bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
MAKING IT TO WORK: TOWARDS EMPLOYMENT FOR THE YOUNG ADULT WITH AUTISM
Authors: Patterson Aileen , Rafferty Andrea
Published: October 2009

In the last few decades there has been an increase in the reported prevalence of autism and its correlates within what is now termed autistic spectrum disorder (ASD): from 20 in every 10,000 children being estimated by Wing and Gould (1979) to 91 in every 10,000 by the National Autistic Society (NAS) (1999). While changes in criteria may account for some of this it is accepted that such children are increasingly being identified and knowledge of autism is growing. Semi‐structured interviews were conducted with nine teaching staff from seven different schools for children with special needs to elicit information in relation to preparing young adults with ASD for the world of work. Results indicated educational practices are being modified for children with autism. Currently the most specifically tailored packages are offered in schools for children with severe learning difficulties.
CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES FOR SPEECH AND LANGUAGE THERAPISTS IN SECONDARY SCHOOLS
Authors: Malcolm Alex , Myers Lucy
Published: October 2009

Language and communication difficulties experienced by secondary school students are outlined. The challenges that the secondary school environment presents for both children and speech and language therapy services are discussed. Two case studies illustrate how speech and language therapists (SLTs) working for the Newham Education Authority Language and Communication Support Service support students in their secondary schools.
SOFTWARE AND SPEECH — A REVIEW OF SOFTWARE IN PHONOLOGY THERAPY
Authors: Wren Yvonne
Published: October 2009

A review of software was carried out to evaluate to what extent particular titles could be used within a phonological therapy programme using a psycholinguistic approach for children aged between four and seven years. Some of the software had been developed specifically for speech and language therapists working with children's phonological impairments. Other titles were from the education market and aimed at developing children's literacy skills. This paper describes how these software programmes could be used to address phonological impairments through developing the sub‐skills described within the psycholinguistic framework.
WHO'S AFRAID OF THE RANDOMISED CONTROLLED TRIAL? PARENTS' VIEWS OF AN SLT RESEARCH STUDY
Authors: Glogowska Margaret , Roulstone Sue , Enderby Pam , Peters Tim , Campbell Rona
Published: October 2009

Evidence‐based health care is now a reality within the national health service (NHS) and the randomised controlled trial (RCT) is the linchpin of this movement. In modern health care, there has also been a shift towards understanding client perspectives. With regard to clients' participation in research, much consideration has been given to ethical issues and barriers to participation. However, less attention has been paid to the participants' views of clinical trials and understanding how they construe the research. This paper reports a study of the attitudes of parents whose children took part in an RCT. Data were collected from the parents of 20 children, using qualitative in‐depth interviews. Parents talked about the meaning of their participation, their motivation for taking part and their understanding of the nature of the trial. The implications of the findings for future research will be considered.
AN AUDIT OF THE APPLICATION OF CARE AIMS ACROSS THE SOUTH WEST THAMES REGION
Authors: McCarthy Camilla , Lacey Rebecca , Malcomess Kate
Published: October 2009

Care aims are a means of defining the purpose of intervention of health care. The Malcomess care aims model uses these labels to guide the planning, delivery and outcome measurement of care. Within speech and language therapy (SLT) this involves the use of one of seven labels which clarify and make explicit the purpose of each episode of care undertaken with a client. This relatively simple application has been shown to change the way SLTs work, clarifying expectations of many who use the service. In the South West Thames Region, a project was put in place for SLTs which included undertaking training, audit and support. The outcome of the audit showed that care aims had been adopted across the region in a sufficiently flexible way to meet local needs and offered therapists the tools to reflect on the types of interventions provided to clients.
THE HANEN PARENT PROGRAMME: A PARENT'S PERSPECTIVE
Authors: Baxendale Janet , Frankham Jo , Hesketh Anne
Published: October 2009

In 1997 Salford Community Healthcare Trust embarked on a research project (funded by NHS Executive North West Region) to investigate how viable the Hanen Parent Programme (HPP) (Manolson 1992) was in terms of its effectiveness and suitability for an inner‐city UK population in comparison with clinic‐based, direct intervention. An important component of that research project involved exploring the parents' perceptions of the therapy they had undertaken. In this paper are summarised the areas in which there were marked differences between parents' experiences and perceptions of therapy as a result of the type of intervention they received. Clinical implications are discussed.
EVALUATING TRAINING COURSES FOR PARENTS OF CHILDREN WITH COCHLEAR IMPLANTS
Authors: Paganga Sarah , Tucker Erica , Harrigan Suzanne , Lutman Mark
Published: October 2009

