Transit line passenger transmission and productiveness under high load conditions

Deterministic transit capacity analysis applies to planning, design and operational management of urban transit systems. The Transit Capacity and Quality of Service Manual (1) and Vuchic (2, 3) enable transit performance to be quantified and assessed using transit capacity and productive capacity. This paper further defines important productive performance measures of an individual transit service and transit line. Transit work (p-km) captures the transit task performed over distance. Passenger transmission (p-km/h) captures the passenger task delivered by service at speed. Transit productiveness (p-km/h) captures transit work performed over time. These measures are useful to operators in understanding their services’ or systems’ capabilities and passenger quality of service. This paper accounts for variability in utilized demand by passengers along a line and high passenger load conditions where passenger pass-up delay occurs. A hypothetical case study of an individual bus service’s operation demonstrates the usefulness of passenger transmission in comparing existing and growth scenarios. A hypothetical case study of a bus line’s operation during a peak hour window demonstrates the theory’s usefulness in examining the contribution of individual services to line productive performance. Scenarios may be assessed using this theory to benchmark or compare lines and segments, conditions, or consider improvements.

The Australian nonprofit sector legal and accounting almanac 2011

Summaries of legal cases, legislation and developments in law and accounting relevant to nonprofit organisations and charity law during 2011; including articles on special issues such as accounting standards and the chart of accounts; law reform (e.g. the new national regulator, the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission); and taxation.

Measuring National Accessibility to Cardiac Services using Geographic Information Systems

The Cardiac Access-Remoteness Index of Australia (Cardiac ARIA) used geographic information systems (GIS) to model population level, road network accessibility to cardiac services before and after a cardiac event for all (20,387) population localities in Australia., The index ranged from 1A (access to all cardiac services within 1 h driving time) to 8E (limited or no access). The methodology derived an objective geographic measure of accessibility to required cardiac services across Australia. Approximately 71% of the 2006 Australian population had very good access to acute hospital services and services after hospital discharge. This GIS model could be applied to other regions or health conditions where spatially enabled data were available.

National climate change adaptation research plan : freshwater biodiversity

Climate change will alter the basic physical and chemical environment underpinning all life. Species will be affected differentially by these alterations, resulting in changes to the structure and composition of present-day freshwater ecological communities, with the potential to change the ways in which these ecosystems function and the services they provide.

Where do they come from? Prevalence and characteristics of nascent entrepreneurs

This paper reports on a unique study of a large, random sample of business start-ups that were identified prior to the actual, commercial launch of the ventures. The purpose of this paper is two-fold. First, to present frequencies on the involvement of the Swedish population in the small business sector (particularly in start-ups of firms) and to compare these with estimates from Norway and the USA, which are based on studies using a similar research design. The authors also discuss the possible reasons for the differences that emerge between countries. Second, the characteristics of nascent entrepreneurs (i.e. individuals trying to start an independent business) are analysed and compared for sub-groups within the sample and with characteristics of business founders as they appear in theoretical accounts or retrospective empirical studies of surviving all firms. In order to get a representative sample from the working age population, respondents (n = 30,427) were randomly selected and interviewed by telephone. It was found that 2.0% of the Swedish population at the time of the interview were trying to start an independent business. Sweden had a significantly lower prevalence rate of nascent entrepreneurs compared to Norway and the USA. Nascent entrepreneurs were then compared to a control group of people not trying to start a business. The results confirmed findings from previous studies of business founders pointing to the importance of role models and the impression of self-employment obtained through these, employment status, age, education and experience. Marital status, the number of children in the household, and length of employment experience were unrelated to the probability of becoming a nascent entrepreneur. The gender of the respondent was the strongest distinguishing factor. Importantly, the results suggest that while one has a reasonably good understanding of the characteristics associated with men going into business for themselves, the type of variables investigated here have very limited ability to predict nascent entrepreneur status for women.

Evaluating the economics of the Australian National Hand Hygiene Initiative

The National Hand Hygiene Initiative, implemented in Australia in 2009, is currently being evaluated for effectiveness and cost-effectiveness by a multidisciplinary team of researchers. Data from a wide range of sources are being harvested to address the research questions. The data are observational and appropriate statistical and economic modelling methods are being used. Decision makers will be provided with new knowledge about how hand hygiene interventions should be organised and what investment decisions are justified. This is novel research and the authors are unaware of any other evaluation of hand hygiene improvement initiatives. This paper describes the evaluation currently underway.

Submission to House Standing Committee on Infrastructure and Communications : inquiry into the role and potential of the National Broadband Network

Just as telecommunications has played a key role in the global economy,1 high-speed broadband will have a significant role to play in the future of the digital economy. In particular high-speed broadband will have a role to play in the delivery of applications and services necessary for acquiring, and maintaining into the future Australia and Australians’ appropriate education level; community; health services, information provision and support; government services and engagement and participation by the public in the political process.

A note on the ‘Linsanity’ of measuring the relative efficiency of National Basketball Association (NBA) guards

This note examines the productive efficiency of 62 starting guards during the 2011/12 National Basketball Association (NBA) season. This period coincides with the phenomenal and largely unanticipated performance of New York Knicks’ starting point guard Jeremy Lin and the attendant public and media hype known as Linsanity. We employ a data envelopment analysis (DEA) approach that includes allowance for an undesirable output, here turnovers per game, with the desirable outputs of points, rebounds, assists, steals, and blocks per game and an input of minutes per game. The results indicate that depending upon the specification, between 29 and 42 percent of NBA guards are fully efficient, including Jeremy Lin, with a mean inefficiency of 3.7 and 19.2 percent. However, while Jeremy Lin is technically efficient, he seldom serves as a benchmark for inefficient players, at least when compared with established players such as Chris Paul and Dwayne Wade. This suggests the uniqueness of Jeremy Lin’s productive solution and may explain why his unique style of play, encompassing individual brilliance, unselfish play, and team leadership, is of such broad public appeal.

The national specificity of horror sources in Asian horror cinema

This dissertation explores the relationship between horror films and the national contexts in which they are produced by analyzing several Asian horror movies – Ringu (Japan), The Eye (Hong Kong) and Shutter (Thailand). Utilizing these films as case studies, the dissertation examines the degree to which genre cinemas are nationally-specific, and the degree to which it is possible to make genre films that can enter international markets and be comprehensible in various national markets as well. The dissertation also makes the following claims on the national specificity of genre cinema: i) The sources of frightening elements in horror films are nationally-specific. ii) There is a regional "Asian" horror because of the intertwining national histories and shared cultural elements across several Asian countries.

Project alliancing and information technology in building construction : the National Museum of Australia

The construction industry demands priority from all governments because it impacts economically and socially on all citizens. A number of recent studies have identified inefficiencies in the Australian construction industry by modelling the building process. A culture of reform supported by industry and government is now emerging in the industry – one in which alternate forms of project delivery are being trialed. The Australian Building and Construction Industry Action Agenda brought together industry and government to identify actions necessary to lift Australia’s innovative and knowledge creating capacity at the sector level. A central activity under this Action Agenda was dissemination of information relating to industry best practice initiatives in innovation, project delivery and the use of information technology. Government and industry identified project alliance contracting and more advanced information technology as means to increase efficiency in construction as part of a new innovative procurement environment.