bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Speech Results after One-Stage Palatoplasty with or without Muscle Reconstruction for Isolated Cleft Palate
Authors: Nyberg Jill , Westberg Liisi Raud , Neovius Erik , Larson Ola , Henningsson Gunilla
Published: January 2010

Objective

To investigate speech outcome between children with isolated cleft palate undergoing palatoplasty with and without muscle reconstruction and to compare speech outcomes between cleft and noncleft children. The number of subsequent velopharyngeal flaps was compared with respect to surgical techniques and cleft extent.

Design

Cross-sectional retrospective study.

Participants

One hundred four children aged 4 years, 0 months to 6 years, 0 months, 33 with isolated cleft of the soft palate, 53 with isolated cleft of the hard and soft palate, and 18 noncleft children.

Interventions

Two primary palate repair techniques: minimal incision technique (MIT) and minimal incision technique including muscle reconstruction (MITmr).

Main Outcome Measures

Perceptual judgment of seven speech parameters assessed on a five-point scale.

Results

No significant differences in speech outcomes were found between MIT and MITmr surgery groups. The number of velopharyngeal flaps was significantly lower after MITmr surgery compared to MIT surgery. The number of flaps was also significantly lower in children with cleft of the soft palate compared to children with cleft of the hard and soft palate. Children with cleft of the soft palate had significantly less glottal articulation and weak pressure consonants compared to children with cleft of the hard and soft palate.

Conclusions

The MITmr surgery technique was not significantly superior to the MIT technique regarding speech outcomes related to velopharyngeal competence, but had fewer velopharyngeal flaps, which is contradictory. Until a larger sample can be studied, we will continue to use MITmr for primary palate repair.
Photometric Evaluation of Bilateral Cleft Lip and Palate Patients after Primary Columella Lengthening
Authors: Meazzini Maria Costanza , Rossetti Giulia , Morabito Alberto , Garattini Giovanna , Brusati Roberto
Published: January 2010

Objective

To evaluate the results in terms of nasal esthetics of children with bilateral cleft lip and palate, operated with the Cutting primary columella lengthening technique, associated with Grayson orthopedic nasoalveolar molding, and to compare them with the nasal aspects of children with bilateral cleft lip and palate operated with a traditional approach and to an age-matched sample of normal Caucasian children.

Design

Normalized photogrammetry.

Setting

Regional Center for CLP, Department of Maxillo-Facial Surgery, San Paolo Hospital, Milan.

Patients

Three groups of patients 5 years of age. Cutting group: 18 patients treated with the Grayson-Cutting technique. Delaire group: 18 patients treated with the traditional Delaire technique. Normal children: 40 normal preschool children.

Results

With the Cutting-Grayson technique, the columella length, nasal tip angle, and protrusion are greatly improved compared with the previous protocol and are close to normal. On the other hand, the nasolabial angle and interalar distances are still excessively wide in both samples.

Conclusions

Although this is not a long-term study, at this time none of the patients operated with this technique have needed secondary columella lengthening. On the other hand, although certainly improved, the nasal anatomy obtained is far from normal.
Privacy Versus Public Health: The Impact of Current Confidentiality Rules
Authors: Wartenberg Daniel , Thompson W. Douglas
Published: January 2010

Public health research and practice often have been facilitated through the evaluation and study of population-based data collected by local, state, and federal governments. However, recent concerns about identify theft, confidentiality, and patient privacy have led to increasingly restrictive policies on data access, often preventing researchers from using these valuable data.

We believe that these restrictions, and the research impeded or precluded by their implementation and enforcement, have had a significant negative impact on important public health research. Members of the public health community should challenge these policies through their professional societies and by lobbying legislators and health officials to advocate for changes that establish a more appropriate balance between privacy concerns and the protection of public health.
Electronic and Printed Books with and Without Adult Support as Sustaining Emergent Literacy
Authors: Korat Ofra , Segal-Drori Ora , Klien Pnina
Published: January 2010

Emergent literacy (EL) enhancement has been the goal of numerous educational programs for years, especially for children from low socioeconomic statuses (LSES) (Snow, 1994; Whitehurst, Zevebergen, Crone, Schultz, Velting, & Fischel, 1999). During the past decade, technology software, including electronic books (e-books), have become incorporated within this agenda. One of the common activities in children's education in the Western world in mainstream families is that adults read storybooks to children constantly from a very young age (DeBruin-Parecki, 1999). Studies of the last 4 decades have shown how powerful this activity is, especially for the child's oral language, with less clear results regarding emergent or early literacy (Stahl, 2003; van Kleeck, 2003; Whitehurst et al., 1999). The proposed study examined how e-books compare with traditional printed books in the support of LSES children's EL with and without adult assistance.
Ensuring a Healthy and Productive Workforce: Comparing the Generosity of Paid Sick Day and Sick Leave Policies in 22 Countries
Authors: Heymann Jody , Rho Hye Jin , Schmitt John , Earle Alison
Published: January 2010