The purpose of this study was to investigate the change in effective communication between parents and children with cochlear implants when the parents attended a modified Hanen training course (Watson 1995). The study demonstrates that the course led to improvement in the effectiveness of the parent‐child interaction, as rated by naïve independent observers. The Erber rating scale (Erber et al. 1995) was implemented as a tool for evaluating changes before and after the courses. Using video samples taken at the above intervals, the ratings showed a significant increase in effective communication at the end of the courses.
Economic Costs of Caring for Children with Disabilities in Canada
Authors: Burton Peter , Phipps Shelley
Published: October 2009

This paper uses the child sample of Statistics Canada's 2001 Participation and Activity Limitations Survey to study the economic costs of caring for children with disabilities in Canada. Both explicit out-of-pocket expenditures and implicit costs in the form of foregone labour market opportunities are considered. Results indicate that, despite universal health insurance in Canada, a majority of families of children with disabilities incur significant economic costs. Additional financial support might be offered, particularly when the child's condition is severe, and costly therapy and specialized aids could be covered. Our results also support the need for respite as well as help in balancing work and caregiving for Canadian parents of children with disabilities.
Disciplining Canada's Interprovincial Barriers: The Subnational WTO Approach as Another Option with or beyond an Extended TILMA
Authors: Whalley John
Published: October 2009

This paper looks at a further option which thus far appears not to have entered the debate on the long-standing issue of interprovincial barriers. Labelled the subnational World Trade Organization (WTO) approach, it is based on the simple idea of seeking the agreement of the Canadian provinces (and WTO members) to extend existing WTO disciplines to the provincial level. This implies that the principles of Most Favoured Nation and National Treatment, as well as of WTO dispute settlement, would apply directly to interprovincial trade in goods and services through the 1994 General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, and that the framework of the General Agreement on Trade and Services would allow for scheduling of commitments, including on labour mobility under mode 4. The Agreements on Subsidies and Countervailing Measures would also apply, as would all other WTO agreements.
Minimum Wage Increases as an Anti-Poverty Policy in Ontario
Authors: Mascella Allison , Teja Shahzia , Thompson Brennan S.
Published: October 2009

In this article, we consider the possibility of alleviating poverty in Ontario through minimum wage increases. Using survey data from 2004 to profile low wage earners and poor households, we find two important results. First, over 80 percent of low wage earners are not members of poor households and, second, over 75 percent of poor households do not have a member who is a low wage earner. We also present simulation results which suggest that, even without any negative employment effects, planned increases in Ontario's minimum wage will lead to virtually no reduction in the level of poverty.
Modeling the Effects of Turn Delay Uncertainties on Route Choice Behavior in Signalized Road Networks
Authors: Zhu Ji-shuang , Lam William H. K. , Chen Anthony , Lo Hong K.
Published: October 2009

Traffic flow fluctuation and traffic signal interruption result in turn delay variations at signalized intersections. Such variations can significantly contribute to road users’ travel time uncertainties and affect their route choices in congested urban areas. A reliability-based stochastic user equilibrium (RSUE) model is proposed to investigate the effects of turn delay uncertainties on the route choice problem. In the proposed model, link travel times and turn delays are considered as correlated random variables with covariance relationships. Differences in these variables are mainly due to uncertainties at signalized intersections and day-to-day fluctuations in demand. Given these uncertainties, the concept of effective travel time is adopted to model the route choice behaviors of road users. The RSUE model also considers the perception errors of road users on effective travel times. A path-based solution algorithm is adapted to solve the RSUE problem. Finally, a numerical example illustrates the application of the proposed model and solution algorithm. Sensitivity tests are used to demonstrate the potential use of the proposed model to assess the accident risks at signalized intersections with heavy turning flows.
Long-Haul Shipment Optimization for Less-Than-Truckload Carriers
Authors: Estrada Miquel , Robusté Francesc
Published: October 2009

Less-than-truckload (LTL) carriers supply freight transportation services for small parcel shipments. These companies consolidate multiple shipments in vehicles to guarantee the efficiency of the system. A method for LTL carriers is presented to solve the long-haul routing design problem with capacitated distribution centers and time-constrained shipments. The method uses direct, hub-and-spoke, and stopover strategies to allocate shipments in the set of routes. The resolution method is based on a tabu search algorithm. The search process in the solution domain is performed dynamically with four possible perturbations. The results obtained in a set of test problems demonstrate that the restart parameters play a significant role in the efficiency of the algorithm. Implementation of this computational technique in the long-haul operations network of the largest carrier in Spain reduced transportation costs by 6%.
User Equilibrium in a Bottleneck under Multipeak Distribution of Preferred Arrival Time
Authors: Leurent Fabien , Wagner Nicolas
Published: October 2009

