Airport Benchmarking The Key Performance Area of Safety

The utility of an airport benchmarking process is widely recognised in a world where competition between airports is becoming a reality. Therefore, there is a need for a broad consensus to establish and construct reliable databases for measuring airport performance and consequently the development and the implementation of even more accurate performance management systems. A wide number of studies that focus on airport benchmarking - but mainly based on economic and productivity performance indicators are done and can be found in the literature. However, there is a lack of studies that focus on the airport performance in a holistic form, set in different areas for a truly global analysis. A Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis (MCDA) approach applied to Safety key performance area from PESA–AGB (Performance Efficiency Support Analysis – Airport Global Benchmarking) model. This model is based on MACBETH (Measuring Attractiveness by a Categorical Based Evaluation Technique) methodology is used to evaluate its impact on the overall performance of three airports; and under two distinct processes, peer and self-benchmarking - along eleven years. The Safety area performance analysis is done describing four case studies, where a selfbenchmarking analysis was conducted for three airports, A, B and C, with distinctive characteristics, each one representing the main Portuguese air infrastructures: Airport A is considered the largest one in terms of number of passenger and movements, related to Lisbon airport; Airport B mainly a Low-Cost Carrier (LCC) and Cargo one, resembling Oporto airport; and finally Airport C, an LCC oriented one with seasonality peaks along the year resembles the Faro airport. The last case study englobes the three airports in a peer-benchmarking analysis. As an important result, it was found that the Safety Performance Area has the greatest weight and therefore is the most important area in relation to airport performance, according to research done considering the opinions of experts. Through the performance analysis, it was found that airports A, B and C have medium to excellent performance in the security area, with a positive evolution in general since 2007 and with worse performances in 2004. The results evidence the importance of this type of evaluation to understand how airports deal with Safety issues and how this key performance area may impact in any benchmarking process, and on the overall evaluation of such complex transport infrastructure too.A utilidade do processo de benchmarking de aeroportos é amplamente reconhecida num mundo onde a competição entre aeroportos se esta a tornar uma realidade cada vez mais presente. Logo há uma necessidade por um consenso mais amplo para estabelecer e construir bases de dados confiáveis para medir a performance de aeroportos e consequentemente o desenvolvimento e implementação de melhores e mais precisos sistemas de gestão da mesma. Existem vários estudos focados na avaliação comparativa, mas sobretudo baseados em fatores económicos e de produtividade. No entanto há uma escassez de estudos focados na performance do aeroporto como um conjunto de áreas que devem ser abordadas numa verdadeira análise global. Por meio de análise multicritério de apoio à decisão (multiple-criteria decision analysis- MCDA), aplicada à área de segurança operacional e no modelo desenvolvido designado por PESA-AGB (Performance Efficiency Support Analysis- Airport Global Benchmarking) por sua vez baseado na metodologia MACBETH (Measuring Attractiveness by a Categorical Based Evaluation Technique) pretende-se avaliar a performance de 3 aeroportos fictícios (O aeroporto A com características semelhantes ao Aeroporto de Lisboa com grande número de movimentos e também considerado o principal aeroporto português, o Aeroporto B, semelhante ao aeroporto do Porto com características próprias de um aeroporto de companhias aéreas de baixo custo e transporte de carga e por último o aeroporto C com semelhanças ao aeroporto de Faro, marcado pela sazonalidade da sua procura) e em dois processos distintos, numa análise comparativa por grupos de aeroportos pertencentes ao mesmo grupo, e numa análise comparativa de cada aeroporto ao longo de um período de 11 anos. A performance da área de segurança é feita comparando classificações obtidas entre os aeroportos (peer-benchmarking) e através dos resultados obtidos por cada aeroporto nos últimos anos (self-benchmarking), demonstrando-se assim a utilidade e flexibilidade da ferramenta para os agentes com interesses ligados à infraestrutura aeroportuária. Como um importante resultado constatou-se que a Área de Desempenho de Segurança tem o maior peso e, portanto, é a área mais importante em relação ao desempenho do aeroporto, de acordo com a pesquisa feita levando em conta as opiniões dos especialistas. Os acidentes em pista como indicador de performance de segurança ocupam o lugar de maior importância e maior peso dentro dos indicadores de performance de segurança. Através da análise da performance constatou-se que os aeroportos A, B e C têm desempenho médio a excelente na área de segurança com uma evolução positiva de uma maneira geral a partir de 2007 e com piores performances no ano de 2004. Como outputs do modelo utilizado encontraram se medidas que permitem a análise de performance na área de Segurança. Com este tipo de avaliação deverá ser possível um melhor entendimento de como os aeroportos, infraestruturas de grande complexidade, lidam com as questões de segurança num processo de análise comparativa