National paid sick day and paid sick leave policies are compared in 22 countries ranked highly in terms of economic and human development. The authors calculate the financial support available to workers facing two different kinds of health problems: a case of the flu that requires missing 5 days of work, and a cancer treatment that requires 50 days of absence. Only 3 countries—the United States, Canada, and Japan—have no national policy requiring employers to provide paid sick days for workers who need to miss 5 days of work to recover from the flu. Eleven countries guarantee workers earning the national median wage full pay for all 5 days. In Ireland and the United Kingdom, the full-time equivalent benefits are more generous for low-wage workers than for workers earning the national median. The United States is the only country that does not provide paid sick leave for a worker undergoing a 50-day cancer treatment. Luxembourg and Norway provide 50 full-time equivalent working days of leave, while New Zealand provides the least, at 5 days. In 6 countries, paid sick leave benefits are more generous for low-wage workers than for median-wage workers.
Double Jeopardy: The Impact of Neoliberalism on Care Workers in the United States and South Africa
Authors: Abramovitz Mimi , Zelnick Jennifer
Published: January 2010

Many researchers have explored how neoliberal restructuring of the workplace has reduced the standard of living and increased workplace stress among private sector employees. However, few have focused on how neoliberal restructuring of public policy has had similar effects on the public sector workforce. Using original case study research, the authors examine how two iconic pieces of neoliberal policy—the 1996 welfare reform bill in the United States and the GEAR macroeconomic policy in South Africa—affected public/nonprofit human service workers in New York City, United States, and public sector nurses in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. The authors argue that in both situations, despite national differences, these policies created a “double jeopardy,” in which patients/clients and care workers are adversely affected by neoliberal public policy. This “double jeopardy” creates significant hardship, but also the opportunity for new social movements.
Prospects for a Genuine Revival of Primary Health Care—Through the Visible Hand of Social Justice Rather Than the Invisible Hand of the Market: Part II
Authors: Katz Alison Rosamund
Published: January 2010

This second part of a two-part article explores the prospects for genuine revival of primary health care (PHC) as announced by the WHO in 2008, with reference, briefly, to Global Health Watch 2, published by the People's Health Movement, Medact, and Equity Gauge Alliance, and, in more depth, to the positions of social and people's movements most closely aligned with the original values and principles of Alma-Ata and the structural foundations of the PHC project. The author argues that the social justice struggle for health cannot be limited to curbing capitalism's excesses. The multiple crises of today—in energy, water, food, the environment, finance, science, information, and democracy—must be recognized as capitalist crises and addressed as such. Particular attention is given to ideology, including the distortion of human nature and society under neoliberal capitalism, and to moral foundations of Health for All. Not only must the invisible hand of the market be replaced by the visible hand of social justice, but the single ideology proclaiming the “end of history” and, by implication, the end of politics and political struggle must be exposed and rejected as neoliberal, totalitarian propaganda. In line with the spirit and intention of the U.N. Charter, PHC remains a political project for a fair and safe world in which Health for All is both possible and necessary.
The Adverse Effects of International Monetary Fund Programs on the Health and Education Workforce
Authors: Marphatia Akanksha A.
Published: January 2010

Decades of underinvestment in public sectors and in teachers and health workers have adversely affected the health and educational outcomes of women. This is partly explained by a general lack of resources. However, the amount a country can spend on social sectors, including teachers and health workers, is also determined by its macroeconomic framework, which is set in agreement with the International Monetary Fund. There is now ample evidence of how IMF-imposed wage ceilings have constrained the ability of governments to hire adequate numbers of trained professionals and increase investment in social sectors. Though the IMF has recently removed wage ceilings from its basket of conditions, little change has taken place to ensure that women are better supported by macroeconomic policies or, at the least, are less adversely affected. Thus far, the IMF's neoliberal policies have either ignored gender concerns or instrumentalized equity, health, and education to support economic development. Unless macroeconomic policies are more flexible and deliberately take into account the different needs of women and men, social outcomes will continue to be poor and inequitable. Governments must pursue alternative, feminist policies that put the goals of social equity at the center of macroeconomic policy. These policies can facilitate increased investment in education and health care, which are vital measures for achieving gender equality and providing both women and men with the skills and training needed to soften the impact of the current economic crisis.
Why Health Advocates Must Get Involved in Development Economics: The Case of the International Monetary Fund
Authors: Rowden Rick
Published: January 2010

