Modelling bus lost time : an additional parameter influencing bus dwell time and station platform capacity at a BRT station platform

The common approach to estimate bus dwell time at a BRT station is to apply the traditional dwell time methodology derived for suburban bus stops. In spite of being sensitive to boarding and alighting passenger numbers and to some extent towards fare collection media, these traditional dwell time models do not account for the platform crowding. Moreover, they fall short in accounting for the effects of passenger/s walking along a relatively longer BRT platform. Using the experience from Brisbane busway (BRT) stations, a new variable, Bus Lost Time (LT), is introduced in traditional dwell time model. The bus lost time variable captures the impact of passenger walking and platform crowding on bus dwell time. These are two characteristics which differentiate a BRT station from a bus stop. This paper reports the development of a methodology to estimate bus lost time experienced by buses at a BRT platform. Results were compared with the Transit Capacity and Quality of Servce Manual (TCQSM) approach of dwell time and station capacity estimation. When the bus lost time was used in dwell time calculations it was found that the BRT station platform capacity reduced by 10.1%.

Identifying differences in wet and dry road crashes using data mining

It is commonly accepted that wet roads have higher risk of crash than dry roads; however, providing evidence to support this assumption presents some difficulty. This paper presents a data mining case study in which predictive data mining is applied to model the skid resistance and crash relationship to search for discernable differences in the probability of wet and dry road segments having crashes based on skid resistance. The models identify an increased probability of wet road segments having crashes for mid-range skid resistance values.

Fitting airport privatisation to purpose : aligning governance, time and management focus

Where airports were once the sole responsibility of their governments, liberalisation of economies has seen administrative interests in airport spaces divested increasingly towards market led authority. Extant literature suggests that actions in decision spaces can be described under broad idealised forms of governance. However in looking at a sample of 18 different airports it is apparent that these classic models are insufficient to appreciate the contextual complexity of each case. Issues of institutional arrangements, privatisation, and management focus are reviewed against existing governance modes to produce a model for informing privatisation decisions, based on the contextual needs of the individual airport and region. Expanding governance modes to include emergent airport arrangements both contribute to the existing literature, and provides a framework to assist policy makers and those charged with the operation of airports to design effective governance models. In progressing this framework, contributions are made to government decision makers for the development of new, or review of existing strategies for privatisation, while the private sector can identify the intent and expectations of privatisation initiatives to make better informed decisions.

Rural activity spaces and transport disadvantage : qualitative analysis of quantitative models integrating time and space

Current knowledge about the relationship between transport disadvantage and activity space size is limited to urban areas, and as a result, very little is known to date about this link in a rural context. In addition, although research has identified transport disadvantaged groups based on their size of activity spaces, these studies have, however, not empirically explained such differences and the result is often a poor identification of the problems facing disadvantaged groups. Research has shown that transport disadvantage varies over time. The static nature of analysis using the activity space concept in previous research studies has lacked the ability to identify transport disadvantage in time. Activity space is a dynamic concept; and therefore possesses a great potential in capturing temporal variations in behaviour and access opportunities. This research derives measures of the size and fullness of activity spaces for 157 individuals for weekdays, weekends, and for a week using weekly activity-travel diary data from three case study areas located in rural Northern Ireland. Four focus groups were also conducted in order to triangulate the quantitative findings and to explain the differences between different socio-spatial groups. The findings of this research show that despite having a smaller sized activity space, individuals were not disadvantaged because they were able to access their required activities locally. Car-ownership was found to be an important life line in rural areas. Temporal disaggregation of the data reveals that this is true only on weekends due to a lack of public transport services. In addition, despite activity spaces being at a similar size, the fullness of activity spaces of low-income individuals was found to be significantly lower compared to their high-income counterparts. Focus group data shows that financial constraint, poor connections both between public transport services and between transport routes and opportunities forced individuals to participate in activities located along the main transport corridors.

Which older women could benefit from interventions to decrease sitting time and increase physical activity?

