkan et al., 2003).” In addition, in this chapter the author discussed the use of speed-dependent CPR (conditional probability of release) and finally, applies all of these concepts in a case study.

Later I read chapter 5, where he discusses different options for route infrastructure improvement in order to reduce the risk associate with the transportation of hazmat in that infrastructure. I really like this chapter because as much as companies are willing to undertake risk mitigation measures, they still need to optimize their benefits. Therefore, providing cost-efficient risk mitigation measures is crucial.

Today:

-Continue reading Athaphon kawprasert's dissertation                                   (to be finished)

-Read some articles to start deciding about my specific research topic            (to be finished)

-Literature review on Railroad Hazmat Transportation                                  (to be finished)

Next day:

-Finish reading Athaphon kawprasert's dissertation

-Start reading Xiang's dissertation 

Day 12: June 18, 2013

I started the day editing the presentation and incorporating the changes that were discussed yesterday (new maps, change colors, a reorganize graphs). After that I went to the Hay Seminar presentation. Gilles Saussine (Group Head of Soil Mechanics and Infrastructure at SNCF) gave a presentation on "Ballast Flying and Projection Phenomena: Issues and Challenges". I really enjoyed it, especially when he talked about how they faced the different challenges. Moreover, I found very interesting that they are already planning on change the operation speed of some segments of the high speed lines, based on their modelling results.

After the presentation, Jesus explained us how to look for certain information in the timetables and how to use them to double check the RCRMS data.

Today:

-Work on the changes of the risk analysis presentation (done)
-Continue reading Athaphon kawprasert's dissertation (no time)
-Read some articles to start deciding about my specific research topic (to be finished)
-Literature review on Railroad Hazmat Transportation (to be finished)
-Attend the weekly RailTEC meeting (Hay Seminar Presentation) (done)

Next day:

-Continue reading Athaphon kawprasert's dissertation
-Read some articles to start deciding about my specific research topic 
-Literature review on Railroad Hazmat Transportation

Day 11: June 17, 2013

Although my plan for the day was to keep reading kawprasert's dissertation, when I got to the office in the morning, Jesus told me that the presentation needed to be rearranged. Instead of dividing the ppt in 2 parts it was decided to do it in 3 parts, so that the final results were more clear to the customer. it was necessary to do some new maps, so Jeff and I worked on that. Later we both organized to change the rest of the presentation (graphs and tables). 

At 2:00 pm we all decided to attend the SNCF Concrete Tie Research presentation by Philippe Pouligny (Head of Track Engineering Division). It was very interesting to learn what are the challenges that SNCF is facing specially on the HSR where trains go as fast as 350 Km/h. Moreover, Philippe also discussed the main topics that are currently being researched and why they are focussing on them. (different types of fastening systems, hollow concrete ties...)

At the end of the day we presented the final risk analysis ppt, which summarizes our work for the past two weeks, to professors Saat and Barkan. There was a good discussion regarding the more surprising presented values and we received some very much appreciated comments. Tomorrow I will work on incorporating those suggested changes.

Today:

-Continue reading Athaphon kawprasert's dissertation                                (no time)
-Read some articles to start deciding about my specific research topic       (to be finished)

-Literature review on Railroad Hazmat Transportation                                 (to be finished)

*-Work on the final presentation (change format and add 3 parts)               

*-Presentation of the the risk analysis project to professor Saat and Barkan 

*-Attend the SNCF Concrete Tie Research presentation by Philippe Pouligny (Head of Track Engineering Division)

Next day:

-Work on the changes of the risk analysis presentation

-Continue reading Athaphon kawprasert's dissertation
-Read some articles to start deciding about my specific research topic 

-Literature review on Railroad Hazmat Transportation

-Attend the weekly RailTEC meeting (Hay Seminar Presentation)

Day 10: June 14, 2013

Following Xiang's advice, the first document that I started looking at this morning was Athaphon kawprasert's dissertation (2011-01-14): "Quantitative analysis of options to reduce risk of hazardous materials transportation by railroad". I read about 1/3 of the thesis and it is very remarkable and explanatory. After the presentation, Kawpraserts does a review of the literature regarding railroad hazardous materials analyses. This provided me with a good amount of articles to read in the future. Then he introduces the concept of route rationalization and how risk could be reduced by rationalization of hazardous materials transportation route structure. FIG5 shows the rationalized route given a set of cities and quantities that need to be transported between them. Although this example is very explanatory, as he states, the practical application of this method may not be feasible, given the size and complexity of the railroad system. 

