Research and Training of Private Transportation Providers for the Efficient and Effective Provision of Public Transportation Services

A considerable portion of urban public transportation is provided by private transportation operators. Overall, 1.8% of urban transportation research/training are spent on research and training needs of the privately provided public transportation sector. The imbalance is striking considering the amount and type of urban public transportation service offered by the private sector. Private providers offer most of the service for special sporting events and the majority of the tourism transportation, and they also generate significant employment when all aspects are taken into consideration. The objectives of this project were to undertake research and training programs that support more efficient and effective public transportation services from both the public and private sectors with the purpose of sharing findings and providing recommendations to the large number of private transportation officials engaged in providing public transportation

Airport Drop-Off and Pick-Up Charges in Great Britain: Will They Come to the United States?

As transportation network companies (TNCs) like Uber and Lyft drive a change in modern transport behaviors, fewer passengers pay for services such as parking or commercial vehicle drop-off at airports, meaning that what once was a primary revenue source for airports now has a tenuous future. Therefore, airports must find a way to counterbalance the revenue losses created by these changes. One such solution has been on the rise in Great Britain. With airport drop-off and pick-up charges, private vehicles must pay for the convenience of loading or unloading passengers at the airport entrance. Not only does this practice have the potential to generate millions of dollars in annual revenue, but it also offers a remedy for other maladies such as congestion and safety issues on airport roads. This report examines the effects that drop-off and pick-up charges have had in Great Britain and explores what US airports might expect should they too adopt the practice

Basing rate adjustments for motor carriers on statistical evidence

Pricing services of motor carriers is a dynamic process, with continuous pressure from customers to offer competitive rates and discounts. This can lead to a profusion of special arrangements with rates that poorly reflect the services rendered. This article shows how standard database systems and statistical models can be used to extract useful information from bills of lading to assist in the pricing of freight services. Summaries of business performance are produced according to terminal facility, shipping origin, shipping destination, individual shipping lane and individual customer. User-friendly statistical models are constructed to produce benchmarks for rates and revenues considering the services rendered. Differences between actual and benchmark levels of performance help to identify situations that may call for managerial reinforcement or corrective intervention. With illustrations from a major motor carrier, the authors discuss how even small motor carriers can develop such models and use them for planning their rate adjustments and managing customer relationships

Handling manuscript rejection: Insights from evidence and experience

The purpose of this article is to provide authors with insights gained from evidence and experience on how to handle rejected manuscripts

Systemic levels of interleukin-6 and matrix metalloproteinase-9 in patients with multiple myeloma may be useful as prognostic indexes of bone disease

Multiple myeloma is characterized by accelerated production of the proteolytic enzyme matrix metalloproteinase (MMP)-9. We hypothesized that myeloma- produced MMP-9 may influence the rate of bone turnover in a paracrine manner. Thus, we examined the correlations of MMP-9 levels, disease severity, and bone turnover rate as evaluated by markers of bone formation and resorption. Thirty-seven newly diagnosed multiple myeloma patients (nine of Durie-Salmon stage I, 12 of stage II and 16 of stage III) and 12 age-matched controls were studied. Serum MMP-9 levels were significantly higher at stage II compared to stage I (188.78 91.27 vs. 59.25 33.09 ng/mL, p-0.004). Additionally, free urine pyridinolines (F-Pyd), free urine deoxy-pyridinolines (F-Dpd) and urine N-telopeptide fragment (NTx) were elevated, their level correlating with disease stage (p-0.001, p-0.03, p-0.001, respectively), as were bone marrow infiltration and serum interleukin- 6 (IL-6) levels (p-0.0001, p-0.01, respectively). MMP-9 levels were lower in patients compared with controls (p-0.001), whereas IL-6 and bone resorption marker levels were higher in patients than in controls (p-0.001 in all cases). Significant correlation was found between infiltration, MMP-9, free urine pyd, free urine dpd and NTx for each stage of the disease (p-0.03, p-0.003, p-0.002, p-0.003 and p-0.001, respectively). Levels of MMP-9 and of IL-6 in multiple myeloma correlate well with bone turnover rate and may be useful in disease evaluation