The pattern of departure times at a single bottleneck is studied under general heterogeneous preferred arrival times. Three main outputs are delivered. First, the existence of equilibrium is proved without the classical S-shape assumption of the preferred arrival time distribution–that is, that demand, represented by the flow rate of preferred arrival times, may exceed bottleneck capacity only on one peak interval. Second, a generic algorithm is given to solve the equilibrium problem for departure time choice. Finally, the graphical approach that pervades the algorithm provides insight into the structure of the queued periods, especially by characterizing the critical instants at which the entry flow switches from a loading rate (overcapacity) to an unloading rate (undercapacity) and vice versa. Numerical illustration is given.
Modeling and Performance Assessment of a Transit-Based Evacuation Plan within a Contraflow Simulation Environment
Authors: Chen Cheng-Chieh (Frank) , Chou Chih-Sheng
Published: October 2009

A bilevel optimization model is used to determine the waiting locations and corresponding shelters–in the case study, a combinatorial problem between bus stops and Metro stations–of a transit-based emergency evacuation plan and dispatch rescue buses toward the combinatorial locations. In additional, a contraflow simulation is elaborated to disperse the inside and ambient traffic of the target area. Results from the simulation can be used for modifying routing plans to avoid potential traffic bottlenecks. Findings indicate that the transit-based evacuation plan with the contraflow operations outperforms the same base plan without the contraflow operations. If more people select to evacuate via transit systems, the difficulties of dispersing traffic would be reduced and system performance remarkably improved.
Modeling Departure Time Choice under Stochastic Networks Involved in Network Design
Authors: Li Hao , Bliemer Michiel C. J. , Bovy Piet H. L.
Published: October 2009

Different travel cost functions for modeling travelers’ departure time and route choice behavior under uncertainty are investigated; then the principal equivalency of the mean-variance and scheduling approaches in modeling departure time choice is proven analytically. Based on the equivalency, a general cost function is formulated for modeling travelers’ departure time and route choice behavior under uncertainty and applied to an analysis of the departure patterns under uncertainty and a reliability-based dynamic network design problem. The analytical investigation of the departure pattern considering travel time reliability in the individual's travel cost function is presented as an extension of Vickrey's deterministic bottleneck model toward stochastic capacities. The departure pattern is significantly different from that without reliability: travelers depart earlier to reduce travel time variability. This finding (corroborated by simulations) motivated the network design approach including travel time reliability in departure time and route choice behavior. A discrete dynamic network design problem is formulated subject to a reliability-based dynamic user equilibrium, with the cost function derived from the equivalency analysis among different cost functions. Total network costs–the costs of total travel (including travel time reliability) and construction–are minimized. The network design problem consists of optimally allocating link capacities by determining the optimal numbers of lanes for a subset or a full set of links of a potential network. A genetic algorithm with some intelligence is adopted to solve the discrete optimization problem. Use of a small hypothetical network indicates that different network designs may lead to diverse departure distributions among different origin-destination (O-D) pairs over time, directly affecting travel costs. Relatively dissimilar departure patterns among different O-D pairs over time give lower travel costs.
Nonnegative Pareto-Improving Tolls with Multiclass Network Equilibria
Authors: Song Ziqi , Yin Yafeng , Lawphongpanich Siriphong
Published: October 2009

Congestion charging schemes are considered to be Pareto-improving if they lead to an improvement in system performance while ensuring that no user is worse off than in the situation without any tolling intervention. Anonymous nonnegative Pareto-improving charging schemes are considered in general road networks with multiple user classes, each valuing time differently. Mathematical programming models are proposed for finding a Pareto-improving scheme with heterogeneous users. The properties of the scheme are further analyzed, and the existence conditions are consequently established.
Integrated Evacuation Network Optimization and Emergency Vehicle Assignment
Authors: Xie Chi , Turnquist Mark A.
Published: October 2009

Three treatments are combined in the design of evacuation network operating plans: reversing lanes, eliminating intersection crossings, and reserving lanes for use by emergency vehicles. An optimization approach is taken and casts the problem as a form of discrete network design, with constraints imposed by emergency vehicle lane assignment. What have previously been separate strands of work examining ways of configuring road networks for effective evacuation performance are integrated. A case study for a network around a nuclear power plant illustrates the usefulness of this integrated approach.
Approach to Modeling Demand and Supply for a Short-Notice Evacuation
Authors: Noh Hyunsoo , Chiu Yi-Chang , Zheng Hong , Hickman Mark , Mirchandani Pitu
Published: October 2009