Later he describes the effects of train speed on hazardous materials transportation risk analysis. I did not get to the conclusion and discussion of this topic yet, so I'm looking forward to continue reading on Monday.

FIG5: Example of the application of the rationalization method.

Today:

-Read Athaphon kawprasert's dissertation                                                   (To be finished)
-Read some articles to start deciding about my specific research topic      (To be finished)

-Literature review on Railroad Hazmat Transportation                                (To be finished)

Next day:

-Continue reading Athaphon kawprasert's dissertation
-Read some articles to start deciding about my specific research topic 

-Literature review on Railroad Hazmat Transportation

Day 9: June 13, 2013

Today it was a very productive day. The group started the morning looking at the presentation. We corrected some typos and some small design mistakes. Later Xiang explained us in detail the plan for the coming weeks. I will review literature focusing on Railroad Hamzat Transportation. He also provided us with many advises on how to look for paper and articles. In addition, he mentioned some imporant jounals for us to take a look at.

After that, we had the safety group meeting, where we presented the project. It was very constructive, as we received plenty of important feedback, and ideas. I spent the rest of the day editing the presentation in order to include those comments and also to improve its consistency and final design.

Today:

-Look at the final presentation                                                                (done)

-Read some articles to start deciding about my research topic                      (no time) 

-Safety group meeting (Project presentation)                                                                         (done)

-*Work on the consistency and design of the final presentation                      (done)

Next day:

-Read some articles to start deciding about my specific research topic 

-Literature review on Railroad Hazmat Transportation

Day 8: June 12, 2013

Eli and I spent the morning working on the final GIS maps. As expected the first map took us a significant amount of time as there were some options and settings of ArcMap that needed to be determined. However, once that we had finished this one, we quickly prepared the rest of them. On the afternoon, we worked on the excel tables and graphs. I should mention that we based the presentation design in the template that Xiang provided us. 

By the end of the day, we managed to put all the slides together and merge them with Jeff and Hanna's ones. Fig4 shows a comparison of the risk per car-shipment in the eleven analysed routes.

We all agreed that tomorrow we will set up the projector and closely review the entire presentation to have the final file ready by Friday morning.

Fig4: Risk per car-shipment for each route. 

Today:

-Work on the final risk analysis presentation

     o Prepare the final GIS maps                             (done)

     o Prepare the final graphs and tables                  (done)

Next day:

-Look at the final presentation

-Read some articles to start deciding about my research topic
-Safety group meeting (Project presentation)                                           

Day 7: June 11, 2013

I spent most of the day working on the final project presentation. At 12:00 pm we had the RailTEC weekly meeting, where Francesco gave a presentation on the flying ballast risk assessment. He explained some of the most important causes of this phenomenon.Later, he explained some of the research that it is currently being done around the world in this area and listed some possible mitigation measures. I thought it was a very interesting topic. I really enjoy these meetings as they are a GREAT way to learn more about a wide variety of topics.

On the afternoon, Xiang and Jesus briefly showed us what are the important factors to consider when preparing a professional presentation. I have to say that they both are really helpfull, as they are always willing to answer any of our questions. After this "mini" tutorial Eli and I worked on the final presentation. We will probably have it finished by Thursday.