Linkage of Osteoporosis to Chromosome 20p12 and Association to BMP2

Osteoporotic fractures are a major cause of morbidity and mortality in ageing populations. Osteoporosis, defined as low bone mineral density (BMD) and associated fractures, have significant genetic components that are largely unknown. Linkage analysis in a large number of extended osteoporosis families in Iceland, using a phenotype that combines osteoporotic fractures and BMD measurements, showed linkage to Chromosome 20p12.3 (multipoint allele-sharing LOD, 5.10; p value, 6.3 × 10(−7)), results that are statistically significant after adjusting for the number of phenotypes tested and the genome-wide search. A follow-up association analysis using closely spaced polymorphic markers was performed. Three variants in the bone morphogenetic protein 2 (BMP2) gene, a missense polymorphism and two anonymous single nucleotide polymorphism haplotypes, were determined to be associated with osteoporosis in the Icelandic patients. The association is seen with many definitions of an osteoporotic phenotype, including osteoporotic fractures as well as low BMD, both before and after menopause. A replication study with a Danish cohort of postmenopausal women was conducted to confirm the contribution of the three identified variants. In conclusion, we find that a region on the short arm of Chromosome 20 contains a gene or genes that appear to be a major risk factor for osteoporosis and osteoporotic fractures, and our evidence supports the view that BMP2 is at least one of these genes

Asset Utilization Potential of Building a Trucking and Rail Intermodal Hub in the St. Louis Region

Part of DTRT13-G-UTC37Annually, more than one billion tons of cargo pass through St. Louis, Missouri, making it the \u201cGateway to the West,\u201d as termed by the Missouri Economic Research and Information Center (2014). In Missouri, 45% of all cargo traffic moves by railroad, and 49% is transported by truck (Missouri Department of Transportation 2017). As trade continues to flourish in the region, there is increased shipper and carrier demand for making St. Louis an intermodal hub in order to optimize the region\u2019s strategic location, increase profit, and lower transportation costs. The objective of this study was to assess the asset utilization potential of building a trucking and rail intermodal hub in the St. Louis region by looking at industry history, examining transportation policies and initiatives in the St. Louis region, and evaluating the major stakeholders affected by intermodal initiatives. Because today\u2019s transportation development decisions greatly impact environmental and economic sustainability, in addition to community welfare, the research project also focused on whether a common intermodal hub in St. Louis would minimize trucking and railroad operational and economic costs. The topics of property rights, externalities, net benefit to society, and technological growth are discussed in this research project. Case studies of other cities in the United States that have had success with intermodal development are also presented in this report. The primary methodology for this project focused on geospatial mapping of providers in the St. Louis region. This information was used to provide a detailed analysis of the creation of a railroad and trucking hub in St. Louis to facilitate the interaction of intermodal trade. The study explained the primary benefit of reducing intercity transfer costs to showcase the benefits and limitations associated with a common intermodal hub expansion in the St. Louis region. The authors concluded that the benefits outweigh any negatives and proposed the ideal location of the intermodal hub in St. Louis

A Conceptual Model of Natural and Anthropogenic Drivers and Their Influence on the Prince William Sound, Alaska, Ecosystem

Prince William Sound (PWS) is a semi-enclosed fjord estuary on the coast of Alaska adjoining the northern Gulf of Alaska (GOA). PWS is highly productive and diverse, with primary productivity strongly coupled to nutrient dynamics driven by variability in the climate and oceanography of the GOA and North Pacific Ocean. The pelagic and nearshore primary productivity supports a complex and diverse trophic structure, including large populations of forage and large fish that support many species of marine birds and mammals. High intra-annual, inter-annual, and interdecadal variability in climatic and oceanographic processes as drives high variability in the biological populations. A risk-based conceptual ecosystem model (CEM) is presented describing the natural processes, anthropogenic drivers, and resultant stressors that affect PWS, including stressors caused by the Great Alaska Earthquake of 1964 and the Exxon Valdez oil spill of 1989. A trophodynamic model incorporating PWS valued ecosystem components is integrated into the CEM. By representing the relative strengths of driver/stressors/effects, the CEM graphically demonstrates the fundamental dynamics of the PWS ecosystem, the natural forces that control the ecological condition of the Sound, and the relative contribution of natural processes and human activities to the health of the ecosystem. The CEM illustrates the dominance of natural processes in shaping the structure and functioning of the GOA and PWS ecosystems