As part of disaster mitigation and evacuation planning, planners must be able to develop effective tactical and operational strategies to manage traffic and transportation needs during an evacuation. One aspect of evacuation planning is the estimation of how many people must be evacuated to provide strategies that are responsive to the number and location of these people. When such estimates are available, it may be possible to implement tactical and operational strategies that closely match the likely demand on the road network during the evacuation. With short notice for an evacuation, people may need to be evacuated directly from current locations. In addition, for some disasters, the spatial extent of the evacuated area may change over time. This problem may be exacerbated by congestion around the evacuated area. An estimation process is proposed for a short-notice evacuation. The method uses on-hand data typically generated through existing travel demand models at many metropolitan planning organizations. It estimates demand using convenient models for trip generation, trip distribution, and travel time generation for these trips, considering a staged evacuation. These demand estimates feed a dynamic simulation model, DynusT, that is used to model the supply characteristics of the roadway network during the evacuation. Such models can be applied using a case study based on a short-notice flooding scenario for Phoenix, Arizona.
Hybrid Route Choice Modeling in Dynamic Traffic Assignment
Authors: Pel Adam J. , Bliemer Michiel C. J. , Hoogendoorn Serge P.
Published: October 2009

Dynamic traffic assignment (DTA) models typically describe travelers selecting their routes before departure (pretrip) or during the trip (en route). However, in reality, people follow a certain route but have the opportunity to deviate from that route. An analytical hybrid route choice model is proposed that unifies pretrip and en route route choice in a tractable way. It enables modeling intermediate states where travelers make pretrip route choice decisions and may deviate from this route if they receive information about a more attractive route, for instance, because of unforeseen adverse traffic conditions. The hybrid route choice model is widely applicable to various planning and management applications in DTA and makes the DTA model more realistic in cases such as route guidance problems, where the combination of prescribed routes and en route route choice is evident. Furthermore, the proposed route choice model is generic because different dynamic traffic flow models can be used in the model, analytical or simulation-based. Also, two common problems in DTA related to gridlock and time-varying network conditions are solved in the hybrid route choice model.
Sketch Models for Air Transport Demand Estimation
Authors: Bonvino Enzo , Ottomanelli Michele , Sassanelli Domenico
Published: October 2009

Air travel demand at regional airports must be estimated to support transportation planning. Simplified models are needed for acceptable estimates of travel demand even if a small amount of data from immediate information sources is used. To this purpose, regressive nonlinear and monomodal statistical models were considered, and different model specifications were investigated and analyzed, assuming various functional forms as well as different sets of potential explicative variables. The airport system of the Apulia region (southern Italy) and the demand flows from Apulia toward important Italian regions such as Lombardy, Latium, and Veneto were studied. Statistical analyses were carried out with cheap data, normally available on the Internet websites of the air companies or agencies. Through a trial-and-error procedure for each model, the statistical significance and the performances of considered variables and of the single model were determined. The calibration phase showed the effectiveness of some variables that were indirectly representative of the average income in the chosen area. The proposed models include variables describing both land use characteristics and transport supply systems relevant to the considered regions as well as the level of service of the air transport. Considering the small amount of data and the cheap information sources, the results obtained are interesting, and the best-performing model could be used for preliminary study as well as starting point for more detailed, accurate, and expensive estimation tools.
Supporting Aircraft Manufacturers to Formulate and Implement Sustainable Development Strategies Systematically
Authors: Morimoto Risako , Agouridas Vassilis
Published: October 2009

Environmental issues, together with growing debates about aviation impacts on climate change, have been playing a central role in the aviation industry in the past several years. More recently, a much wider focus on sustainable development, including the social impacts of aviation, has started becoming a key aspect in aviation industry. Aircraft manufacturers have responded to this situation and realized the importance of focusing their efforts to incorporate sustainable development policies into their core business strategies. However, the effectiveness and the efficiency of such efforts have been in question because systematic approaches to support such activities are scarce. Aircraft manufacturers need to be able to formulate and implement sustainable development strategies in a systematic and traceable manner. Today, stakeholder analysis, dialogue, and engagement are widely recognized in the aviation sector. Such stakeholder analysis should be conducted in a more structured and integrated way to offer improved support to the ever-globalizing aircraft manufacturers to define and implement sustainable development strategies effectively. Under the rapidly changing business environment in which aircraft manufacturers are operating, the need for a holistic approach to develop sustainable development strategies, such as a systems approach, appears to be well justified. Opportunities created by such an integrated and holistic conceptual framework can enable aircraft manufacturers to manage their business strategically and deal with increasingly demanding business challenges.
Modeling Framework for Airline Competition in the U.S. Domestic Network
Authors: Hassan Ahmed , Abdelghany Khaled , Abdelghany Ahmed
Published: October 2009

