Problems With Organising Agglomeration Passenger Transport Network – The Case of Warsaw Agglomeration

The main achievement of the research was to present the problems of accessing public transport in Warsaw agglomeration. The case study of Sulejówek shows that there are a lot of difficulties with the regional transport network. On the one hand there are organisation issues as inefficient or luck of support of train transport and, on the other hand, bad quality of local roads. Nevertheless, the simulation presents that it is possible to organise bus lines which allow inhabitants the access to the local train stations. The next step of the research would be creating timetables for both presented solutions in combination with train timetables and choosing the optimal option for implementation. This kind of research could be the recommendations for local authorities which are in charge of public transport issues. If both modes of transport are covered by one common ticket, the whole system would operate on effective and high level

Seaport efficiency and productivity based on Data Envelopment Analysis and Malmquist Productivity Index

"jats:p" Seaport efficiency and productivity are the critical factors for handling of goods in the international supply chains and plays an important role in trade exchange with other countries. It is important to evaluate efficiency and productivity of seaports to reflect their status and reveal their position in competitive environment. The main purpose of this article is to use Data Envelopment Analysis and Malmquist Productivity Index to measure the technical efficiency and total factor productivity of container ports. DEA analysis enables one to assess how efficiently a seaports uses the available inputs to generate a set of outputs relative to other units in the data set. This article presents the use CCR and BCC DEA model, to determine overall technical efficiency, pure technical efficiency and scale efficiency of container ports. The analysis gives a possibility to create a efficiency ranking of seaports. The study also applies the Malmquist Productivity Index (MPI), which was used to analyze changes in seaports productivity. The study indicated that technological progress had a greater impact on the change in productivity of container ports than changes in technical efficiency. Document type: Articl

Economic and environmental aspects of inland transport in EU countries

Transport is one of the most essential sectors of the EU member state economies. Measurement of the efficiency of transport operations seems to be interesting from the perspective of both the economy as a whole and individual companies operating in the transport sector. The largest proportion of freight transport in the European Union is done by road. The purpose of this paper is to determine the efficiency of road and rail freight transport in old and new European Union countries based on the data envelopment analysis (DEA) method. To that end, the authors present a literature review reflecting the current state of research on the importance of transport and its development in relation to the economy and environmental problems. Additionally, the methods of data analysis and variables are described. The empirical part is divided into a presentation of DEA results and correlation between the transport efficiency, gross domestic product (GDP), and CO 2 emissions results. Moreover, spatial analysis was used to characterize road and rail transport efficiency in EU member states. The last section gives a summary of the study, and the obtained results are compared with data from the literature revie

Determining Factors of Logistics Centres Development in Poland

This study aims to evaluate the possibility of development of logistics centres (LCs) in Poland. Currently in Poland (2015) there are 4 LCs which meet European requirements and standards. The supply of warehouse space in Poland is catered mainly by developers building numerous storage facilities. Very often, however, they are incorrectly called "logistic centres". The paper presents the most significant differences between LCs and storage centres. The authors assessed the potential location of LCs in Poland using a grading point method. Three groups of location have been thoroughly characterized and identified where, from the location and economics point of view, is the best to develop an LC

Antarctic fur seal (Arctocephalus gazella) annual migration and temporal patterns of on-shore occurrence of leucistic individuals on King George Island.

Non-invasive tracking the on-shore occurrence of the atypically pigmented animals and determination of land residency duration of leucistic seals would help us find out more about the rotation of the migrating population. During seven austral summer seasons (2011–2018), by counting the animals every 10 days at the Cape Lions Rump shore, King George Island, South Shetlands, in the Antarctic Specially Protected Area No. 151 and the adjacent ice-free land (31.52 km2) we registered fourteen leucistic individuals per a total of 43,919 animals. Moreover, daily monitoring of local fauna resulted in further 33 leucistic animals (together 47, in all seasons). Whilst the results of 10-day censuses of the total population were similar inter-seasonally, a tendency for increased occurrence of leucistic individuals in successive seasons was revealed. Generally, the number of animals increased significantly as season progressed. Since leucistic individuals stayed on-shore for 1–2 days usually, it can be hypothesised that the observation of migrating Antarctic fur seals every 3 days does not involve the same individuals. Also, additional every 5-day censuses taken in one season in ASPA 151 resulted in a higher seasonal number of animals, which proves that more frequent counts help us estimate population abundance more efficiently. Thus, every 5-day counts are proposed as a feasible and justified method of population monitoring

