Automatic Speech Recognition in Air Traffic Control: a Human Factors Perspective

The introduction of Automatic Speech Recognition (ASR) technology into the Air Traffic Control (ATC) system has the potential to improve overall safety and efficiency. However, because ASR technology is inherently a part of the man-machine interface between the user and the system, the human factors issues involved must be addressed. Here, some of the human factors problems are identified and related methods of investigation are presented. Research at M.I.T.'s Flight Transportation Laboratory is being conducted from a human factors perspective, focusing on intelligent parser design, presentation of feedback, error correction strategy design, and optimal choice of input modalities

Automatic speech recognition in air traffic control

Automatic Speech Recognition (ASR) technology and its application to the Air Traffic Control system are described. The advantages of applying ASR to Air Traffic Control, as well as criteria for choosing a suitable ASR system are presented. Results from previous research and directions for future work at the Flight Transportation Laboratory are outlined

Incidence of ticket taxes and fees in United States domestic air travel

The United States is currently witnessing a vigorous debate on public funding of air transportation and the role of taxes and fees levied on airline tickets. Yet, there is remarkably little economic literature on taxation in the U.S. airline industry. Analysis of a large sample of tickets for travel in the continental United States shows that the effective tax rate has increased from 11% in 1993 to 16% in 2005. While the tax structure and levels have changed over time, this increase is largely due to a historical decline. The theory of tax incidence asserts that economic incidence is a function of price elasticity and market power and is independent of statutory incidence. The U.S. ticket tax structure is a mixed policy of ad valorem and unit taxes. Under perfect competition, the incidence of these two types of taxes is identical. The incidence is bounded by the two extremes of the tax burden being shifted entirely onto the producer or entirely on the consumer. Under imperfect competition, incidence of the unit tax and that of the ad valorem tax need not be identical and overshifting is possible. Empirical analysis of variations in the ad valorem and unit taxes for United States domestic air travel during the 1994-1997 and 2002-2005 periods indicates that the burden of the ad valorem tax is shared by consumers and producers. For the same periods, there is weak evidence of overshifting of the unit tax. The empirical analysis is hindered by the multiplier effect of ad valorem taxes, the lack of simultaneous variation in the ad valorem tax rate and unit taxes, the functional relationship between the two types of taxes, and a number of political and institutional details inherent to the airline industry which are difficult to capture in an econometric model

Exceptional geometry and tensor fields

We present a tensor calculus for exceptional generalised geometry. Expressions for connections, torsion and curvature are given a unified formulation for different exceptional groups E_n(n). We then consider "tensor gauge fields" coupled to the exceptional generalised gravity. Many of the properties of forms on manifolds are carried over to these fields.Comment: 22 pp., plain tex. v3: improved reference

The integration of automatic speech recognition into the air traffic control system

Thesis (M.S.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Aeronautics and Astronautics, 1990.Includes bibliographical references (leaves 89-94).by Joakim Karlsson.M.S

Deltagande i e-demokratier - en fallstudie av Malmö- och Eskilstuna kommun

While democracies have existed in various forms for quite some time, e-democracies have only recently begun to surface all around the world. While „democracy‟ is still at the core, exactly what e-democracies entail is to some extent uncertain. In this thesis I explore e-democracies by applying a theoretical model on two cases, Eskilstuna and Malmö. By constructing a model with inspirations from some of the biggest names in political science, as well as insights from research on e-democracy, I am able to analyze e-democracy in the light of participation. The results show that e-democracies are not necessarily more inclusive to participation, even though certain channels do appear to foster participation in a relatively effective way. The thesis uses a theory-consuming case study to approach the subject. The concept of democracy, as well as e-democracy, is examined, before a model is constructed based on the insights that are discussed. The empirical data is then presented with a brief overview of the two cases and general information about types of e-democracy-channels. Thereafter an analysis is conducted in several steps, before the thesis leaps on to its conclusion. In the last part of the thesis, suggested ideas for further inquiry is put forward

