Transit service quality analysis using cluster analysis and decision trees: a step forward to personalized marketing in public transportation

[EN] A transit service quality study based on cluster analysis was performed to extract detailed customer profiles sharing similar appraisals concerning the service. This approach made it possible to detect specific requirements and needs regarding the quality of service and to personalize the marketing strategy. Data from various customer satisfaction surveys conducted by the Transport Consortium of Granada (Spain) were analyzed to distinguish these groups; a decision tree methodology was used to identify the most important service quality attributes influencing passengers overall evaluations. Cluster analysis identified four groups of passengers. Comparisons using decision trees among the overall sample of all users and the different groups of passengers identified by cluster analysis led to the discovery of differences in the key attributes encompassed by perceived quality.The authors also acknowledge the Granada Consorcio de Transportes for making the data set available for this study. Griselda Lopez wishes to express her acknowledgement to the regional ministry of Economy, Innovation and Science of the regional government of Andalusia (Spain) for their scholarship to train teachers and researchers in Deficit Areas. Rocio de Ona wishes to express her acknowledgement to the regional ministry of Economy, Innovation and Science of the regional government of Andalusia (Spain) for the Excellence Research Project denominated "Q-METROBUS-Quality of service indicator for METROpolitan public BUS transport services'', co-funded with Feder.De Oña, J.; De Oña, R.; López-Maldonado, G. (2015). 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A proposal for cost-related and market-oriented train running charges

[EN] This paper examines some key aspects of a charging system for promoting railway transport, including charges reflecting a clear relationship with costs (transparency) and charges reflecting the quality of the infrastructure manager¿s service. Train running charges recover track-related costs and can help to develop a charging system that meets these requirements. To orient train running charges to the market, a method for processing track maintenance and renewal costs is proposed whereby the quality of the service provided by an infrastructure is measured according to its utility to the railway undertaking. To achieve transparency, a single indicator is used for cost planning and the subsequent levying of costs on railway undertakings. The paper includes an example of how proposed train running charges would be calculated according to data from 14 European countries. The example shows that short-distance trains generate the lowest maintenance and renewal costs, followed by long-distance trains and freight trains.This work was supported by the Spanish Ministerio de Fomento [grant number PT-2007-056-05CCPP].Calvo, F.; De Oña, J.; De Oña, R.; López-Maldonado, G.; Garach, L. (2014). A proposal for cost-related and market-oriented train running charges. Transportation Planning and Technology. 37(4):354-372. https://doi.org/10.1080/03081060.2014.897127S354372374Baumgartner, J. P. 2001. “Prices and Costs in the Railway Sector.” Laboratoire d'Intermodalité des Transports et de Planification. École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne. Accessed February 4. http://litep.epfl.ch–2014Calvo, F., and J. de Oña. 2012a. “An Approach to Mark-Ups through Capacity Charges.”Proceedings of the ICE – Transport. Accessed February 4. http://www.icevirtuallibrary.com/content/article/10.1680/tran.11.00050.Calvo, F., & De Oña, J. (2012). Are rail charges connected to costs? Journal of Transport Geography, 22, 28-33. doi:10.1016/j.jtrangeo.2011.11.004Calvo, F., de Oña, J., López, G., Garach, L., & de Oña, R. (2013). Rail track costs management for efficient railway charges. Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers - Transport, 166(6), 325-335. doi:10.1680/tran.11.00001Calvo, F., de Oña, J., & Nash, A. (2007). Proposed Infrastructure Pricing Methodology for Mixed-Use Rail Networks. Transportation Research Record: Journal of the Transportation Research Board, 1995(1), 9-16. doi:10.3141/1995-02CENIT, TIS PT, IWW, and HERRY. 2007. “RailCalc. Calculation of Charges for the Use of Rail Infrastructure.” Prepared for the European Commission Directorate General for Energy and Transport. Accessed February 4. http://ec.europa.eu/transport/rail/legislation/doc/railcalc_discussion_paper_final.pdf.ECMT (European Conference of Ministers of Transport). 2005. “Charges for the Use of Infrastructure in ECMT Railways.” Draft final report. ECMT/CS/CF(2005)1/REV1. Accessed February 4. http://lnweb90.worldbank.org/ECA/Transport.nsf/ECADocByUnid/2CF8BE276F63A37D85256FB20043A05D?Opendocument.EPFL (Ecole Polytechnique Féderale de Lausanne). 2003. “IMPROVERAIL: IMPROVEd Tools for RAILway Capacity and Access Management.” Accessed February 4. http://litep.epfl.ch.Network Rail. 2006. “Usage Costs – Assessment Methodology.” Draft for consultation. Accessed February 4. http://www.networkrail.co.uk/browse%20documents/regulatory%20documents/access%20charges%20reviews/consultations%20on%20future%20charging/variable%20track%20access%20charges/g-%20usage%20costs%20methodology%20sept%2006.pdf.Nyström, B., & Söderholm, P. (2010). Selection of maintenance actions using the analytic hierarchy process (AHP): decision-making in railway infrastructure. Structure and Infrastructure Engineering, 6(4), 467-479. doi:10.1080/15732470801990209ORR (Office of Rail Regulation). 2005. “Revision of Variable Usage and Electrification Asset Usage Charges: Final Report.” Accessed February 4. http://www.rail-reg.gov.uk/upload/pdf/bah_variable-usage-initial-report_jan05.pdf.Quinet, E. (2003). Short term adjustments in rail activity: the limited role of infrastructure charges. Transport Policy, 10(1), 73-79. doi:10.1016/s0967-070x(02)00047-1Thomas, J. 2002. “EU Task Force on Rail Infrastructure Charging: Summary Findings on Best Practice in Marginal Cost Pricing.” IMPRINT-EUROPE. Implementing Reform in Transport. Effective Use of Research on Pricing in Europe. A European Commission-funded Thematic Network (2001–2004). Accessed February 4. www.imprint-eu.org/public/Presentations/imprint3_Thomas.ppt.UIC (International Union of Railways). 2008. “Lasting Infrastructure Cost Benchmarking (LICB).” Summary Report. Accessed February 4. http://www.uic.org/spip.php?article582