An equilibrium-based modeling framework for airline competition analysis at the network level was developed. The framework considers a deregulated business environment in which air carriers can freely plan their networks and flight schedules to maximize their profits. Air carriers are assumed to reach a state of equilibrium, in which no air carrier can improve its profit by unilaterally modifying its network structure or schedule configuration. An equivalent mathematical program and an efficient solution algorithm are presented. The output of this program is the air carriers’ flight frequency for each market at equilibrium. The model was applied to the U.S. domestic network considering 13 major air carriers, which are assumed to compete in the markets between 236 metropolitan areas. The framework can be applied to answer a wide range of policy questions and to understand decisions related to airport congestion pricing, market access restrictions, air carriers merging, and so forth.
Depeaking Strategies for Improving Airport Ground Operations Productivity at Midsize Hubs
Authors: Luethi Marco , Kisseleff Beat , Nash Andrew
Published: October 2009

Today, most large airlines operate using a hub-and-spoke strategy. At hub airports, the carriers attempt to optimize their flight schedules to minimize passenger transfer times for connecting flights. The result is a high number of flight arrivals and departures during the peak periods but only a few movements in off-peak periods. This imbalance means that infrastructure and personnel are used inefficiently. Depeaking, which consists of spreading flights more evenly throughout the day, allows airlines and ground handlers to use their resources more efficiently. Depeaking can reduce energy consumption by reducing airport congestion. Although depeaking has been applied successfully at major hubs to relieve congestion constraints, it has not been applied specifically to reduce costs and energy use. Therefore, the goal of this study was to evaluate the cost savings potential of depeaking. The focus was on cost savings for the ground handler, because obtaining airline data was difficult, given the highly competitive state of the industry. Several depeaking scenarios were evaluated with data from Zurich Airport (Switzerland). The research shows that depeaking reduces extreme workload peaks, enables staff and equipment to be used more efficiently and thereby reduces costs. The results for Zurich Airport show that a small amount of schedule adjustment can reduce ground handling costs by approximately 8%. Under the maximum schedule adjustment scenario, depeaking could reduce costs by up to 20%. The research can be extended to include additional peak-oriented costs such as airline company costs and costs of energy, as well as revenue impacts of reduced flight connectivity.
Route Choice Control of Automated Baggage Handling Systems
Authors: Tarău A. N. , De Schutter B. , Hellendoorn J.
Published: October 2009

State-of-the-art baggage handling systems transport luggage in an automated way by using destination-coded vehicles (DCVs). These vehicles transport the bags at high speeds on a minirailway network. Currently, the networks are simple, with only a few junctions; otherwise bottlenecks would be created at the junctions. Bottlenecks make the system inefficient. More complex networks were considered. To optimize the performance of the system, centralized and decentralized control methods that could be used to route the DCVs through the track network were developed and compared. The proposed centralized control method is model predictive control (MPC). Because of the large computation effort that centralized MPC required, decentralized MPC and a fast decentralized heuristic approach were also proposed. When the decentralized approaches are implemented, each junction has its own local controller for positioning the switch going into the junction and the switch going out of the junction. To assess the advantages and disadvantages of centralized MPC, decentralized MPC, and the decentralized heuristic approach, a simple benchmark case study was studied. The considered control methods were compared for several scenarios. Centralized MPC becomes intractable when a large stream of bags must be handled, whereas decentralized MPC can still be used to solve the problem suboptimally. Moreover, the decentralized heuristic approach usually gives worse results than those obtained when using decentralized MPC but with very low computation time.
Value of Flight Cancellation and Cancellation Decision Modeling
Authors: Xiong Jing , Hansen Mark
Published: October 2009

Flight cancellations are costly to airlines and air passengers, but the question is, how costly? Little quantitative analysis about cancellation cost has been done, and current studies are focused on flight delays. However, cancellations should be studied to supplement delay metrics to assess the performance of the National Airspace System, as well as to evaluate the effectiveness of air traffic management. Postoperation data of the ground delay program were explored, and relative value of cancellations in terms of delay savings were inferred. Two cancellation metrics were developed for this purpose. In addition, flight cancellation decisions were modeled with a discrete choice model by using the two cancellation metrics that were generated as well as some other flight characteristics. Three models are presented in this study. The results reveal the value of a flight cancellation and airline preference structure in making decisions in canceling a flight in response to schedule disturbance. The study contributes to the literature in a distinct way: post-operation data are used to understand airline flight cancellation behavior in the context of ground delay programs.
Concept for Prioritizing Aircraft Operations at Congested Airports
Authors: Janic Milan
Published: October 2009