International health advocates have traditionally focused on calling for external strategies for achieving health goals in developing countries, such as more foreign aid, foreign direct investment, loans, and debt cancellation, as opposed to internal approaches, such as building domestic productive capacity and accumulating capital. They have largely neglected questions of development economics, particularly the effectiveness, or lack thereof, of the currently dominant neoliberal development model promoted by the rich countries and aid agencies for poor countries. While critics have been correct to blame the International Monetary Fund for its policies curtailing public health spending in developing countries, their analysis generally neglects the underlying issue of why developing countries are seemingly unable to build their domestic tax base on which health budgets depend. International health advocates should engage with such macroeconomic questions and challenge the failures of the dominant neoliberal economic model that blocks countries from industrializing and building their own productive capacities with which to generate their own resources for financing their health budgets over time.
Efficient Market Design and Public Goods, Part II: Theoretical Results
Authors: Toomey David , Schulze William D , Thomas Robert , Thorp James S , Tylavsky Daniel J , Schuler Richard E
Published: January 2010

Electric power is traditionally comprised of valued services, including real and reactive power, voltage, frequency and reliability in its most general sense. In this second part of our two-part paper we show mathematically that of these, only real and reactive power are purely private goods, in that power consumed by one customer cannot be used by another and customers can be excluded from receiving any power. The other ancillary services, including voltage, frequency and reliability are shown to be public goods. The first order conditions presented clearly illustrate that the public goods occurring in electric power systems comprise a significant problem for market design.
Alleviation of Network Overloads Using Concept of Virtual Flows
Authors: Dhadbanjan Thukaram , S. Surendra
Published: January 2010

In the context of deregulation, unbundling of utility services and open access of transmission facilities is becoming order of the day. In order to achieve transparency and fairness from the point of participants involved, it is necessary to get contributions from each generator (source) to loads, flows in the network and losses for the system. This paper attempts to evaluate real and reactive power flow in the network due to individual sources and its contribution to each load using the principle superposition which is fairly simple and straightforward. As a result, in a multilateral transaction environment, it is possible to fairly allocate charges for real and reactive power usage. In addition the extent of network loading by individual generator is computed which shows direction to manage network congestion in an effective manner. Sample system to illustrate the proposed approach and its implementation on a practical 72 bus Indian Southern grid equivalent 400/220kV network are presented.
Apple Trees to Sodium Glucose Co-Transporter Inhibitors: A Review of SGLT2 Inhibition
Authors: White John R.
Published: January 2010

IN BRIEF

This article reviews the history of phlorizin, the role of the kidney in glucose regulation, and the modulation of that regulatory system via pharmacological means. It also offers a discussion of the results of clinical trials of the most salient sodium glucose co-transporter inhibitor to date: dapagliflozin.
Investigation of factors predicting disease among zoo birds exposed to avian mycobacteriosis
Authors: Witte Carmel L. , Hungerford Laura L. , Papendick Rebecca , Stalis Ilse H. , Rideout Bruce A.
Published: January 2010

Objective—To characterize infection patterns and identify factors associated with avian mycobacteriosis among zoo birds that were housed with infected enclosure mates.

Design—Matched case-control study.

Animals—79 birds with avian mycobacteriosis (cases) and 316 nondiseased birds (controls) of similar age and taxonomic group that were present in the bird collection of the Zoological Society of San Diego from 1991 through 2005.

Procedures—Inventory and necropsy records from all eligible, exposed birds (n = 2,413) were examined to determine disease incidence and prevalence in the exposed cohort. Cases were matched in a 1:4 ratio to randomly selected controls of similar age and taxonomic grouping. Risk factors for mycobacteriosis (demographic, temporal, enclosure, and exposure characteristics as well as translocation history) were evaluated with univariate and multivariable conditional logistic regression analyses.

Results—Disease prevalence and incidence were estimated at 3.5% and 8 cases/1,000 bird-years at risk, respectively. In the multivariable model, cases were more likely to have been imported into the collection, exposed to mycobacteriosis at a young age, exposed to the same bird species, and exposed in small enclosures than were controls. Odds for disease increased with an increasing amount of time spent with other disease-positive birds.