In addition to the well-known health risks associated with lack of physical activity (PA), evidence is emerging about the health risks of sedentary behaviour (sitting). Research about patterns and correlates of sitting and PA in older women is scarce. METHODS: Self-report data from 6,116 women aged 76-81 years were collected as part of the Australian Longitudinal Study on Woman’s Health. Linear regression models were computed to examine whether demographic, social and health factors were associated with sitting and PA. RESULTS: Women who did no PA sat more than women who did any PA (p<0.001). Seven correlates were associated with sitting and PA (p<0.05). Five of these were associated with more sitting and less PA: three health-related (BMI, chronic conditions, anxiety/depression) and two social correlates (caring duties, volunteering). One demographic (being from another English-speaking country) and one social correlate (more social interaction) were associated with more sitting and more PA. Four correlates, two demographic (living in a city; post-high school education), one social (being single), and one health-related correlate (dizziness/loss of balance) were associated with more sitting only. Two other health-related correlates (stiff/painful joints; feet problems) were associated with less PA only. CONCLUSION: Sedentary behaviour and PA are distinct behaviours in older Australian women. Information about the correlates of both behaviours can be used to identify population groups who might benefit from interventions to reduce sedentary behaviour and/or increase PA.

Creating new narratives through shared time and space : the performer/audience connection in multi-site dance events

Site-specific performance provides choices in audience experience via degrees of scale, proximity, levels of immersion and viewing perspectives. Beyond these choices, multi-site promenade events also form a connected audience/performer relationship in which moving together in time and space can produce a shared narrative and aesthetic sensibility of collective, yet individuated and shifting meanings. This paper interrogates this notion through audience/performer experiences in two separate multi-site, dance-led events. here/there/then/now occurred in four intimate sites within the Brisbane Powerhouse, providing a theatricalised platform for audiences to create linked narratives through open-ended and fragmented intertextuality. Accented Body, based on the concept of “the body as site and in site” and notions of connectivity, provided a more expansive platform for a similar, but heightened, shared engagement. Audiences traversed 6 outdoor and 2 indoor Brisbane sites moving to varying levels of a large complex. Eleven, predominantly interactive, screens provided links to other sites as well as to distributed presences in Seoul and London. The differentiation in scale and travel time between sites deepened the immersive experiences of audiences who reported transformative engagements with both site and architecture, accompanied by a sense of extended and yet quickened time.

Implementable efficient time and energy consumption trajectories design for an autonomous underwater vehicle

In this paper we consider the implementation of time and energy efficient trajectories onto a test-bed autonomous underwater vehicle. The trajectories are losely connected to the results of the application of the maximum principle to the controlled mechanical system. We use a numerical algorithm to compute efficient trajectories designed using geometric control theory to optimize a given cost function. Experimental results are shown for the time minimization problem.

Combined time- and space-resolved Raman spectrometer for the non-invasive depth profiling of chemical hazards

A time-resolved inverse spatially offset Raman spectrometer was constructed for depth profiling of Raman-active substances under both the lab and the field environments. The system operating principles and performance are discussed along with its advantages relative to traditional continuous wave spatially offset Raman spectrometer. The developed spectrometer uses a combination of space- and time-resolved detection in order to obtain high-quality Raman spectra from substances hidden behind coloured opaque surface layers, such as plastic and garments, with a single measurement. The time-gated spatially offset Raman spectrometer was successfully used to detect concealed explosives and drug precursors under incandescent and fluorescent background light as well as under daylight. The average screening time was 50 s per measurement. The excitation energy requirements were relatively low (20 mW) which makes the probe safe for screening hazardous substances. The unit has been designed with nanosecond laser excitation and gated detection, making it of lower cost and complexity than previous picosecond-based systems, to provide a functional platform for in-line or in-field sensing of chemical substances.

The NetWorkPlace(TM) Phenomenon: any time and any place - reality or a seductive myth?

A new spatial logic encompassing redefined concepts of time and place, space and distance, requires a comprehensive shift in the approach to designing workplace environments for today’s adaptive, collaborative organizations operating in a dynamic business world. Together with substantial economic and cultural shifts and an increased emphasis on lifestyle considerations, the advances in information technology have prompted a radical re-ordering of organizational relationships and the associated structures, processes, and places of doing business. Within the duality of space and an augmentation of the traditional notions of place, organizational and institutional structures pose new challenges for the design professions. The literature reveals that there has always been a mono-organizational focus in relation to workplace design strategies and the burgeoning trend towards inter-organizational collaboration, enabled the identification of a gap in the knowledge relative to workplace design. The NetWorkPlaceTM© constitutes a multi-dimensional concept having the capacity to deal with the fluidity and ambiguity characteristic of the network context, as both a topic of research and the way of going about it.