Continuous growth of air transport demand has caused congestion at many large airports. The most common short- and long-term delay-mitigating measures applied to these airports have been demand management measures for slot control and eventually congestion charging in the short term and building new runways and thus increasing capacity in the long term. The possible effects of one of the relatively innovative short-term measures for mitigating congestion and delays, that is, prioritizing aircraft landings at the congested runways, were investigated. This approach can be categorized as a demand management measure expected to produce deterring effects similar to the effects of congestion-charging measures on the access of smaller aircraft to heavily congested airports. In particular, the necessary operational and institutional conditions, and the potential benefits from the implementation of such a prioritizing rule, were analyzed. In addition, the deterministic queuing model for estimating queues, delays, and related costs of particular prioritized aircraft categories (classes) was developed. In a given context, the assignment of priorities to particular aircraft was based on the dynamic priority function designed to minimize the total cost of delays for all aircraft. The model was applied to the traffic scenario at a congested European airport using what-if reasoning.
Design of Ground Delay Programs to Consider the Stakeholder's Perspective
Authors: Hanowsky Michael , Sussman Joseph
Published: October 2009

A ground delay program (GDP) is an initiative used by FAA to manage the arrival demand rate at a capacity-constrained airport. A key challenge regarding GDPs is to identify the stakeholders, those groups whose interests should be considered during the design process. A review of the existing literature shows that many conflicting definitions and methods for identifying GDP stakeholders exist. A new definition is proposed to resolve this conflict, which not only applies to GDPs but is also grounded in stakeholder theory. Subsequently, the key stakeholders are identified and classified by importance. The results show that FAA should give passengers and the federal government greater consideration. The conclusions offer suggestions for how FAA might address this disparity in the design of GDPs in practice.
Runway Geometric Design Incorporating Hydroplaning Consideration
Authors: Ong G. P. , Fwa T. F.
Published: October 2009

An important aspect of airport runway geometric design is ensuring prompt removal of water from the runway to reduce skidding and hydroplaning risks of aircraft operating under wet-weather conditions. However, current airport geometric design methods do not explicitly consider hydroplaning risk, and the adequacy of runway geometric design and the associated drainage system against hydroplaning has not been evaluated. In recognition of the need for a design procedure to ensure safe aircraft operations, a framework for runway geometric design that incorporates hydroplaning consideration was proposed. Runway cross-slope is the main runway geometric element affected by the hydroplaning consideration. The proposed framework involves adding an independent module for hydroplaning risk calculation to determine whether a trial runway geometric design meets the safety requirement against hydroplaning for the selected design rainfall and aircraft traffic. For a trial runway geometric design, taking into account the probabilistic distributions of aircraft characteristics, landing speed, and aircraft wander, the level of hydroplaning risk can be computed by comparing the landing speed at each point on the width of the runway with the corresponding estimated hydroplaning speed. The hydroplaning speed at each point of interest is estimated by using an analytical computer simulation model. A numerical example is presented to illustrate the application of the proposed procedure.
Characterizing the Distribution of Safety Occurrences in Aviation
Authors: Panagiotakopoulos Dimitri , Majumdar Arnab , Ochieng Washington
Published: October 2009

The demand for air travel continues to grow rapidly, and by 2010, air traffic in Europe is expected to be twice the 1990 level. This increase in air traffic may adversely affect safety if appropriate measures are not taken. Regulators and Air Navigation Service Providers (ANSPs) analyze incidents to identify ways to prevent them from happening again. Incidents are rare events in airspace, and this poses problems with robust statistical testing and trend analysis. Aviation safety analysis uses the Poisson distribution where possible, but doubts remain as to its appropriateness. Incident data from ANSP were analyzed over 17 years in a logical quantitative manner using extreme value theory (EVT), a method that uses the limited amount of information available on incidents and defines a distribution that can be used to make statistical inferences. EVT has had considerable use in other fields but little in aviation. A statistical analysis and validation framework is outlined and used to test the data using Poisson, negative binomial, and EVT. The goodness-of-fit tests, as well as other statistical tests, indicate that by far the best fit of the data is achieved using EVT. Further analysis using EVT shows its efficacy as a tool for monitoring and predicting incidents, based on statistical hypothesis and the use of quantile information.
Framework for Analysis of the Workload of Training Captains
Authors: Majumdar Arnab , Wu Vincent , Subotic Branka , Stewart Simon , Holmes Alexandra
Published: October 2009