Conclusions and Clinical Relevance—The low incidence of mycobacteriosis and the risk factors identified suggested that mycobacteria may not be easily transmitted through direct contact with infected enclosure mates. Identification of risk factors for avian mycobacteriosis will help guide future management of this disease in zoo bird populations.
Sharing Experiences of Illness and Effectiveness of Asthma Therapy in Children
Authors: Rainka Agata , Trzebiński Jerzy
Published: January 2010

Sharing Experiences of Illness and Effectiveness of Asthma Therapy in Children

This research deals with relationships between openness and opportunities to share asthma experiences between an ill child and close family, and effectiveness of medical therapy of asthma. Subjects were 58 children, between the age of 12-14, from the allergic outpatient clinic with a diagnosed bronchial asthma and under pharmacological therapy. Each child answered questions on frequency and satisfaction with talking with parents, or other close family members, on his or her experiences related to asthma. A doctor conducting the therapy was asked to evaluate results of therapy, and intensity of the asthma, for each child. The data support the hypotheses that degree of sharing own asthma-related experiences with close persons correlates positively with effectiveness of therapy. This effect appears stronger among children with more severe asthma.
Interference Effect and Reading Skills in Children with Attention Disorders
Authors: Okuniewska Hanna
Published: January 2010

Interference Effect and Reading Skills in Children with Attention Disorders

Aim of this study was to examine the performance on Polish experimental version of classical Stroop test in 36 ADHD-C children in comparison with 35 healthy children matched for age and IQ WISC-R. It was hypothesized that children with ADHD will exhibit diminished ability to control interference and will make more errors than their healthy counterparts. In contradictory with expectations, there was showed little if any evidence for specific deficit in interference control in this ADHD sample. A remarkable finding of this study was to demonstrate the developmental differences in reading skills in age range 8-11 years between typically developing children and ADHD group which displays a virtually no progress in reading automaticity and color naming speed over the period.
"Golden" Customers and "Bronze" Citizens in CEE Countries
Authors: Tõnnisson Kristiina
Published: January 2010

"Golden" Customers and "Bronze" Citizens in CEE Countries

During the Soviet era, the word "citizen" was strongly connected to the existing state-controlled communist party system. "Citizenship" symbolized the ideal Soviet citizen with loyalty, duty and self-sacrifice to the existing order. The new word "customer" appeared together with democratization, freedom and market. Being customer was the realization of both democracy and the capitalist ideology.Customershipemerged as a concept distinct from citizenship, and it helped to fill the ideological vacuum in CEE countries. The centrality of consumerism and abandoned citizenship are aspects that might characterize the transformed former Soviet Union and Eastern Europe more than one might expect.
Human Body, Consciousness and Identity in the Mirror of Life Interviews with Female Coaches
Authors: Bodnár Ilona
Published: January 2010

Human Body, Consciousness and Identity in the Mirror of Life Interviews with Female Coaches

One of the recurring themes when conducting life-interviews with women coaches is their confrontation with the fact that their physique does not correspond to the body-frame considered to be ideal in their respective sports disciplines. Since they can preserve their athletic identity only with the help of their physique, the course of their careers depends on the solution they find to this problem. The study presents this decision-making process using Luhmann's systems theory: as an environmental interaction between a neurophysiological (the body), a psychological (the identity of women coaches) and a social (sports) system. It looks upon this situation as a communication between female athletes and competitive sport as a social system, in which observation is accorded an outstanding role. Assuming the role of an observer, female athletes see the series of movements and solutions that their coach does not recognize. Instead of physical perfection, they develop the individual perfection of movement execution.
Active Sport Tourism in the Hungarian Population: Current Trends and Perspectives
Authors: Dóczi Tamás
Published: January 2010

Active Sport Tourism in the Hungarian Population: Current Trends and Perspectives

In the past few decades, sport and tourism, two significant industries, have gone through a phase of rapid development. The relationship between the two fields is becoming more and more recognized by economic actors, policymakers and social scientists as well; nevertheless, there is a question of how widespread active sport tourism is in the different social groups of Hungarian society, and what the perspectives of sport tourism are as a leisure time activity in the future. The objective of the current paper is to answer these questions, based on survey research conducted in a representative sample (n=1027) of the Hungarian adult population. In the first phase of data analysis, the author focused on the following two questions: (1) What percentage of the population is engaged in doing regular physical exercise, and travelling during their holidays? (2) Is there a relationship between doing exercise and travelling? Based on the two dimensions (physical exercise and travelling) four groups could be separated, the in-depth analysis of the groups was carried out in the second phase of the data analysis. During this phase, the following questions were in focus: (1) How can the four groups be characterized concerning their socio-economic status? (2) What leisure activities are characteristic of them? (3) What can be said about the social networks of the members of these groups? (4) How can we characterize their attitudes to healthy lifestyle, and within this, sport? According to the results, the social basis of active sport tourism is not very wide. The majority of the Hungarian population is hindered by worsening living standards and worsening health levels, and by the lack of adequate knowledge about active sport tourism and the positive impact of it on the quality of life. A further problem is that although many people are familiar with the influence of lifestyle on health, and recognize the benefits of exercise in theory, in reality few people are involved in sporting activities, and for many, doing exercise is not a source of pleasure. That is why it is important that the messages referring to the positive impact of regular physical exercise reach the different social groups. In these messages, besides the often stressed health-preserving role, social and recreational aspects of sport as a leisure time activity should also be emphasized.
Carsharing in a University Community
Authors: Zheng Jie , Scott Michelle , Rodriguez Michael , Sierzchula William , Platz Dave , Guo Jessica Y. , Adams Teresa M.
Published: January 2010