Detection of very-high-energy gamma-ray emission from the vicinity of PSR B1706-44 with H.E.S.S

The energetic pulsar PSR B1706-44 and the adjacent supernova remnant (SNR) candidate G 343.1-2.3 were observed by H.E.S.S. during a dedicated observational campaign in 2007. A new source of very-high-energy (VHE; E > 100 GeV) gamma-ray emission, HESS J1708-443, was discovered with its centroid at RA(J2000) = 17h08m10s and Dec(J2000) = -44d21', with a statistical error of 3 arcmin on each axis. The VHE gamma-ray source is significantly more extended than the H.E.S.S. point-spread function, with an intrinsic Gaussian width of 0.29 +/- 0.04 deg. Its energy spectrum can be described by a power law with a photon index Gamma = 2.0 +/- 0.1 (stat) +/- 0.2 (sys). The integral flux measured between 1-10 TeV is ~17% of the Crab Nebula flux in the same energy range. The possible associations with PSR B1706-44 and SNR G343.1-2.3 are discussed.Comment: 4+ pages, 2 figures; v1 submitted to ICRC Proceedings on 15 May 2009; v2 has additional references and minor change

Gamma rays from microquasars Cygnus X-1 and Cygnus X-3

Gamma-ray observations of microquasars at high and very-high energies can provide valuable information of the acceleration processes inside the jets, the jet-environment interaction and the disk-jet coupling. Two high-mass microquasars have been deeply studied to shed light on these aspects: Cygnus X-1 and Cygnus X-3. Both systems display the canonical hard and soft X-ray spectral states of black hole transients, where the radiation is dominated by non-thermal emission from the corona and jets and by thermal emission from the disk, respectively. Here, we report on the detection of Cygnus X-1 above 60 MeV using 7.5 yr of Pass8 Fermi-LAT data, correlated with the hard X-ray state. A hint of orbital flux modulation was also found, as the source is only detected in phases around the compact object superior conjunction. We conclude that the high-energy gamma-ray emission from Cygnus X-1 is most likely associated with jets and its detection allow us to constrain the production site. Moreover, we include in the discussion the final results of a MAGIC long-term campaign on Cygnus X-1 that reaches almost 100 hr of observations at different X-ray states. On the other hand, during summer 2016, Cygnus X-3 underwent a flaring activity period in radio and high-energy gamma rays, similar to the one that led to its detection in the high-energy regime in 2009. MAGIC performed comprehensive follow-up observations for a total of about 70 hr. We discuss our results in a multi-wavelength context.Comment: Proceedings of the 35th International Cosmic Ray Conference (ICRC 2017), Bexco, Busan, Korea (arXiv:1708.05153

Comparative study of Ag nanoparticles incorporation in TiO2 coatings by doping and impregnation techniques