How Useful Are Existing Protocols in the Quick Assessment of the Welfare of Semi-Feral Horses? Pilot Study on Konik Polski Horses Living in the Forest Sanctuary

Scientifically validated and standardised methods for the evaluation of the welfare of free-living horses are urgently needed by both the owners and managers of these populations and those responsible for implementing national welfare legislation. The aim of the study was to test the feasibility and usefulness of two welfare protocols that could be applied to semi-feral populations: a prototype of welfare assessment template (WAT) for Carneddau semi-feral ponies and the IFCE/INRAE Horse Welfare Protocol. Additionally, the body condition scale designed by Henneke (BCS-H) was employed. The study took place in July/August 2022 and April 2023 to evaluate the welfare of a pilot population of nineteen semi-feral Konik polski horses. The horses scored high or satisfactory under indicators across both protocols; only body condition scores were significantly lower in early spring (BCS-WAT: 1.11 ± 0.57; BCS-H: 3.84 ± 1.17) than in the summer (BCS-WAT: 1.58 ± 0.61; BCS-H: 5.63 ± 1.01). Our study confirmed the feasibility of utilising most of the WAT and IFCE/INRAE welfare indicators in semi-feral horses. Some adaptations, such as considering validation of scales, positive welfare indicators and animals’ free-choice of conditions, have been suggested for future in-field application

Heterospecific Fear and Avoidance Behaviour in Domestic Horses (Equus caballus)

Ridden horses have been reported to be fearful of cows. We tested whether cows could provoke behavioural and cardiac fear responses in horses, and whether these responses differ in magnitude to those shown to other potential dangers. Twenty horses were exposed to cow, a mobile object or no object. The time spent at different distances from the stimulus was measured. In a separate test, heart rate (HR), root mean square of successive differences between heartbeats (RMSSD) and the horses’ perceived fear were assessed at various distances from the stimuli. The horses avoided the area nearest to all stimuli. During hand‐leading, the cow elicited the highest HR and lowest RMSSD. Led horses’ responses to the cow and box were rated as more fearful as the distance to the stimulus decreased. Mares had a higher HR than geldings across all tests. HR positively correlated with the fearfulness rating at the furthest distance from the cow and box, and RMSSD negatively correlated with this rating in cow and control conditions. Our results show that these horses’ avoidance response to cows was similar or higher to that shown towards a novel moving object, demonstrating that potentially, both neophobia and heterospecific communication play a role in this reaction

Conflict Behavior in Show Jumping Horses: A Field Study

peer-reviewedThe study objective was to determine if there was a relationship between behavioral and physiological stress measures in sport horses and their performance. Nineteen horses competed in show jumping events (6 housed at the center and 13 transported), while 5 horses at home training served as controls. The competition horses were assigned to “light” (obstacles ≤100 cm) and “difficult” class (obstacles >100 cm). The conflict behaviors (CBs/min) in two rounds were calculated. Total faults were classified as “less faults” (≤one fault) or “more faults” (>one fault). Salivary cortisol concentration (SCC) before the first round (SCC-SP1), 20 minutes (SCC-SP2), and 60 minutes after the second round (SCC-SP3) was measured. The increase (SCC-in) and decrease (SCC-dec) in SCC were calculated. No effect of competition was found. Horses that waited longer for the second round had greater CB (P < .05). Conflict behavior was more frequent in horses from the “more faults” (P = .05) and “difficult” (a tendency; P = .06) classes. No correlation of CB with SCC was found. SCC-SP2 was greater in “more faults” (P < .01) and “transported” (P < .01) horses. Competition increased the SCC (P < .05), whereas SCC-SP2 was greater in less successful horses (P < .05). Transported horses and horses with more faults had the greatest SCC-SP2 and SCC-dec (P < .05). Our results suggest that horses which presented stress response were also less successful in competition. The adoption of effective methods to reduce transport and competition stress could enhance welfare and performance of sport horses during competition

Correction: Wiśniewska et al. Heterospecific Fear and Avoidance Behaviour in Domestic Horses (<i>Equus caballus</i>). <i>Animals</i> 2021, <i>11</i>, 3081.

From Europe PMC via Jisc Publications RouterHistory: ppub 2022-08-01, epub 2022-08-10Publication status: PublishedThe authors wish to make the following correction to this paper [...]