Capping computation time and storage requirements for appearance-based localization with CAT-SLAM

Appearance-based localization is increasingly used for loop closure detection in metric SLAM systems. Since it relies only upon the appearance-based similarity between images from two locations, it can perform loop closure regardless of accumulated metric error. However, the computation time and memory requirements of current appearance-based methods scale linearly not only with the size of the environment but also with the operation time of the platform. These properties impose severe restrictions on longterm autonomy for mobile robots, as loop closure performance will inevitably degrade with increased operation time. We present a set of improvements to the appearance-based SLAM algorithm CAT-SLAM to constrain computation scaling and memory usage with minimal degradation in performance over time. The appearance-based comparison stage is accelerated by exploiting properties of the particle observation update, and nodes in the continuous trajectory map are removed according to minimal information loss criteria. We demonstrate constant time and space loop closure detection in a large urban environment with recall performance exceeding FAB-MAP by a factor of 3 at 100% precision, and investigate the minimum computational and memory requirements for maintaining mapping performance.

Effect of aging time and Al substitution on the morphology of aluminous goethite

Goethite and Al-substituted goethite were synthesized from the reaction between ferric nitrate and/or aluminum nitrate and potassium hydroxide. XRF, XRD, TEM with EDS were used to characterize the chemical composition, phase and lattice parameters, and morphology of the synthesized products. The results show that d(020) decreases from 4.953 to 4.949 Å and the b dimension decreases from 9.951 Å to 9.906 Å when the aging time increases from 6 days to 42 days for 9.09 mol% Al-substituted goethite. A sample with 9.09 mol% Al substitution in Al-substituted goethite was prepared by a rapid co-precipitation method. In the sample, 13.45 mol%, 12.31 mol% and 5.85 mol% Al substitution with a crystal size of 163, 131, and 45 nm are observed as shown in the TEM images and EDS. The crystal size of goethite is positively related to the degree of Al substitution according to the TEM images and EDS results. Thus, this methodology is proved to be effective to distinguish the morphology of goethite and Al substituted goethite.

Time and space in biogeography : response to Parenti & Ebach (2013)

A recent Guest Editorial by Parenti & Ebach (2013, Journal of Biogeography, 40, 813–820) disagrees with the methods or interpretations in two of our recent papers. In addition, the authors open a debate on biogeographical concepts, and present an alternative philosophy for biogeographical research in the context of their recently described biogeographical subregion called ‘Pandora’. We disagree with their approach and conclusions, and comment on several issues related to our differing conceptual approaches for biogeographical research; namely, our use of molecular phylogenetic analyses, including time estimates; and Parenti & Ebach's reliance on taxon/general area cladograms. Finally, we re-examine their ‘tests’ supporting the existence of ‘Pandora’.

“Would you; could you; on a boat?” Wait-time and travel-time activities during river ferry journeys and their relationship to overall satisfaction in Brisbane Queensland

This study investigates travel behaviour and wait-time activities as a component of passenger satisfaction with public transport in Brisbane, Australia. Australian transport planners recognise a variety of benefits to encouraging a mode shift away from automobile travel in favour of active and public transport use. Efforts to increase public transport ridership have included introducing state of the art passenger information systems, improving physical station access, and integrating system pricing, routes and scheduling for train, bus and ferry. Previous research regarding satisfaction with public transport emphasizes technical dimensions of service quality, including the timing and reliability of service. Those factors might be especially significant for frequent (commuting) travellers who look to balance the cost and efficiency of their travel options. In contrast, infrequent (leisure) passengers may be more concerned with way finding and the sensory experience of the journey. Perhaps due to the small relative proportion of trips made by river ferry compared to bus and rail, this mode of public transport has not received as much attention in travel-behaviour research. This case study of Brisbane’s river ferry system examines ferry passengers at selected terminals during peak and off-peak travel times to find out how travel behaviours and activities correlate to satisfaction with ferry travel. Data include 416 questionnaires completed by passengers intercepted during wait times at seven CityCat terminals in Brisbane. Descriptive statistical analysis revealed associations between specific wait time activities and satisfaction levels that could inform planners seeking to increase ridership and quality of life through ferry-oriented development.