Methods for the automatic alignment of colour histograms

Colour provides important information in many image processing tasks such as object identification and tracking. Different images of the same object frequently yield different colour values due to undesired variations in lighting and the camera. In practice, controlling the source of these fluctuations is difficult, uneconomical or even impossible in a particular imaging environment. This thesis is concerned with the question of how to best align the corresponding clusters of colour histograms to reduce or remove the effect of these undesired variations. We introduce feature based histogram alignment (FBHA) algorithms that enable flexible alignment transformations to be applied. The FBHA approach has three steps, 1) feature detection in the colour histograms, 2) feature association and 3) feature alignment. We investigate the choices for these three steps on two colour databases : 1) a structured and labeled database of RGB imagery acquired under controlled camera, lighting and object variation and 2) grey-level video streams from an industrial inspection application. The design and acquisition of the RGB image and grey-level video databases are a key contribution of the thesis. The databases are used to quantitatively compare the FBHA approach against existing methodologies and show it to be effective. FBHA is intended to provide a generic method for aligning colour histograms, it only uses information from the histograms and therefore ignores spatial information in the image. Spatial information and other context sensitive cues are deliberately avoided to maintain the generic nature of the algorithm; by ignoring some of this important information we gain useful insights into the performance limits of a colour alignment algorithm that works from the colour histogram alone, this helps understand the limits of a generic approach to colour alignment

