Sustaining a Vertically Disintegrated Network through a Bearer Service Market

Based upon the Internet perspective, this chapter will attempt to clarify and revise several ideas about the separation between infrastructure facilities and service offerings in digital communications networks. The key notions that we will focus on in this paper are: i) the bearer service as a technology-independent interface which exports blind network functionality to applications development; ii) the sustainability of an independent market for bearer service and the organizational consequences associated with such a market

Interstate 40 Through North Nashville, Tennessee: A Case Study in Highway Location Decision Making

The purpose of this investigation was to prove that state highway departments are assumed to be technical experts and that this role conception, in fact, enables them to make intuitive political decisions under the guise of technical expertness. The location of Interstate 40 through the black community in North Nashville was used as a case in point. In order to examine the interaction of the various actors involved, the author emphasized selected decision strategies for each and related the theoretical setting to the legislated, hierarchical, and procedural framework in which highway location decisions are actually made. The extent of rationality and comprehensiveness in the decision-making process in this case study was also analyzed in light of rational decision theory. It was found that state highway departments are in a position in which they are free to make incremental, political decisions as well as quantified, technically rational decisions. The author concluded that the local government was the primary beneficiary of an interurban Interstate and should have considerably more influence in routing decisions than is permitted in the existing institutional setting

A Multi-Skilled Approach to Property Maintenance Considering Temporal, Spatial and Resource Constraints

With the continued increase in age of the United States housing and building stock, as well as the continued need to maintain properties across the U.S., the need for timely, cost-optimal maintenance is ever more critical. This paper proposes the application of a mathematical model to aid in the scheduling and assignment of construction and maintenance tasks, considering the multi-skilled workforce. The benefit of this approach is to take advantage of the economies of scale that can be developed using cross-functional skilled workers with varying levels of competence and efficiency. This approach schedules and assigns tasks using data from maintenance task software datasets, using the least-cost, competent worker available for the job while also considering the trade-off between skilled labor cost and travel costs, both in terms of travel wage and vehicle wear and tear. The model is enhanced to include pairing between a mentor and an apprentice, where combined efficiency and pairing costs are considered at the same time as travel costs. Due to the practical nature of this research, a case organization was used and data from that firm was analyzed so that operational insights into the necessity of such a model could be considered. The mathematical backbone of the optimization approach to multi-skilled resource allocation considers the temporal and spatial demands of a geographically dispersed property management program. Actual, as opposed to sample, data allows us to evaluate the real financial implications on the case firm, if such an approach to scheduling is used. The generalization of this data provides excellent fit for a model that can be used to assign the best capable worker to the most cost-efficient task, considering deadlines, priorities and availability. Results of this scheduling approach provide significant cost and resource reductions over the historical firm performance, though practical considerations should temper that expectation. The above approach offers exceptional scalability and adaptability with the continued advancement of algorithm approaches to network-distribution and peer-to-peer work platforms

Investing in Mobility: Freight Transport in the Hudson Region

Proposes a framework for assessing alternative investments in freight rail, highway, and transit capacity that would increase the ability to improve mobility and air quality in the New York metropolitan area