As of September 2007, more than 70 colleges and universities in the United States have partnered with carsharing organizations, and this market segment is expected to continue growing. To maximize the benefits of these partnerships, it is important to understand both the unique features of academic institutions as markets for carsharing and ways to predict university-based demand for carsharing services. A study was done to estimate the potential carsharing market at the University of Wisconsin–Madison by ( a) using a stated preference survey to collect information on university affiliates’ transportation habits and carsharing preferences, ( b) developing a set of probabilistic models of willingness to join a carsharing program based on the stated preference survey data, and ( c) applying these models to predict the potential market share under different conditions. Through this process, the relative impact of respondents’ socioeconomic characteristics, current travel habits, attitudes on transportation and the environment, and familiarity with carsharing on their decisions to use carsharing were examined. The results show that a respondent's status at the university (e.g., faculty, student, or staff) had a strong influence over her individual acceptance of car-sharing, even more so than socioeconomic variables such as income or vehicle ownership, and that people's attitudes play an important role in their decision making. Furthermore, the ease of accessing a car is also a critical factor. Although the University of Wisconsin–Madison population was the focus of the analysis, the findings provide useful insights for targeting carsharing programs in other university communities.
Promoting Public Transportation
Authors: Buehler Ralph
Published: January 2010

It is often suggested that the United States adopt policies similar to those of European countries to increase public transportation ridership and sustainability of the transport system. On the basis of two national travel surveys, socioeconomic and geographic characteristics of public transportation riders in Germany and the United States are compared, and the differences in public transportation policies in the two countries are analyzed. Dissimilar policies can help account for variability in rider-ship not explained by socioeconomic and geographic differences. In both countries, public transportation ridership increases with population density and metropolitan area size and decreases with rising income, car ownership, and household distance from a public transportation stop. However, supported by better policies, German public transportation systems can attract more riders from all groups of society. For example, Germans living in households with more cars than drivers make three times as many of their trips by public transportation than does the average American. Even Germans in rural areas use public transportation more often than do Americans in metropolitan areas. Compared with Germany, public transportation in the United States is limited to dense areas in large urban regions, is centered around buses (65% of trips), and mainly attracts poorer residents who have less access to a vehicle and live close to a public transportation stop. Compared with the United States, public transportation systems in Germany are characterized by a longer history and more efficient use of government subsidies, higher levels and better quality of public transportation supply, better regional integration of public transportation services, more multimodal coordination, and more favorable land use and restrictive automobile policies discouraging car use. Improving public transportation service in the United States could help augment the appeal of public transportation and increase ridership among all societal groups in all spatial development patterns.
Land Consumption Impacts of a Transportation System on a City
Authors: Shin Yong Eun , Vuchic Vukan R. , Bruun Eric C.
Published: January 2010

The impacts of a changing transportation system on land consumption are analyzed. An analytical model with which to examine the intrinsic relationships between the volume of activities, the intensity of land use, and the modal split of generated trips is formulated on the basis of an idealized urban region that contains a city within radius R. The city land consists of that required for transportation and that for all other activities. Given hypothetical initial conditions, impacts of an increasing auto modal split are analyzed on the basis of three conceivable strategies to deal with the pressure to expand transportation facilities. The analysis shows that the modal split has a strong influence on volume of activities and land use intensity. A policy of infrastructure expansion to accommodate the increasing number of autos reduces the amount of land available for more fundamental activities that transport is intended to support, not displace. To prevent this displacement, land intensity of areas used for all other activities must increase. Otherwise, the options would be to relocate some activities from the city to outlying areas; such relocation could result in increasing traffic volumes in the entire region. Alternatively, the accommodation of other activities may encroach on previously protected or undevelopable land and lead to unsustainable development for the region. It is also shown that to maintain sustainability of a city, high-capacity transit modes with reserve capacity, such as rail transit systems, represent an efficient option in dense urban areas.
Transit Accessibility to Jobs and Employment Prospects of Welfare Recipients without Cars
Authors: Alam Bhuiyan Monwar
Published: January 2010

