Explore the vast range of titles available.

Passenger screening is an important component of aviation security that incorporates real-time passenger screening strategies designed to maximize effectiveness in identifying potential terrorist attacks. This paper identifies a methodology that can be used to sequentially and optimally assign passengers to aviation security resources. An automated prescreening system determines passengers' perceived risk levels, which become known as passengers check in. The levels are available for determining security class assignments sequentially as passengers enter security screening. A passenger is then assigned to one of several available security classes, each of which corresponds to a particular set of screening devices. The objective is to use the passengers' perceived risk levels to determine the optimal policy for passenger screening assignments that maximize the expected total security, subject to capacity and assignment constraints. The sequential passenger assignment problem is formulated as a Markov decision process, and an optimal policy is found using dynamic programming. The general result from the sequential stochastic assignment problem is adapted to provide a heuristic for assigning passengers to security classes in real time. A condition is provided under which this heuristic yields the optimal policy. The model is illustrated with an example that incorporates data extracted from the Official Airline Guide (Official Airline Guide. 1998. OAG Business Travel Planner: North American Edition . Official Airline Guides, Bedfordshire, UK).

Using hedonic price functions, we study the influence of access to public railway stations on the prices of surrounding condominiums in Hamburg, Germany. The study examines the influence of rail infrastructure on residential property prices, not only of individual lines, but for the entire rail network of a metropolitan region. We test the stability of the coefficients for different sets of control variables. The study also estimates public-transit-induced increases in tax revenues due to real estate price increases for a study area outside the United States. We control for spatial dependence and numerous variables correlated with the proximity of railway stations and show that access to the public transit system of the city of Hamburg is to be rated with price increases of up to 4.6%. Such premiums for higher-income neighbourhoods and for subterranean stations tend to be higher. The premiums calculated are significantly lower than average price premiums reported in previous studies, which were mostly based on much fewer variables that rail access might be correlated to.

The City of Madrid is putting into operation Intermodal Exchange Stations (IESs) to make connections between urban and suburban transportation modes easier for users of public transportation. The purpose of this article is to evaluate the actual effects that the implementation of IESs in the City of Madrid has on the affected stakeholders: users, public transportation operators, infrastructure managers, the government, the abutters and other citizens. We develop a methodology intended to help assess the welfare gains and losses for each stakeholder. Then we apply this methodology to the case study of the Avenida de América IES in the city of Madrid. We found that it is indeed possible to arrive at win – win solutions for the funding of urban transportation infrastructure, as long as the cost-benefit ratio of the project is high enough. Commuters save travel time. Bus companies diminish their costs of operation. The abutters gain in quality of life. The private operator of the infrastructure makes a fair profit. And the government is able to promote these infrastructure facilities without spending more of its scarce budgetary resources.

There is a wide consensus that buildings, as major energy consumers and sources of greenhouse gas emissions must play an important role in mitigating climate change. This has led to increasing concern and greater demand to improve energy efficiency in buildings. Although, there has been increased efforts to reduce energy consumption from existing building stock; the heritage sector still needs to accelerate its efforts to improve energy efficiency and reduction in greenhouse gas emissions. Presently, much concentration has been on improving the energy efficiency of heritage buildings in the domestic sector while, the non-domestic sector has only received little attention. In particular, studies focusing on reuse and adaptation of heritage buildings for public use to achieve more efficient use of energy are urgently required. The main focus of this paper is the need for research into sustainable reuse of public heritage buildings with reference to maximising energy efficiency in the process of considering their conversion to other uses. The paper presents part of a broader on-going research with the aim to investigate problems associated with maximising energy efficiency in reuse and conversion of public heritage buildings. It identifies the ability of heritage buildings to play a role in global reduction of energy use and CO2 emission whilst maintaining its unique characteristics. Issues and challenges associated to improving energy efficiency in heritage building conversion projects were discussed. Holistic approach through identification of various options and innovative techniques for their sustainable reuse were suggested. The paper concluded that in spite of the exemption of listed buildings from energy performance requirements, these buildings can still accommodate some energy efficiency improvements. However, further studies to identify the most suitable options for long term sustainability is required if the goal to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 80% by 2050 is to be achieved.