Розвиток музичної освіти у період середньовіччя та відродження

У статті обґрунтовано ставлення і розвиток музичної освіти у період Середньовіччя та Відродження, застосування музики як засобу естетичного виховання молоді.It has been grounded the development of musical education at the period of middle ages and the Renaissance, the usage of music as the means of aesthetical upbringing of the youth. The leading place is devoted to the choral, instrumental and vocal genres, musical-enlightming activity off the composers and the singers. The teachers of high educational institutions of different types which had influenced cultural-national Renaissance and awakening of the peoples consciousness. Besides the author has proposed the methods and the ways of mastering the peculiarities of the musical art by the pupils of mass secondary educational institutions and the methods of forming of musical culture of different social strata

Psychometric properties of the disease-specific health-related quality of life instrument VascuQoL in a Swedish setting

Background: Traditional outcome measures in peripheral arterial disease (PAD) provide insufficient information regarding patient benefit. It has therefore been suggested to add patient-reported outcome measures. The main aim of this study was to validate the Swedish Vascular Quality of Life questionnaire (VascuQoL) version, a patient-reported PAD-specific health-related quality of life (HRQoL) instrument. Methods: Two-hundred PAD patients were consecutively recruited from two university hospitals. Out of the 200 subjects, 129 had intermittent claudication and 71 had critical limb ischemia. Mean age was 70 +/- 9 y and 57% of the participants were male. All patients completed SF-36 and VascuQoL at the vascular outpatient clinic, when evaluated for invasive treatment. Risk factors and physiological parameters were registered. Construct validity was tested by correlation analysis versus SF-36 and was also assessed with multitrait/multi-item scaling analysis (MTMI). Sensitivity analysis regarding disease severity identification was performed. Reliability was assessed with Cronbach's alpha and responsiveness by standardized response mean (SRM) calculations. Results: Significant correlations were demonstrated between relevant subscales of VascuQoL and SF-36. MTMI showed acceptable construct validity, but some scaling-errors. VascuQoL significantly (p < 0.001) discriminated claudicants from critical limb ischemia patients. Cronbach's alpha was 0.94 and SRM 1.02 (sum score). Conclusions: The Swedish version of VascuQoL is valid and quantifies central aspects of HRQoL in PAD patients. Sensitivity analysis showed high ability to differentiate between disease severity and SRM illustrated excellent responsiveness. The relative abundance of items however makes use in the everyday clinical setting somewhat difficult

Några aspekter av viktning vid asymmetrisk svarsbenägenhet - en tillämpad survey

The thesis evaluates the process of making a survey and explores the statistics involved in the process. It is based on a study conducted in collaboration with Simrishamn municipality, which explores the habits and attitudes of migration in the municipality. An important finding is that age and gender affect the respondents’ answers and the response rate. Consequentially it is imperative to implement a method of weighting the results based on these demographic variables. The thesis presents a statistical model for the sampling structure and an examination of the estimators, especially the impact that the adjustment for non-response, by weighting, has on the statistical properties of the estimators. The main conclusion of the thesis is that prevailing relevant non-statistical factors and the statistical prerequisites determine which statistical methods are suitable

Market size, competition, and the product mix of exporters

We build a theoretical model of multi-product firms that highlights how market size and ge- ography (the market sizes of and bilateral economic distances to trading partners) affect both a firm's exported product range and its exported product mix across market destinations (the dis- tribution of sales across products for a given product range). We show how tougher competition in an export market induces a firm to skew its export sales towards its best performing products. We find very strong confirmation of this competitive effect for French exporters across export market destinations. Trade models based on exogenous markups cannot explain this strong sig- nificant link between destination market characteristics and the within-firm skewness of export sales (after controlling for bilateral trade costs). Theoretically, this within firm change in prod- uct mix driven by the trading environment has important repercussions on firm productivity and how it responds to changes in that trading environment