On August 22, 1996, President William Clinton signed the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act. This legislation, widely known as the welfare reform act, transformed welfare from a long-term support program into one with a primary objective of moving people off the welfare rolls into gainful employment in the shortest possible time. The passage of this act renewed a long-standing debate over whether improved public transit would lessen the length of time that people remain on welfare. Studies addressing this issue draw different conclusions from their methodological differences in measuring transit accessibility indices and in using aggregate versus disaggregate data. A new study uses distance–decay parameters estimated by a measure of transit accessibility based on origin–destination data and thereby addresses the arbitrary selection of distance–decay parameters in the accessibility equation used by earlier studies. It also uses disaggregate data at the individual level to overcome the shortcomings of earlier studies. Based on welfare recipients in Broward County, Florida, an analysis using a geographic information system and the Florida Standard Urban Transportation Modeling Structure reveals that there is a statistically significant inverse association between transit accessibility to jobs and length of time spent on welfare. This association implies that transit accessibility plays a significant role in the employment prospects of welfare recipients in the study area.
Bus versus Rail
Authors: Zhang Ming
Published: January 2010

Whether to develop bus- or rail-based mass transit has long been a topic of policy debate. Recent developments in bus rapid transit and light rail transit throughout the world add to heated discussions on the comparative advantages of bus- versus rail-based transit systems. The meta-study discussed in this paper synthesizes current understanding of the cost and operational characteristics as well as land use impacts of bus versus rail mass transit in the framework of land use and transit integration. The study's main purpose is to provide a balanced view on bus and rail. Such a retrospective review is timely; for many cases, the debates of bus versus rail are narrowly focused or based on opinion and lack adequate supporting materials and evidence.
Effects of Onboard Ticket Sales on Public Transport Reliability
Authors: Dorbritz Robert , Lüthi Marco , Weidmann Ulrich , Nash Andrew
Published: January 2010

The punctuality and the reliability of public transport are key factors in the choice of travel mode, and they also affect operating costs. When travel time on a route varies significantly, public transport operators need to increase scheduled buffer time to maintain punctuality and reliability. This increases costs by increasing staffing and equipment needed to offer a given level of service. The variability in route travel time depends on many factors, including traffic conditions, number of passengers, and operating practices (e.g., boarding processes). A study was done to evaluate the impact of one boarding subprocess, ticket sales, on bus dwell time at stops. The research confirmed that onboard ticket sales can significantly affect a public transport line's travel time and reliability. The research showed that onboard ticket sales subprocesses are relatively long and vary significantly; consequently, they strongly influence schedule reliability. Results showed that the time spent selling tickets can be up to 20% of the total run time. However, the biggest problem is the great variance in time spent on the ticket sales process.
Measuring the Performance of Transit Passenger Information Websites
Authors: Currie Graham , Gook Mandy
Published: January 2010

Almost all transit authorities worldwide now operate centralized transit passenger information websites (TPIWS). Although a range of research has demonstrated good practices in design and operation of TPIWS, no consolidated measurement tool can objectively assess the performance of these sites. A research project was done to develop an objective multicriteria report card for assessing TPIWS on the basis of the findings of previous research on good practice. The scorecard is structured around a series of general website accessibility, usability, and consistency tests and also includes a review of static information and journey planner evaluations. The research literature is reviewed, the methodology is described, and its application for assessing the performance of nine worldwide TPIWS systems is discussed. The approach is low cost and enables a quick review of sites in an objective assessment of the performance evidence. The findings of the application give the TPIWS systems in Melbourne, Australia; London; and Portland, Oregon, the highest scores of those in the nine cities assessed. Although Melbourne achieves the highest overall score, the application of the scorecard provided a basis for identifying areas for improvement. Many city systems demonstrate high scores in certain areas. Brussels, Belgium, has high scores for site usability, Portland for static information provision, and Melbourne for journey-planner facilities. Possible improvements to the report-card system are discussed, including areas for new research in its further development.
Response of Regional Rail Park-and-Ride Users to Parking Price Changes
Authors: Syed Sarah , Golub Aaron , Deakin Elizabeth
Published: January 2010