Air Transport Performance and Global Decision Analysis

Since the beginning of aviation, airports have played a pivotal role in Aeronautical Engineering. The airport concept has changed a lot over the past century from small airfields to international hubs. These airport infrastructures have played a significant role in the economic development of the regions they operate. The emergence of the airport city concept as a new successful organisational model suggests that any infrastructure of this kind to be competitive should adopt it. With all its inputs and outputs, the airport industry significantly influences the global economy. The balance between the public interest in general, shareholders, and airport operators must seek to be reconciled. I was investigated how it would be possible to determine whether an airport would have the expected impact on the economy at different scales. Those scales could be that of a continent, a country, a region, or even a city and establish the decision criteria for building (or not) new airport infrastructures and making improvements (or not) in them. Searching for tools that would allow an appropriate evaluation of the management processes of an airport, the measurement of the position of the airport compared to its counterparts (benchmarking) is essential. However, the complexity of the models used makes this tool unfriendly for airport administration. Apart from that, the essential focus of this type of study is the land side of the airport. Nevertheless, there are other types of studies for evaluating the performance of airport processes. Still, these are also complex and do not involve all operational, financial and agent components near the airport. The studies review reinforces the idea that a global analytical tool is essential to find the global perspective (airside, landside, and agents) of any airport's performance beyond the challenges that will be put to them soon and a complete benchmark of direct competitors. The construction of a new methodology requires that airport, land, and airside infrastructures be considered, and agents near the airport, customers, shareholders and airport operators. Thus, a well-founded analysis for a Global Decision Analysis (GDA) incorporates all the infrastructure stakeholders' interconnections in a single tool. GDA is, therefore, friendlier to stakeholders given the management and optimization of decisions based on an analysis system based on the MACBETH multi-criteria methodology, the PESA-AGB. This tool was built and applied to an airport with dimensions identical to Lisbon airport, demonstrating and comparing the evolution of performance and efficiency over 11 years from 2003 to 2013 by six key performance areas of the airport and the respective key performance indicators. The development of an airport efficiency tag for each year of assessment was implemented. An APE-Label implementation, applied to any airport, is presented, and discussed in this study regardless of its size and location. The main obstacle to implementing this APE-Label is the heterogeneity of the airport infrastructure since it differs in the number of runways for public, private or even public-private property, among others. However, with the PESA-AGB methodology, it was possible to mitigate this factor. The main proposal is to provide a graphical APE-Label that informs all interested parties which infrastructure assessment is analysed across the six key performance areas each year that will help to maximize performance and efficiency standards. For the airport case study, a self-benchmarking analysis was carried out for the airport's study with distinctive characteristics representing the central Portuguese air infrastructure. The airport in study is considered the largest in terms of passengers, movements and cargo and is associated with Lisbon airport. Finally, the results of PESA-AGB and GDA have been presented in two visual analysis panels. The dashboards and the GDA report and recommendation are prepared.Desde o início da aviação que os aeroportos detêm um papel fulcral na Engenharia Aeronáutica. O conceito de aeroporto modificou-se muito durante o último século passando de pequenos aeródromos para “hubs” internacionais. Assim estas infraestruturas aeroportuárias têm vindo a assumir um papel muito importante no que diz respeito ao desenvolvimento económico das regiões em que se inserem. O surgimento do conceito de cidade aeroporto, como um novo modelo organizacional de sucesso, sugere que para qualquer infraestrutura do género ser competitiva o deve adotar. A indústria aeroportuária, com todos os seus “inputs” e “outputs”, tem uma grande influência na economia global e os equilíbrios entre o interesse público em geral, os acionistas em particular, os operadores aeroportuários devem procurar ser conciliados. Esta investigação procurou determinar se um aeroporto teria o impacto esperado na economia em diferentes escalas, nomeadamente à de um continente, um país, uma região ou mesmo uma cidade, para poder estabelecer quais os critérios de decisão para a construção de novas infraestruturas aeroportuárias assim como para efetuar melhorias nas mesmas. Na procura de ferramentas que permitissem uma avaliação apropriada dos processos de gestão de um aeroporto, a aferição da posição do aeroporto comparativamente aos seus congéneres (benchmarking) surgiu como essencial. No entanto, a complexidade dos modelos conhecidos em utilização torna as ferramentas pouco amigáveis para a administração aeroportuária, para além de que, o foco essencial deste tipo de estudos é o lado terra do aeroporto. Existem outros tipos de estudos para a avaliação do desempenho dos processos aeroportuários, mas, também estes são complexos e não envolvem todas as componentes operacionais, financeiras e dos agentes na vizinhança do aeroporto. A construção de uma nova metodologia impõe que se tenha em consideração as infraestruturas aeroportuárias, lado terra e lado ar, os clientes, os acionistas e os operadores aeroportuários. Assim, uma análise bem fundamentada para uma decisão a nível global - o Global Decision Analysis (GDA), incorpora numa só ferramenta todas as interligações entre todos os intervenientes da infraestrutura. O GDA é, pois, mais amigável para os stakeholders tendo em vista a gestão e otimização das decisões baseado em um sistema de análise com base na metodologia multicritério MACBETH - o Performance and Efficiency Support Analysis for Airport Global Benchmarking (PESA-AGB), que foi construído e aplicado a um aeroporto com dimensões idênticas às do aeroporto de Lisboa, demonstrando e comparando a evolução do desempenho e eficiência ao longo de 11 anos pelo período de 2003 a 2013 por 6 áreas chave de desempenho do aeroporto e os respetivos indicadores chave de desempenho. Neste estudo, é apresentada e discutida uma implementação da Etiqueta Airport Performance and Efficiency Label (APE-Label), aplicada a qualquer aeroporto, independentemente de seu tamanho e localização. O principal obstáculo à implementação deste APE-Label é a heterogeneidade da infraestrutura aeroportuária, uma vez que esta difere no número de pistas para a propriedade publica, privada ou mesmo público-privada, entre outros. A principal proposta é fornecer uma APE-Label gráfica que informe a todos as partes interessadas qual é a avaliação da infraestrutura analisada através das seis áreas-chave de desempenho em cada ano que ajudarão a maximizar os padrões de desempenho e eficiência. Para o caso de estudo, foi realizada uma análise de self-benchmarking para o aeroporto 1 com características especificas e um aeroporto internacional com as valências de carga e Low Cost Carriers (LCC), representando a principal infraestrutura aérea portuguesa. O aeroporto 1 é considerado o maior em termos de número de passageiros, movimentos e carga e está associado ao aeroporto de Lisboa. Por fim, são apresentados em dois painéis de análise visual os resultados do PESA-AGB e do GDA