Today:

-Tutorial by Xiang on professional ppt and how to present the results  (done)

-Prepare the final risk analysis presentation  (To be finished)

-RailTEC weekly meeting, Francesco's presentation (done)  

Next day:

-Work on the final risk analysis presentation

     o Prepare the final GIS maps 

     o Prepare the final graphs and tables

Day 6: June 10, 2013

Today is Monday, a brand new week starts! I spent most of the morning working on the quantitative risk model of the project. After calculating all the necessary parameters and values for the 6 routes, Jesus and I talked about the minor differences that Eli and I were still getting on the results of 3 of the routes. We found out that all calculations were fine but those 3 routes were not identical. My route had some "extra" segments so that the train would run through one of the indicated city. However, we both agreed that, on reality, the optimized train route would not pass through that city. Hence those extra segments were eliminated. 

Taken into account this modification, I updated all the calculations. In addition all the necessary values of the quantitative risk model were determined. Tomorrow, after Xiang´s tutorial, I will start preparing the final project presentation. On the afternoon I had some time to read some very interesting articles (they are listed below). 

Today:

-Understand the risk model developed by Xiang and Jesus      (done)

-Perform the calculations necessary for the model                          (done)                                                              

*-Read some articles regarding railroad history and improvements (done)

    o Rail innovation down the track

    o Track classification

    o California high speed project Overview

Next day:

-Tutorial by Xiang on professional ppt and how to present the results

-Prepare the final risk analysis presentation

-RailTEC weekly meeting

Day 5: June 7, 2013

The day started with Xiang's thesis defense. I am very glad I got the opportunity to attend such an event. He did a great presentation. After that, we went back to the office and continued working on the routes. I prepared all the files for Jesus and then I finished the Excel calculations. Later, Eli and I went over the entire ArcMap process trying to find the source of the differences in the results. We found out that in one of the route this difference was caused by the fact that in some parts our lines were not exactly the same . So we fixed that and recalculated the data. 

For the rest of the routes, the obtained results were pretty much the same, errors of 0.001%, which are probably rounding errors. On the afternoon, Xiang gave us a brief tutorial of the justification, background and methodology of the risk model used for this proyect. I will calculate the necessary data to apply this model on Monday. For today I think is enough. Now is time to celebrate Xiang's work.

Today:

-Try to understand why Eli and I are getting different results         (done)

      o assess if the errors are significant                                    (done)

-Get all the files to the server and ready for Jesus                       (done)

-Xiang tutorial about risk model                                                (done)

-Xiang's thesis defense                                                                                                    (done)

Next day:

-Understand the risk model developed by Xiang and Jesus

-Perform the calculations necessary for the model

Day 4: June 6, 2013

I spent the most of the time in the morning finishing up and double-checking the ArcMAP files. On the afternoon, I started to work on the calculation files. For every route I ran the matlab code (that Jesus provided us) changing the initial parameters when it was required. After that, I modified and updated the excel files and collected all the resulting data. FIG3 partially shows the Excel spreadsheet that contains the data from one of the route.

I really like the environment in the office. We are continually working side by side, helping each others to solve any issues that may arise.

FIG3: Excel spreadsheet with the data from one of the routes.

 Today:

-Work on the other 5 routes                                                   (done)

-Try to understand why Eli and I are getting different results        (to be finished)

-Finish the ArcMap part of the routes                                       (done)

-Work on the Excel and matlab part of the routes 

     o run the matlab code                                                       (done)

     o calculation of the different parameters                             (done)

*Safety group meeting (Chen-Yu presentation)                                            (done)

Next day:

-Try to understand why Eli and I are getting different results 

      o assess if the errors are significant

-Get all the files to the server and ready for Jesus

-Xiang tutorial about risk model

-Xiang's thesis defense

Day 3: June 5, 2013

Today we kept working on the rest of the routes (2, 3, 4, 5 and 6). Basically we followed the same procedure that was undertaken yesterday for route number 1. We continue working with ArcMAP and I should state that I worked much faster today, as I was already very confortable with the software. On the afternoon, Jesus showed us very clearly how to do the following steps of the quantitative analysis, mostly using Excel and Matlab.

In addition, Eli and I start to compare the results that we obtained in the past days and to our surprise we found out that although they were pretty similiar (that was somehow relieving), they were not the same (differences of 0.001%). So tomorrow we will try to find the source of the error.

On the overall, it was a very productive day!!

