1,437 research outputs found
Analysis of Financing Options for Transportation
This paper reviews and analyzes various innovative Financing techniques for highway and transit. With federal support diminishing and transportation needs growing, agencies are seeking new ways to meet this crisis. The techniques discussed fall into the four broad categories of: (1) charges on benefiting properties; (2) joint venture approaches; (3) user charges; and (4) marketing and merchandising approaches. Charges on benefiting properties recognize that there are specific beneficiaries who gain from transportation improvements and include: connector fees, negotiated investments, special benefit assessment, tax increment financing and impact requirements. Joint ventures with the private sector recognize that it is mutually advantageous for public and private sectors to cooperate on transportation projects and include the techniques of land/air rights leasing, donations for capital improvements and cost sharing. User charges are intended as direct payments for services rendered and are classified as motor vehicle taxes and fees, tolls, commercial parking taxes and taxes on motor fuels. Marketing and merchandising approaches include advertising and merchandising. None of the techniques are a panacea for transportation finance but where appropriate conditions exist, they can be effectively used to finance the growing transportation needs of our natio
Experiments on Roll Waves in Air-Water Pipe Flow
Experiments on air-water two phase flow in inclined pipes have been made, with emphasis on the roll wave regime. The motivation for the work is the improving of 1D flow models for multiphase pipeline transport of oil and gas mixtures. Pressure and liquid fractions are recorded in time, together with video recordings. The results show that large amplitude roll waves have associated pressure jumps across the fronts. Some implications for the flow modelling are discussed
Discriminatory language in the workplace: unmasking prejudices and stereotypes
The link between language, communication and open discrimination has been the focus of numerous studies. For many years, language has been a vehicle of prejudice and negative stereotypes. However, in the last few years, overt verbal aggressions have diminished thanks to the implementation of equality policies and awareness-raising initiatives. Despite that, negative attitudes against protected groups might not have disappeared and may instead be transmitted subtly, such as through uncivil language. The goal of this research is to study the relation between language and subtle discrimination against lesbian and gay (LG) workers. With this goal in mind, 39 in-depth interviews were conducted. The analysis showed that LG people are victims of subtle discrimination and that language is one of the most common vehicles of prejudice and negative stereotypes. Jokes, inappropriate comments and questions are the expression of negative attitudes, which are probably present at an implicit level. Due to the ambiguity of these expressions and the settings where they have been studied — the workplace — these acts could be defined as uncivil behaviours. Practical implications, limitations and directions for future research are discussed.info:eu-repo/semantics/acceptedVersio
Time-averaged MSD of Brownian motion
We study the statistical properties of the time-averaged mean-square
displacements (TAMSD). This is a standard non-local quadratic functional for
inferring the diffusion coefficient from an individual random trajectory of a
diffusing tracer in single-particle tracking experiments. For Brownian motion,
we derive an exact formula for the Laplace transform of the probability density
of the TAMSD by mapping the original problem onto chains of coupled harmonic
oscillators. From this formula, we deduce the first four cumulant moments of
the TAMSD, the asymptotic behavior of the probability density and its accurate
approximation by a generalized Gamma distribution
Generalized Master Equations for Non-Poisson Dynamics on Networks
The traditional way of studying temporal networks is to aggregate the
dynamics of the edges to create a static weighted network. This implicitly
assumes that the edges are governed by Poisson processes, which is not
typically the case in empirical temporal networks. Consequently, we examine the
effects of non-Poisson inter-event statistics on the dynamics of edges, and we
apply the concept of a generalized master equation to the study of
continuous-time random walks on networks. We show that the equation reduces to
the standard rate equations when the underlying process is Poisson and that the
stationary solution is determined by an effective transition matrix whose
leading eigenvector is easy to calculate. We discuss the implications of our
work for dynamical processes on temporal networks and for the construction of
network diagnostics that take into account their nontrivial stochastic nature
The effect of discrete vs. continuous-valued ratings on reputation and ranking systems
When users rate objects, a sophisticated algorithm that takes into account
ability or reputation may produce a fairer or more accurate aggregation of
ratings than the straightforward arithmetic average. Recently a number of
authors have proposed different co-determination algorithms where estimates of
user and object reputation are refined iteratively together, permitting
accurate measures of both to be derived directly from the rating data. However,
simulations demonstrating these methods' efficacy assumed a continuum of rating
values, consistent with typical physical modelling practice, whereas in most
actual rating systems only a limited range of discrete values (such as a 5-star
system) is employed. We perform a comparative test of several co-determination
algorithms with different scales of discrete ratings and show that this
seemingly minor modification in fact has a significant impact on algorithms'
performance. Paradoxically, where rating resolution is low, increased noise in
users' ratings may even improve the overall performance of the system.Comment: 6 pages, 2 figure
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