Expanding Dimensionality in Cinema Color: Impacting Observer Metamerism through Multiprimary Display

Television and cinema display are both trending towards greater ranges and saturation of reproduced colors made possible by near-monochromatic RGB illumination technologies. Through current broadcast and digital cinema standards work, system designs employing laser light sources, narrow-band LED, quantum dots and others are being actively endorsed in promotion of Wide Color Gamut (WCG). Despite artistic benefits brought to creative content producers, spectrally selective excitations of naturally different human color response functions exacerbate variability of observer experience. An exaggerated variation in color-sensing is explicitly counter to the exhaustive controls and calibrations employed in modern motion picture pipelines. Further, singular standard observer summaries of human color vision such as found in the CIE’s 1931 and 1964 color matching functions and used extensively in motion picture color management are deficient in recognizing expected human vision variability. Many researchers have confirmed the magnitude of observer metamerism in color matching in both uniform colors and imagery but few have shown explicit color management with an aim of minimized difference in observer perception variability. This research shows that not only can observer metamerism influences be quantitatively predicted and confirmed psychophysically but that intentionally engineered multiprimary displays employing more than three primaries can offer increased color gamut with drastically improved consistency of experience. To this end, a seven-channel prototype display has been constructed based on observer metamerism models and color difference indices derived from the latest color vision demographic research. This display has been further proven in forced-choice paired comparison tests to deliver superior color matching to reference stimuli versus both contemporary standard RGB cinema projection and recently ratified standard laser projection across a large population of color-normal observers

A new rough ordinal priority-based decision support system for purchasing electric vehicles.

This study proposes a novel multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) model based on a rough extension of the Ordinal Priority Approach (OPA) to determine the order of importance of users' perspectives on Electric Vehicle (EV) purchases. Unlike conventional methods that rely on predefined ranks for criteria weighting coefficients, the proposed rough OPA method employs an aggregated rough linguistic matrix, enabling a more precise and unbiased calculation of interval values. Moreover, the model addresses inherent uncertainties by incorporating nonlinear aggregation functions, accommodating decision makers' risk attitudes for flexible decision-making. To validate the model's efficacy, a large-scale post-EV test drive survey is conducted, enabling the determination of relative criterion importance. Sensitivity analysis confirms the robustness of the model, demonstrating that marginal changes in parameters do not alter the ranking order. The results unveil the significance of the reliability criterion and reveal that vehicle-related characteristics outweigh economic and environmental attributes in the decision-making process. Overall, this innovative MCDM model contributes to a more accurate and objective analysis, enhancing the understanding of users' preferences and supporting informed decision-making in EV purchases

Multiple criteria decision analysis for assessing the value of new medical technologies: researching, developing and applying a new value framework for the purpose of health technology assessment