Low-cost carrier (LCC) airlines that fly short-haul and medium-haul routes have grown rapidly in Europe in recent years. LCCs achieve a low-cost structure by maximizing aircraft use and streamlining crew scheduling, for example, by flying one type of aircraft and limiting overnight stops. A potential corollary of intensive crew use is elevated levels of crew workload and fatigue, which, if not managed effectively, can increase the likelihood of adverse safety outcomes. Training captains are a subgroup of the pilot population for whom workload may be particularly problematic. These pilots fly standard duties as well as performing a range of training and assessment duties. This is believed to be the first attempt to present a methodology to analyze the factors affecting training captains’ workload with the objective of assisting airlines in managing workload more efficiently. For 15 duties, 29 training captains from a LCC completed workbooks that collected information on duty type, work schedule, personal characteristics, and sleep, together with perceived workload and alertness ratings. The linear mixed model was used to analyze the data. The main finding was that after controlling for scheduling variables, personal characteristics, and sleep duration, workload varied systematically across the different duty types. Training captains training in the simulator and training while flying had a higher workload strain than standard flying duties, with simulator training duties associated with the highest workload. The results are used to make recommendations on how workload can be managed in an airline.
Transportation Planning Education in the United States
Authors: Zhou Jiangping , Schweitzer Lisa
Published: October 2009

This paper reports the results of a nationwide survey on transportation planning topics taught at U.S. universities. The survey gathered a comprehensive inventory of courses, documented variations in curricula, and determined the variations among those curricula in how they emphasized different transportation topics. This paper also includes a literature review to trace the evolution of transportation classes and education over time. Along with the survey on course content, the manuscript presents an analysis of the spatial distribution of transportation courses and in particular of transportation planning courses. The study finds that educational opportunities in transportation planning are widely distributed across the nation and that students are able to take advantage of the opportunities. However, some planning programs stand out for offering a wider variety of relevant topics, and those programs are concentrated on the coasts. Relatively little is known about the affect of geography on the allocation of resources in transportation education. Transportation educators have multiple opportunities for exploring new topics and methods, such as by including globalization and comparative study, promoting transportation planning knowledge across different educational levels, and continuing to monitor and evaluate higher education and training programs.
Using an Interactive Display to Demonstrate Transportation Planning and Design Issues
Authors: Koorey Glen
Published: October 2009

An ongoing challenge worldwide has been to attract sufficient numbers of new people into transportation careers. When trying to understand what transportation engineering is about, many people often find that examples of practical applications are particularly useful. In this way, people acquire initial interest in a problem and then realize its real-world application to a career in transportation. Recently, funds donated to the University of Canterbury in New Zealand were used to develop an interactive transportation display board for both existing and prospective students. The display represents a landscape on which a new road route would be determined. The display surface is subdivided into hexagonal sections, each with a “cost” reflecting the relative difficulty of road construction in that location (e.g., due to mountains, rivers, or development). Magnetic road elements (each with a value reflecting the costs to road users) are then placed on the display to create a connection between the chosen endpoints. The intention is that the display's users determine the most optimal road alignment for minimizing construction costs, road user costs, or both. Since its creation, the display has been used at various sites, both on campus and at career expos, and has proven to be immensely popular with visitors. The display's potential as an educational tool for use in math, science, or geography classes has also been identified. This paper outlines the development of the display, its applications to date, and the transportation lessons the display can highlight.
Rebuilding Railroad Engineering Education in the United States with Industry–University Partnerships
Authors: Lautala Pasi T. , Sproule William J.
Published: October 2009

Because of the growing volume of freight traffic, the increasing interest in intercity and in urban passenger rail, and the escalated retirement among industry professionals, the rail industry has been returning to university campuses in search of future leaders. In so doing, the industry has discovered that today's universities are a challenging environment in which to recruit because most of them eliminated railroad engineering from their curricula many years ago and graduates are not familiar with the rail industry. A research study at Michigan Technological University (Michigan Tech) assessed whether greater participation by universities would help to encourage students to pursue rail careers. Surveys targeting industry managers, recently hired engineering graduates, and university professors were used to define the demand and supply for university engineering graduates and to determine the effect on students’ career choices from pregraduation exposure to rail topics. The results indicated a high demand for railroad engineers for the next 5 to 10 years but few opportunities to expose students to rail topics before their graduation. The research indicated a strong correlation between exposure to the rail industry and career selection and identified the development of university–industry partnerships as an attractive approach for reintroducing railroad engineering at universities. This paper summarizes the study results and provides recommendations for developing these partnerships. It also presents a short case study on how Michigan Tech has successfully introduced rail transportation into its curriculum.
Toward Predictive Workforce Planning
Authors: Hinkeldein Daniel C.
Published: October 2009