Saludos

Today:

-Work on the other 5 routes                             (To be finished)
-Keep working to improve skills with ArcMap        (Done)

*-Excel and Matlab tutorial de Jesus                   (Done)

Tomorrow:
-Work on the other 5 routes

-Try to understand why Eli and I are getting different results

-Finish the ArcMap part of the routes

-Work on the Excel and matlab part of the routes 

     o run the matlab code

     o calculation of the different parameters

Day 2: June 4, 2013

We started the morning working with Jesus. He continued with the GIS tutorial and today he managed to share his input files so that we could easily follow the same ArcMap steps in our own laptops. Then he gave each of us several routes to work on. At the begining the work was going pretty slow as I was still getting used to most of the commands and GIS tools. At 12:00 we had a meeting with the rest of students and professors from RailTEC. Xiang, who is defending his texis this coming Friday, presented  a ppt about the relation between the frequency of rail inspection and the risk of derailment (risk of hazardous material leakage). Among other very good points, it was commented that a cost effective analysis must be undertaken as even if the rail line is inspected daily there will always be a risk (best case it would be very small) associated with transportation. Also it is important to consider the effect of weather (cold/warm) in all of this analysis.

For the rest of the dayI worked in the quantitative risk analysis of the first route that I was assigned. Using ArcMap I determined for each segment of the route the population that would be affected in case of a leakage event assuming a 0.5 mile radius of impact. The following figure (FIG2) shows the final result where the route is coloured according to the amount of people affected (green being the lowest and red the highest).

FIG2: Amount of people living within a 0.5 mile radius from the rail line.

Today:
-Jesus and Xiang GIS tutorial II   (Done)
-Go over the tutorial II             (Done)
-Remind some other useful GIS tools: Merge, Buffer, Intersect            (Done)
-Understand all the steps of their qualitative risk analysis                   (Done)
*-Weekly RailTEC meeting                                                               (Done)

Tomorrow:
-Work on the other 5 routes
-Keep working to improve skills with ArcMap

Day 1: June 3, 2013

Today, the internship finally started. We had a kick-off meeting at 8:00 AM. After meeting the rest of the undergraduate interns and the graduate mentors, professor Rapik explained us clearly what are the expectations, objectives and methodologies of the program. I am going to be working with Chen-Yu (grad student) and, among other things, I will perform a railroad transportation risk study. Later we were told that during the next two weeks we are going to undertake a quantitative risk analysis for a company in order to assess for each given route the risk associated with the transportation of a hazardous material by railroad. This is very exciting as the company will decide which route is most suitable based partly on the results of this study. After a short presentation about a similar analysis performed in other routes by some of the grad students, we were shown to what will be our office for the next two months.

Jesus and Xiang gave us a two-hour GIS basic tutorial. After that I started to work on my own, first going over everything they explained us one more time, and then doing online GIS tutorials mainly focussing on the Network Analyst tool. One of the exercise that I carried out was the calculation of the route that would minimize the time necessary to go through points 1 to 14 (not necessarily in order) as it is shown in Fig1. This task was accomplished using the roadway system of a city including length and allowed velocity for each street. These different examples have allowed me to remember some concepts and GIS tools that I had forgotten.

Fig1: Route optimization using ArcMAP's tool Network Analyst. 

Tomorrow:

-Jesus and Xiang GIS tutorial II
-Go over the tutorial II 
-Remind some other useful GIS tools: Merge, Buffer, Intersect
-Understand all the steps of their qualitative risk analysis

Bienvenido a este Blog!

Welcome to this Blog! 

As a participant of the REU Summer Program in Multimodal Freight Transportation Risk under Dr. Rapik Saat I will use this blog to record and analyze my daily learning journey throughout the mentioned program. Therefore, everyday I will post a brief overview of that day undertaken tasks and a list of objectives for the following day. 

Please feel free to share your comments, constructive critiques will be very well received and appreciated, and/or email me if you have any questions or just want to talk about any of the topics here mentioned. 

Saludos and have a great day :)

Manuel Martin