Introduction: Current evaluation approaches for new medical technologies are problematic for a plethora of reasons relating to measuring their expected costs and consequences, but also due to hurdles in turning assessed information into coverage decisions. Most adopted methodologies focus on a limited number of value dimensions, despite the fact that the value of new medicines is multi-dimensional in nature. Explicit elicitation of social value tradeoffs is not possible and decision-makers may adopt intuitive or heuristic modes for simplification purposes, based on ad hoc procedures that might lead to arbitrary decisions. Objectives: The objective of the present thesis is to develop and empirically test a methodological framework that can be used to assess the overall value of new medical technologies by explicitly capturing multiple aspects of value while allowing for their tradeoffs, through the incorporation of decision-makers’ preferences in a structured and transparent way. The research hypothesis is that Multiple Criteria Decision Analysis (MCDA) can provide a methodological option for the evaluation of new medicines in the context of Health Technology Assessment (HTA), to support decision-making and contribute to more efficient resource allocation. Methods and Empirical Evidence: The first paper proposes a conceptual methodological process, based on multi-attribute value theory (MAVT) methods comprising five distinct phases, outlining the stages involved in each phase and discusses their relevance in the HTA context. The second paper conducts a systematic literature review and expert consultation in order to investigate the practices, processes and policies of value-assessment for new medicines across eight European countries and identifies the evaluation criteria employed and how these inform coverage recommendations as part of HTA. The third paper develops a MAVT value framework for HTA, incorporating a generic value tree for new medicines composed from different levels of criteria that fall under five value domains (i.e. therapeutic, safety, burden of disease, innovation and socio-economic), together with a selection of scoring, weighting and aggregating techniques. In the fourth and fifth papers, the value framework is tested empirically by conducting two real-world case studies: in the first, the value tree is adapted for the evaluation of second-line biological treatments for metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC) patients having received prior oxaliplatin-based chemotherapy; in the second, the value tree is conditioned for the evaluation of third-line treatments for metastatic castrate resistant prostate cancer (mCRPC) patients having received prior docetaxel chemotherapy. Both case studies were informed by decision conferences with relevant expert panels. In the mCRC decision conference multiple stakeholders participated reflecting the composition of the English National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) technology appraisal committees, whereas in the mCRPC decision conference a group of evaluators participated from the Swedish Dental and Pharmaceutical Benefits Agency (TLV), thereby adopting the TLV decision-making perspective. Policy Implications: The value scores produced from the MCDA process reflect a more comprehensive benefit metric that embeds the preferences of stakeholders and decisionsmakers across a number of explicit evaluation criteria. The incorporation of alternative treatments’ purchasing costs can then be used to derive incremental cost value ratios based on which the treatments can be ranked on ‘value-for-money’ grounds, reflecting their incremental cost relative to incremental value. Conclusion: The MCDA value framework developed can aid HTA decision-makers by allowing them to explicitly consider multiple criteria and their relative importance, enabling them to understand and incorporate their own preferences and value trade-offs in a constructed and transparent way. It can be turned into a flexible decision tool for resource allocation purposes in the coverage of new medicines by payers but could also be adapted for other decision-making contexts along their development, regulation and use

Evaluation of Metaverse Traffic Safety Implementations using fuzzy Einstein based logarithmic methodology of additive weights and TOPSIS method

As the Metaverse’s popularity grows, its effect on everyday problems is beginning to be discussed. The upcoming Metaverse world will influence the transportation system as cross-border lines blur due to rapid globalization. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the capabilities of the Metaverse and its alternatives to traffic safety, as well as to prioritize its advantages. The case study is based on a densely populated metropolis with an extensive education system. The city’s decision-makers will have to weigh the pros and cons of the Metaverse’s effect on traffic safety. To illustrate the complex forces that drive the decision-making process in traffic safety, we create a case study with four alternatives to Metaverse’s integration into the traffic system. Alternatives are evaluated using twelve criteria that reflect the decision problem’s rules and regulations, technology, socioeconomic, and traffic aspects. In this study, fuzzy Einstein based logarithmic methodology of additive weights (LMAW) is applied to calculate the weights of the criteria. We present a new framework that combines Einstein norms and the Technique for Order of Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution (TOPSIS) method to rank the alternatives. The findings of this study show that public transportation is the most appropriate area for implementing the Metaverse into traffic safety because of its practical opportunities and broad usage area

Behavioral Operations Management in Federal Governance

The environmental uncertainty of federal politics and acquisition outsourcing in competitive markets requires an adaptive decision-analysis structure. Practitioners oriented toward exclusively static methods face severe challenges in understanding qualitative aspects of organizational governance. The purpose of this grounded theory study was to examine and understand behavioral relationship attributes within intuitive, choice, judgment, or preference decision-making processes. The problem addressed in this study was the detrimental effects of organizational citizenship behavior (OCB), compulsory citizenship behavior (CCB), and social exchange theory (SET) on the acquisition management relationship The OCB, CCB, SET dictates that sound business development, relationship acumen, emotional intelligence and perceptiveness transcend pure numerical quantification. Exhibition of relationship-based attributes influence and drive long-term contractual relationships and the sustainability of business organizations. The data collected included historical data and survey responses. Approximately 34,000 acquisition professionals comprised the population-sampling frame. The study sample consisted of 378 survey responses that yielded 294 qualifying respondents with 94 disqualifications that produced a 78% response rate. The Carnegie-Mellon behavioral survey guidelines underpinned questionnaire construction and affirmation of themes. Strauss and Corbin grounded theory and theme generation addressed behavioral decision making under the additive model that inform the development of an organizational social operations and business framework that accounts for intuitive judgment. The study may contribute to positive social change by orienting managers toward behavioral decision making, ensuring responsiveness to the public and federal governanc