Real-time evaluation of the on-board comfort of standing passenger in bus transit services

Bus on-board comfort may be intended as a multidimensional concept declined according to several attributes (e.g., vibrations, the load factor, the driving style, etc.) and represents a key factor of service quality. Thus, its measurement is crucial for public transport companies as it can support for the monitoring, evaluation and implementation of specific actions to improve their services. The objective of this paper is to build a numerical scale for real-time measurement of bus on-board comfort. This is pursued integrating subjective measurements of the driving style provided by the passengers with objective ones of longitudinal and transversal accelerations data collected by Intelligent Transportation System tools. The results are very useful because they represent a contribution to establish a comfort scale in a real operational environment, as a tool to regulate the driver's behavior: each driver is in the position of real-time monitoring the quality of a bus ride regarding on-board comfort level

Synthesis, X-ray Analysis, and Biological Evaluation of a New Class of Stereopure Lactam-Based HIV-1 Protease Inhibitors

In an effort to identify a new class of druglike HIV-1 protease inhibitors, four different stereopure beta-hydroxy gamma-lactam-containing inhibitors have been synthesized, biologically evaluated, and cocrystallized. The impact of the tether length of the central spacer (two or three carbons) was also investigated. A compound with a shorter tether and (3R,4S) absolute configuration exhibited high activity with a K-i of 2.1 nM and an EC50 of 0.64 mu M. Further optimization by decoration of the P1' side chain furnished an even more potent HIV-1 protease inhibitor (K-i = 0.8 nM, EC50 = 0.04 mu M). According to X-ray analysis, the new class of inhibitors did not fully succeed in forming two symmetric hydrogen bonds to the catalytic aspartates. The crystal structures of the complexes further explain the difference in potency between the shorter inhibitors (two-carbon spacer) and the longer inhibitors (three-carbon spacer)

“Airport charges regulation: a model for tariff calculation”

The present study is concerned with a highly topical issue in air transportation, namely the regulation of charges for airport services provided by sole airport operators. In 2005 the Italian parliament passed Law 248/05 concerning the reform of airport services regulation. This law envisages that maximum increases in airport charges shall be regulated by a mixed single till price cap mechanism. With this scheme, known as shared till, a quota of no less than half of the additional profit margin shall contribute to reducing aviation operations costs to be remunerated through airport charges. The regulatory framework envisaged by Law 248/05 was definitively approved in June 2007. In this paper the regulations applied in Italy will be described in detail, analysing in particular the implementation guidelines issued by the regulator ENAC. Based on these guidelines calculation algorithms will be derived and constructed for implementing an application able to provide the operator with the prices of the regulated services, according to the mechanisms envisaged by law.. The creation of a model of this type is all the more necessary because prices are reviewed every four years (length of the regulatory period)