Traveler response to the introduction of parking user fees at heavily patronized park-and-ride facilities within the San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) District of California is investigated. After an analysis of systemwide impacts, detailed research at two stations was performed with mail-back surveys, license plate surveys, and focus groups. The primary finding is that introduction of daily parking fees did not cause significant changes in access mode choice, facility location, or line-haul mode of park-and-ride users. New, higher-fee, daily reserved spaces were popular substitutes for monthly reserved spaces. The increased availability of parking spaces shifted arrival times later in the morning at the two stations. Even with user fees, for most trips to regional central business districts the overall cost of using a park-and-ride facility and BART still remained well below the cost of the trip made by automobile only. Overall BART ridership and ridership at those stations where new fees were introduced, remained unchanged.
Consumer Response to Introduction of Paid Parking at a Regional Shopping Center
Authors: van der Waerden Peter , Borgers Aloys , Timmermans Harry
Published: January 2010

An evaluation study was conducted on the introduction of paid parking at a regional shopping center. Using an Internet-based questionnaire, residents were asked to describe their travel and shopping behavior before and after the introduction of paid parking. Results indicate that residents’ travel and shopping behavior including expenditures changed considerably, at least in the short run. The relationship between the changes in expenditures and visit duration, visit frequency, visiting day, and mode choice is investigated by means of two structural equation models, one for weekly and one for nonweekly purchases. The models also include some personal characteristics of the respondents. The change in expenditures for weekly purchases is significantly related to changes in visit frequency, visit duration, travel mode, gender, and car availability. In regard to non-weekly purchases, the change in expenditures is significantly related to changes in visit frequency, visit duration, and visiting day.
Transportation Demand Management Benchmark
Authors: Ungemah David , Dusza Casey
Published: January 2010

To date, limited research has identified comparative metrics for transportation demand management (TDM) programs throughout the United States. Every community is different. Hence the specific activities and strategies employed by a TDM program will likewise differ, but commonalities among programs can be illustrated for comparison and benchmarking. In April 2008, the Texas Transportation Institute conducted a comprehensive survey of TDM programs in the United States. Initial results from this effort are provided for carpool programs, vanpool programs, guaranteed ride home, employer outreach, regional marketing, and performance evaluation. To distinguish characteristics of a big city program from one with a more limited scope, results were generally delineated according to urban area size, including rural areas. However, this delineation did not substantially alter the findings, especially when controlled for population size. Small- and medium-sized TDM programs are generally involved in the same types of activities as are their larger brethren.
Application of TELUM by the Pikes Peak, Colorado, Area Council of Governments
Authors: Casper Craig T. , O'Brien Jason , Lupa Mary R. , Dimitrijevic Branislav , Paz de Araujo Maureen
Published: January 2010

For U.S. metropolitan planning organizations (MPOs), obtaining, preparing, and validating socioeconomic forecasts are fundamental tasks to ensure that logical, consistent, and approved population and employment data are provided to the travel demand models. This process is enhanced if the MPO includes both transportation and land use inputs into the forecast process. To fulfill these desires, the Pikes Peak Area Council of Governments (the MPO in Colorado Springs, Colorado) decided to use TELUM–-transportation, economic, and land use model software–-to conduct the land use forecasting task. TELUM was developed by Stephen Putman and the New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT) as part of the transportation, economic, and land use system sponsored by FHWA. With assistance from NJIT, MPO staff serving this 500,000-plus person region calibrated the land use model for the 2000 to 2005 period and then used TELUM to produce land use forecasts for six 5-year increments between 2005 and 2035. The Colorado Springs region has a unique character, including a workforce that is 11% active military personnel, a diverse employment profile including high-tech manufacturing and a large recreation-based workforce, and a growing retiree population. Additionally, the MPO area includes a dense urban area, large exurban developments, rugged mountain areas, and frontier grasslands, all of which challenged the technical staff that worked on model development. The technical and policy insights and lessons learned from the TELUM application in Colorado Springs have transferable value for all sizes of MPOs faced with forecasting development and transportation.
Earmark Pursuit Practices of Metropolitan Planning Organizations and Their Members
Authors: Sciara Gian-Claudia
Published: January 2010

This paper explores how earmarking in federal transportation spending alters the decision-making environment for metropolitan planning organizations (MPOs) and their members. Congress may designate earmarks to fund projects without regard to metropolitan (and state) transportation planning decisions. This raises questions about earmarking's impacts on metropolitan transportation planning. This work explores the interface between metropolitan transportation decision making and congressional earmarking through 55 open-ended interviews with transportation stakeholders across the nation. Interviewees–-identified by emergent sampling–-include metropolitan, state, and local transportation leaders, congressional staff, lobbyists, and national interest group representatives. In particular, the paper explores the earmark pursuit practices of MPOs and their members. These actors employ three different models for influencing earmarks. Some proactively request specific projects; others await opportunities to consult on earmark candidates; and still others remain on the sidelines. The paper discusses the models and contemplates the institutional consequences of earmarking for metropolitan planning. It observes that opportunities to influence earmarks have increased. Organizations involved in metropolitan and state transportation planning largely report that their earmarking involvement has shifted either from some involvement to more routine involvement, or from no involvement to some involvement. However, it concludes that the predominant patterns of organizational relationships in earmarking seem more likely to undercut metropolitan planning, either directly by yielding earmarked projects that are not regional priorities or indirectly by bypassing the MPO as a decision-making forum.
Review of Strategies for Enabling Collaboration between Transportation Agencies and Native American Tribes
Authors: Martinez Rebecca M. , Migliaccio Giovanni C. , Albert Dexter , Holley Terry
Published: January 2010