The workplace for operators engaged at the heart of traffic management centers (TMCs) has changed dramatically during the past 30 years. Current research indicates that today's requirements justify theoretically sound selection and training processes for these personnel. Through discussion of a three-stage study, this paper addresses how this workplace is changing. The first stage was to interview, by scenario analysis, 20 experts with industrial, administrative, research-centered, and operational backgrounds, about the factors that influence the workplace and the tasks of operators employed there. In the second stage, the experts were asked to rate the consistency and probability of the top 10 influencing factors. In the third stage, the most consistent probable scenario was presented to 17 personnel working in TMCs. The operators were asked to rate the perceived requirements of the scenario with an enhanced version of the Fleishman Job Analysis Survey. These results, then compared with earlier research, indicated a general increase of requirements and a change in the character of the job; operators will be asked to judge and make decisions instead of monitoring traffic flow. This change will lead to an increase of all decision-related requirements, most notably, cognitive, interactive, and social requirements will increase.
New England Transportation Consortium
Authors: Oliveira Dionysia F. , Sime James M. , McCarthy Gerald M.
Published: October 2009

Six New England state transportation agencies are cooperating with six New England state land grant universities and FHWA in a program of transportation research. This joint venture is called the New England Transportation Consortium (NETC). NETC was formed as a regional approach to address transportation research needs of mutual concern to the New England states. Its purpose is to pool the region's financial, professional, and academic resources and to use them to research and develop improved methods of dealing with common problems in the planning, construction, maintenance, rehabilitation, reconstruction, and operation of transportation systems in the participating states. This paper discusses the following issues regarding NETC: description, funding, history, establishment and start-up, organization and management, project selection process, award of funding, strengths, and challenges. This paper also provides recommendations and guidelines for the establishment, operation, and sustained growth of an intergovernmental, multistate cooperative research program.
Overcoming Roadblocks to Innovation
Authors: Orcutt Lawrence H. , AlKadri Mohamed Y.
Published: October 2009

This paper examines the experience of the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) in three recent innovations developed at its Division of Research and Innovation. Although these innovations promised significant returns on investment, their deployment faced serious challenges, which motivated this research. A literature review was conducted and professionals were interviewed to analyze the roadblocks. The innovations, roadblocks, successful mitigation measures, and lessons learned in each case are presented. The first case is Sensys, a compact, low-cost, wireless traffic-sensing system that can replace more expensive inductive loops. The second case is the Construction Analysis for Pavement Rehabilitation Strategies software, which simulates highway construction and traffic activities at construction zones and predicts traffic delays associated with simulation scenarios, to optimize construction timing and quality and minimize construction costs and effect on traffic. The third case is the Balsi Beam, a mobile frame designed to protect highway workers. Findings show that deployment faced roadblocks because ( a) transportation projects were complex, multifaceted, and interjurisdictional with many players having different interests; ( b) multiple layers of decision making sometimes lacked logic; ( c) public-sector procurement was driven by competitive, multiple low-bid processes that often infringed on intellectual property rights; ( d) public agencies resisted change; and ( e) risk-averse executives hesitated to implement new innovations. To mitigate roadblocks, a systems engineering process is advocated, one that ensures that customers are included in all phases so that the final product meets their needs and satisfies their requirements. Findings underline the need to interconnect researchers, developers, operators, and decision makers by improving communications at all levels and stages. There is need for timely establishment of criteria for evaluating innovations and for creation of innovative champions.
Mechanism of Intramolecular Nucleophilic Substitution in the Catalytic Hydrolysis of Bis(4-Nitrophenyl) Phosphate Ester in a Metallomicelle
Authors: Jun Li , Xue-mei Sang , Min Wan , Guo-xu Chen , Jia-qing Xie
Published: October 2009

A macrocyclic Schiff base ligand and the corresponding Cu(II) and Ni(II) complexes were synthesized and characterized. The catalytic ability of metallomicelles, made from these complexes and micelles, as mimic hydrolytic metalloenzymes, was investigated in the catalytic hydrolysis of bis(p-nitrophenyl) phosphate (BNPP). The rate of the BNPP catalytic reaction in the metallomicelles is ca 2.0 × 106-fold faster than that of the spontaneous hydrolysis of BNPP in aqueous solution under the same conditions. The analysis of absorption spectra of the hydrolytic reaction systems indicates that key intermediates, comprising BNPP and the Ni(II) or Cu(II) complexes, have been formed and the catalytic hydrolysis of BNPP is an intramolecular nucleophilic substitution reaction. Based on the analysis of the absorption spectrum, a mechanism for the catalytic hydrolysis of BNPP has been proposed and a kinetic mathematical model has been established.
The Brönsted Equation: The Universal Equation?
Authors: Marchena Maria , Sanchez Francisco
Published: October 2009

This review shows that, taking the Brönsted equation as a starting point, the equations describing the kinetic effects of added salts, micelles, solvent, catalysts (homogeneous and heterogeneous catalysis), change in the electrode potential, and substituents can be established through thermodynamic considerations of these effects. In this sense, the Brönsted equation can be considered as the universal equation describing chemical reactivity.