The purpose of this article is to further an understanding of the airport sector through a systematic analysis of the existing studies assessing the economic efficiency and productivity of the sector. A full review of journal papers from 1990 to 2011 was undertaken. The emphasis is on the measurement methodologies, the variables used, and the results associated with the various airport activities. Particular attention is given to the increased employment of mathematical modeling and advanced statistical analysis methods. However, this is also yielding an increasing set of inputs and outputs used for analysis, which can then influence the comparability between studies. As well as overall efficiency, two questions particularly emerge as being of interest for this research—the influence of airport size and ownership structure/governance on efficiency. However, current research does not provide a conclusive answer. A number of research opportunities are identified, including the necessity to more closely include the opinions of relevant stakeholders in order to improve the data analysis system and future research samples.

Gatwick is the UK's second largest airport and the busiest single-runway airport in the world. This paper describes how it has placed building information modelling (BIM) at the heart of its ongoing infrastructure investment programme, which is helping to transform the airport for passengers and airlines. Working in partnership with the airport's construction manager and software supplier, the application of BIM methodology has transformed project delivery and asset management at the airport.

In this paper we introduce the problem of shunting passenger train units in a railway station. Shunting occurs whenever train units are temporarily not needed to operate a given timetable. We discuss several aspects of this problem and focus on two subproblems. We propose mathematical models for the problem and both subproblems, one of which is solved with a solution method based on column generation. Furthermore, we introduce a new efficient and speedy solution technique for pricing problems in column generation algorithms. Finally, we present computational results based on real-life instances from Netherlands Railways.

Motivated by potential applications for offshore airports supported on vertical piles, we report a theory of wave diffraction by a periodic array of circular cylinders. The simple case of normal incidence on a rectangular array is studied here, which is equivalent to a line array along the centre of a long channel. An asymptotic theory is developed for cylinders much smaller than the incident wavelength, which is comparable to the cylinder spacing. Focus is on Bragg resonance near which scattering is strong. A combination of the method of multiple scales and the Bloch theorem leads to simple evolution equations coupling the wave envelopes. Dispersion of transient wave envelopes is investigated. Scattering of detuned waves by a large but finite number of cylinders is investigated for frequencies in and outside the band gap. Quantitative accuracy is assessed by comparisons with numerical computations via finite elements. The analytical theory prepares the ground for nonlinear studies and may facilitate future inclusion of real-fluid effects such as vortex shedding.

In open railway markets, coordinating train schedules at an interchange station requires negotiation between two independent train-operating companies to resolve their operational conflicts. This paper models the stakeholders as software agents and proposes an agent negotiation model to study their interaction. Three negotiation strategies have been devised to represent the possible objectives of the stakeholders, and they determine the behavior of the stakeholders in proposing offers to other stakeholders. Empirical simulation results confirm that the use of the proposed negotiation strategies lead to outcomes that are consistent with the objectives of the stakeholders.

When there is only one airport in the origin and destination cities of a given route market, the assessment of level of competition in an airline route market can be straightforward. The presence of more than one airport at the origin or destination cities, however, makes the measurement of route competition much more difficult. This research measures competition at both the airport pair and city pair levels to empirically separate the impacts of direct and adjacent competition on yields in multi-airport cities. The analysis of a large panel data set from the US airline industry reveals that airport pairs within a metropolitan area appear to be effective yet imperfect substitutes. That is, while competition at adjacent airport pairs does have significant effect on fares in a focal airport pair market, this effect is found to be markedly smaller than that of added competition in the focal airport-to-airport route market. In addition, the effects of airport location relative to the population epicenter, the extent of airport congestion, and a carrier's strategic type on yields and passenger demand are assessed. Implications for policymakers and managers are discussed and directions for future research are provided.