As traffic volumes increase across the nation, transportation projects also increase. With that increase comes the responsibility of expanding the current roadway system while protecting the social and cultural values of each community affected by such expansion. One of the greatest concerns in social and cultural preservation comes from tribal entities. The necessity of advancing the transportation network while ensuring agreement with tribal governments on transportation projects has proved difficult, as recurring issues can lead to difficulty in project execution. However, several transportation agencies have overcome geographical, political, institutional, and cultural barriers to provide transportation networks crossing tribal lands. Across the transportation sector, steps have been taken to alleviate common issues on such projects in the form of programs for the establishment of government-to-government relationships and the implementation of projects. Government-to-government relationships are crucial for the success of transportation improvements, whether state or tribal. Cooperation on transportation issues is affected by complex issues such as tribal sovereignty, intergovernmental agreements, jurisdiction, regional planning efforts, right-of-way acquisition, funding, and maintenance. Similarly, planning, design, and implementation of transportation projects require collaboration among tribal, federal, and state agencies. This paper identifies and categorizes issues surrounding transportation projects affected by–-or of interest to–-tribal communities, and initiatives taken to alleviate issues. It also defines steps for future research in order to refine issues as they are identified in the paper and context-specific strategies implemented to alleviate each issue.
A Street Management Framework for Lower Manhattan in New York City
Authors: Lethco Trent , Davis Allison , Weber Steven , Sanagavarapu Suchi
Published: January 2010

Lower Manhattan (LM) is America's fourth-largest central business district and one of the oldest and densest areas in New York City. It is also New York City's fastest-growing residential neighborhood and contains some of the highest levels of pedestrian, transit, and vehicular activity in America. Since September 11, 2001, redevelopment has dramatically transformed the area into a vibrant 24/7 live–work–visit community. The changes present an unprecedented opportunity to create a more livable and environmentally sustainable neighborhood by reducing traffic and managing parking while giving residents and employees better, greener mobility options. Consequently, the city is focused on finding new ways to manage competing demands for different uses of limited street space. Improving street management is paramount to improving the quality of public space and speeding LM's revitalization. In 2004, the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation funded the New York City Economic Development Corporation and the New York City Department of Transportation to contract Arup to undertake a multi-year comprehensive planning study to consider ways to reduce traffic congestion, manage placard parking, and create complete streets and engaging public spaces in LM. This paper discusses the necessity for and development of a proposed street management framework to help guide the city in meeting the transportation and public realm needs of LM's residents, employees, tourists, and businesses. As of October 2008, the project is ongoing; the proposed framework is still conceptual and has not yet been implemented.
Characterizing Fatigue of Asphalt Binders with Viscoelastic Continuum Damage Mechanics
Authors: Wen Haifang , Bahia Hussain
Published: January 2010

Fatigue cracking, either top-down or bottom-up, is one of the major distresses for asphalt pavements. As the binding agent, asphalt binder plays a critical role in the fatigue resistance of hot-mix asphalt (HMA). Accurate characterization and proper selection of fatigue-resistant asphalt binders could prolong the fatigue life of asphalt pavement. The fatigue indicator currently used in the Superpave® binder specification is based on the fatigue behaviors of asphalt binders within the undamaged, linear viscoelastic range. There have been some controversies on the validity of this parameter. In reality, HMA and asphalt binders develop cracks under repeated traffic loads. Therefore, a more fundamental approach is needed to characterize the fatigue behaviors at a stage of damage to understand the true fatigue mechanism of the asphalt binder. This paper presents the study of the application of viscoelastic continuum damage (VECD) mechanics, which has been successfully applied to HMA, to test results of asphalt binders in the shear mode under various loading conditions. The results indicated that VECD can be effectively applied to asphalt binders, present a good potential for characterizing asphalt binders and predict the contribution to fatigue resistance by means of a fundamental approach that parallels some of the advanced work regarding asphalt mixtures. This potential could allow for a unified model for fatigue of mixtures and binders.