Epidemic-based self-organization in peer-to-peer systems

Steen, M.R. [Promotor]van Tanenbaum, A.S. [Promotor

Tapaustutkimus joukkoliikenteen tasataksasta Helsingin seudulla

Thesis studies flat tariff as potential pricing model for Helsinki Region Transport. Flat tariff is compared to current zone model through financial analysis, user experiences, benchmarking other cities and evaluating effects on least well-off passengers. Thesis utilizes qualitative methods of expert, individual and group interviews and quantitative methods of price elasticity and trip/income analyses. Behavioural effects are recognized through theoretical framework. Results show that flat tariff is realizable but would demand increased subsidies. Experience of fairness relates with losses; if flat tariff is implemented with the current lowest price level, feeling of injustice should not occur. If price increases would be needed, negative emotions of “losers” are stronger than the joy of “winners”. Flat tariff with AB-zone price level would improve transport justice for all users. Flat tariff is not the optimal model to maximize both revenue and usage, unless the behavioural value for simplicity is expected to be high. However, defining the exact value of simplicity would demand further empirical preference studies. Behavioural eco-nomics is relevant framework for tariff planning, and planners need quantitative methods to combine psychological analysis and economical effects of pricing. In conclusion, thesis recommends remaining to zone model, but to lower prices of C- and D-zones in relation to AB-region.Diplomityö tutkii tasatariffia hinnoitteluvaihtoehtona Helsingin seudun liikenteessä. Tariffia verrataan vyöhykkeisiin rahoituksen, käyttäjäkokemusten ja muiden kaupunkien kokemusten kautta sekä arvioidaan vaikutuksia pienituloisille matkustajille. Tutkimus perustuu asiantuntija-, henkilö- ja ryhmähaastatteluiden laadulliseen analyysiin sekä hinta-joustojen ja matkojen kvantitatiiviseen analyysiin. Käyttäytymistaloustieteellisiä vaikutuksia analysoidaan teorian avulla. Tulosten perusteella tasatariffi on toteutettavissa, mutta edellyttää lisäsubventioita. Kokemus oikeudenmukaisuudesta liittyy hinnankorotuksiin; jos tasataksa toteutetaan ilman hinnankorotuksia, epäoikeudenmukaisuuden kokemus ei ole ongelma. Jos osalle käyttäjistä aiheutuu hinnankorotuksia, ”häviäjien” negatiiviset tunteet ovat voimakkaampia kuin “voittajien” tyytyväisyys. Tasatariffi nykyisellä AB-hintatasolla parantaisi liikkumisen oikeudenmukaisuutta kaikille käyttäjille. Tasataksa ei ole optimaalinen malli tulojen ja käytön maksimoimiseksi, ellei yksinkertaisuuden arvo asiakkaalle ole korkea. Yksinkertaisuuden arvon määrittäminen vaatisi kuitenkin empiirisiä preferenssitutkimuksia. Työ osoittaa käyttäytymistaloustieteen keskeisen roolin hinnoittelussa, ja suunnittelijoiden täytyy hallita kvantitatiiviset menetelmät hinnoittelun psykologisten ja taloudellisten vaikutusten analysoimiseksi. Johtopäätöksenä suositellaan pysyttäytymistä vyöhykemallissa ja CD-vyöhykkeiden hintojen laskua

Robotics 2010

Without a doubt, robotics has made an incredible progress over the last decades. The vision of developing, designing and creating technical systems that help humans to achieve hard and complex tasks, has intelligently led to an incredible variety of solutions. There are barely technical fields that could exhibit more interdisciplinary interconnections like robotics. This fact is generated by highly complex challenges imposed by robotic systems, especially the requirement on intelligent and autonomous operation. This book tries to give an insight into the evolutionary process that takes place in robotics. It provides articles covering a wide range of this exciting area. The progress of technical challenges and concepts may illuminate the relationship between developments that seem to be completely different at first sight. The robotics remains an exciting scientific and engineering field. The community looks optimistically ahead and also looks forward for the future challenges and new development

Digital copyright law: exploring the changing interface between copyright and regulation in the digital environment

This thesis seeks to address and clarify the changing interface between copyright law and other forms of regulation in the digital environment, in the context of recorded music. This is in order to explain the problems that rightsholders have had in tackling the issue of unauthorised copyright infringement facilitated by digital technologies. Copyright law is inextricably bound-up with technological developments, but the ‘convergence’ of content into a single digital form was perceived as problematic by rightsholders and was deemed to warrant increased regulation through law. However, the problem is that the reliance on copyright law in the digital environment ignores the other regulatory influences in operation. The use of copyright law in a ‘preventative’ sense also ignores the fact that other regulatory factors may positively encourage users to behave, and consume in ways that may not be directly governed by copyright. The issues digital technologies have posed for rightsholders in the music industry are not addressed, or even potentially addressable directly through law, because the regulatory picture is complex. The work of Lawrence Lessig, in relation to his regulatory ‘modalities’ can be applied in this context in order to identify and understand the other forms of regulation that exist in the digital environment, and which govern user behaviour and consumption. By combining his work with that of other scholars in the field, a bespoke ‘Lessigan’ framework is formulated to address and analyse those other regulatory factors in conjunction with actions undertaken by rightsholders to secure their copyrights in the digital age. The thesis will analyse the effect such reliance on copyright law may have on these regulatory influences, and the creative potential of the digital environment

Not-So Splendid Isolation: an IPE Study of Iranian Sanction Busting

This study analyzes the US sanction regime imposed on the Islamic Republic of Iran. This single case study assesses its weaknesses and shortcomings in order to present a preliminary conclusion of the character of Iranian policies to bust the US sanctions regime. In charting the evolution of the US sanction regime through three distinct waves of sanctions the study highlighted the general shortcomings of the regime. First, the US sanction regime has failed to impose significant costs on Iran. Second, the slow pace of unveiling each new wave of sanctions failed to bring the necessary immediate pressure on Iran. Third, the inability of the US to gain sufficient multilateral support has limited the scope of the sanctions. These failures has allowed the Iranian leadership to construct a viable counterstrategy to bust US sanctions and continue the stalemate over the conflict of an Iranian foreign policy based on supporting Hamas and Hezbollah and the continued secrecy of its nuclear program. The Iranian counterstrategy has been centered on a domestic economic policy of autonomy, the courting of states outside the US sanction regime through the use of its valuable energy resources and the procurement of sanctioned goods through regional third party states