En el presente estudio se incorporan nanopartículas de Ag sintetizadas mediante un proceso coloidal a recubrimientos de SiO2 y TiO2 mediante el dopado de los precursores sol-gel. En otra técnica, los recubrimientos de SiO2 y TiO2 se impregnaron con iones Ag+ para luego producir la foto-reducción. La caracterización de las nanopartículas de Ag se hizo por microscopía electrónica de transmisión (TEM), difracción de rayos X con haz rasante (GXRD) y espectroscopia UV-Visible antes y después de incorporarse a los distintos soles, observando que el estado de oxidación depende del entorno. También se estudiaron recubrimientos con estructura jerarquizada mediante la combinación de las distintas composiciones y se los analizó por TEM, GXRD y degradación fotocatalítica de naranja de metilo. Se observó una intensa actividad fotocatalítica bajo iluminación UV. El factor clave en la eficiencia fotocatalítica de los sistemas de recubrimientos multicapas reside en el estado metálico de las nanopartículas de Ag que pueden reducir la recombinación de los electrones y agujeros foto-generados los cuales incrementan la eficiencia en la transferencia de portadores de carga. La mejor eficiencia fue obtenida para los sistemas SiO2/Ag-TiO2 denso y mesoporoso impregnados y Ag-SiO2/TiO2 mesoporoso dopado.con un porcentaje de degradación 36% mayor que la referencia de los sistemas no dopados. Finalmente se realizaron ensayos bactericidas, revelando una potente actividad bactericida en el caso de las tres cepas estudiadas, notablemente aumentada para todas las muestras dopadas con Ag.In the present study, Ag NPs have been synthesized by colloidal process and incorporated into SiO2 and TiO2 coatings by doping of sol-gel precursors. In other technique, SiO2 and TiO2 films were impregned by Ag+ ions and then they were photoreduced. Ag nanoparticles characterization was carried out through Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM), Grazing X-ray diffraction (GXRD) and UV- visible spectroscopy before and after being combined with the different sols, observing that the oxidation state of Ag NPs depends on the environment. Coatings doped with Ag nanoparticles were also prepared with hierarchical structures built by combining the different composition and analysed by TEM, GXRD and photocatalytic degradation of methyl orange. High photocatalytic efficiency was observed under UV illumination. The key factor in the photocatalytic efficiency of the multilayer coating systems resides in the metallic state of Ag NPs that could reduce the recombination of photo-generated electrons and holes thus increasing the transfer efficiency of the charge carriers. The best efficiency was obtained for SiO2/Ag-TiO2 dense and mesoporous impregnated and Ag-SiO2/TiO2 mesoporous system with a percentage of degradation 36 % higher than the reference of non-doped systems. Finally, bactericide assays were performed, showing a strong bactericide activity over the three strains tested, remarkably increased for all the samples doped with Ag.Fil: Roldan, Maria Virginia. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Rosario. Instituto de Física de Rosario (i); ArgentinaFil: de Oña, P.. Universidad Nacional de Rosario. Facultad de Ciencias Bioquímicas y Farmacéuticas; ArgentinaFil: Castro, Y.. Instituto de Ceramica y Vidrio de Madrid; EspañaFil: Grau, R.. Universidad Nacional de Rosario. Facultad de Ciencias Bioquímicas y Farmacéuticas; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Durán, A.. Instituto de Ceramica y Vidrio de Madrid; EspañaFil: Pellegri, Nora Susana. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Rosario. Instituto de Física de Rosario (i); Argentin

Prospects for Observations of Pulsars and Pulsar Wind Nebulae with CTA

The last few years have seen a revolution in very-high gamma-ray astronomy (VHE; E>100 GeV) driven largely by a new generation of Cherenkov telescopes (namely the H.E.S.S. telescope array, the MAGIC and MAGIC-II large telescopes and the VERITAS telescope array). The Cherenkov Telescope Array (CTA) project foresees a factor of 5 to 10 improvement in sensitivity above 0.1 TeV, extending the accessible energy range to higher energies up to 100 TeV, in the Galactic cut-off regime, and down to a few tens GeV, covering the VHE photon spectrum with good energy and angular resolution. As a result of the fast development of the VHE field, the number of pulsar wind nebulae (PWNe) detected has increased from one PWN in the early '90s to more than two dozen firm candidates today. Also, the low energy threshold achieved and good sensitivity at TeV energies has resulted in the detection of pulsed emission from the Crab Pulsar (or its close environment) opening new and exiting expectations about the pulsed spectra of the high energy pulsars powering PWNe. Here we discuss the physics goals we aim to achieve with CTA on pulsar and PWNe physics evaluating the response of the instrument for different configurations.Comment: accepted for publication in Astroparticle Physic

Progress in Monte Carlo design and optimization of the Cherenkov Telescope Array

The Cherenkov Telescope Array (CTA) will be an instrument covering a wide energy range in very-high-energy (VHE) gamma rays. CTA will include several types of telescopes, in order to optimize the performance over the whole energy range. Both large-scale Monte Carlo (MC) simulations of CTA super-sets (including many different possible CTA layouts as sub-sets) and smaller-scale simulations dedicated to individual aspects were carried out and are on-going. We summarize results of the prior round of large-scale simulations, show where the design has now evolved beyond the conservative assumptions of the prior round and present first results from the on-going new round of MC simulations.Comment: 4 pages, 5 figures. In Proceedings of the 33rd International Cosmic Ray Conference (ICRC2013), Rio de Janeiro (Brazil). All CTA contributions at arXiv:1307.223