Optimization of Choice Modelling in Complex Urban Contexts - Applications in planning for sustainable development

This paper focuses on the capabilities of choice models in assisting planners in the development of transport policies and interventions for strategic transport planning for urban systems. Models are looked at as part of a decision support system for the development of transport measures for sustainable mobility. The use of participation is looked at as a tool for the understanding of the real needs in terms of mobility in the complex contemporary society and for the construction of the future transport scenarios and transport alternatives

Airline efficiency performance in the turbulent period before and after economic crisis

The purpose of the paper is to analyze the operational performance of a set of17 airlines that operate across Europe in 2008 and 2012, the period that imposed a burden of challenge to airline industry due to severe global economic crisis occurred in 2008.In addition to major carriers in Europe, the sample contains several airlines located in Central and South-East Europe that have been not been broadly investigated in the relevant literature. The study utilizes the standard DEA approach with the inputs consisting of several subsets (resources, costs, capacity, etc), while outputs encompass productivity and economic indices. The results of the model reveal that most of the South-East and Central European airlines are inefficient relative to their western counterparts. Still, these large western airlines tend to be inefficient compared to the major low-cost carriers operating in Europe. Moreover, the model enables obtaining insights into the cause of inefficiency of the airlines with particular implications for improvement in the future. Despite severe economic crisis, the model shows that airlines tend to recover faster than one could even expect it

Methods for infrastructure planning in areas close to hospitals at the regional level

Healthcare emergency management is also an infrastructure problem, in terms of accessibility and safety but nowadays there is lack of consolidated method to solve this issue. Concerning accessibility, the access to the nearest hospital should be guaranteed from each city in the region in an acceptable time. Concerning safety, road arterials travelled by emergency vehicles should have high safety standards, for emergency vehicles and the reduction of congestion due to traffic crashes.This study aims at providing a methodological framework (tested in the case of Apulia, Italy) to conduct accessibility and safety assessments at the regional level, in case of existing and new hospitals. Accessibility and safety were studied setting specific metrics, like time to reach the hospital and accident analysis at macroscopic level to plan safety interventions. The least safe road sites in the ranking obtained by applying the proposed indicators for new and existing hospitals can be improved

Effect of Evidence-Based Supported Employment vs Transitional Work on Achieving Steady Work Among Veterans With Posttraumatic Stress Disorder A Randomized Clinical Trial

Importance: Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) often interferes with a person’s ability to obtain or sustain employment, which leads to premature exit from the labor force and reduced income. Objective: To determine whether individual placement and support (IPS)–supported employment is more effective than stepwise vocational rehabilitation involving transitional work assignments at helping veterans with PTSD attain steady, competitive employment. Design, Setting, and Participants: The Veterans Individual Placement and Support Toward Advancing Recovery (VIP-STAR) study was a prospective, multisite, randomized clinical trial that included 541 unemployed veterans with PTSD at 12 Veterans Affairs medical centers. Data were collected from December 23, 2013, to May 3, 2017. Intent-to-treat analysis was performed. Interventions: Individual placement and support is a supported employment intervention that rapidly engages people with disabilities in community job development to obtain work based on their individual job preferences. Transitional work is a stepwise vocational rehabilitation intervention that assigns people temporarily to noncompetitive jobs as preparation for competitive employment in the community. Main Outcomes and Measures: A priori hypotheses were that, compared with those in transitional work, more participants in the IPS group would become steady workers (primary) and earn more income from competitive jobs (secondary) over 18 months. Steady worker was defined as holding a competitive job for at least 50% of the 18-month follow-up period. Results: A total of 541 participants (n = 271 IPS; n = 270 transitional work) were randomized. Mean (SD) age was 42.2 (11) years; 99 (18.3%) were women, 274 (50.6%) were white, 225 (41.6%) were African American, and 90 (16.6%) were of Hispanic, Spanish, or Latino ethnicity. More participants in the IPS group achieved steady employment than in the transitional work group (105 [38.7%] vs 63 [23.3%]; odds ratio, 2.14; 95% CI, 1.46-3.14). A higher proportion of IPS participants attained any competitive job (186 [68.6%] vs 154 [57.0%]; P = .005) and had higher cumulative earnings from competitive jobs (median [interquartile range] $7290 [$23 174] in IPS vs $1886 [$17 167] in transitional work; P = .004). Conclusions and Relevance: This multisite trial demonstrated significantly greater effectiveness of IPS-supported employment over stepwise transitional work vocational rehabilitation for veterans living with chronic PTSD. The results provide supporting evidence for increasing access to IPS for veterans living with PTSD. Trial Registration: clinicaltrials.gov Identifier: NCT0181771