Air connectivity and foreign direct investments: economic effects of the introduction of new routes

Purpose The key research question for this study was whether the spatial network structure offered by the global airline system contributes to the development of Italian inward Foreign Direct Investments (FDIs). We argue that the introduction of a new route, by reducing firm's transport costs and facilitating tacit and complex knowledge flow, should increase the likelihood of FDI exchange between newly connected regions. Methods We employed a comparison group design considering both small and medium enterprises and large companies at the municipality level. Results The results showed that FDIs increased overall by 33.7% in the two years after opening of the new routes while FDIs in the control group decreased by 16.6%. Similar results were obtained using different measures of FDI (i.e. the number of generated employees) and by weighting the routes by their frequencies. Conclusions Given the substantial benefits that urban areas can obtain from attracting multinational firms, our results provide new evidence of the contribution of transport infrastructures to local development. From a policymaker perspective, regional policies aimed at attracting FDIs must contextually promote the development of transport infrastructure and in particular international airports. Investments to improve air transport capacity, strategies to attract both traditional and low-cost airlines, providing legal authorization or financing ground transport are all critical aspects for the success of such policies

The Impacts of Airport Centrality in the EU Network and Inter- Airport Competition on Airport Efficiency

In this paper we study the relationship between airport efficiency and two factors: an airport’s centrality in the EU network, and the intensity of competition from alternative airports in the same catchment area. We apply a two-stage econometric model based on the Simar & Wilson (2007) bootstrap procedure to a balanced sample of 57 European airports. We also design and compute our own measures of airport centrality and competition. The results show that efficiency is positively related to centrality in the European network, as measured by a weighted sum of minimal paths passing through the airport in question. The intensity of competition between airports also has a positive effect on efficiency. Our analysis suggests that air transportation policies should focus on increasing competition within important catchment areas (e.g., by investing in infrastructure facilitating access to alternative airports) and enhancing the connectivity of the EU network (e.g., by subsidizing new point-to-point connections between airports with capacity to spare).air transportation, efficiency, network centrality, inter – airports competition.

The Impacts of Airport Centrality in the EU Network and Inter- Airport Competition on Airport Efficiency

In this paper we study the relationship between airport efficiency and two factors: an airport’s centrality in the EU network, and the intensity of competition from alternative airports in the same catchment area. We apply a two-stage econometric model based on the Simar & Wilson (2007) bootstrap procedure to a balanced sample of 57 European airports. We also design and compute our own measures of airport centrality and competition. The results show that efficiency is positively related to centrality in the European network, as measured by a weighted sum of minimal paths passing through the airport in question. The intensity of competition between airports also has a positive effect on efficiency. Our analysis suggests that air transportation policies should focus on increasing competition within important catchment areas (e.g., by investing in infrastructure facilitating access to alternative airports) and enhancing the connectivity of the EU network (e.g., by subsidizing new point-to-point connections between airports with capacity to spare)

The Impacts of Airport Centrality in the EU Network and Inter- Airport Competition on Airport Efficiency

In this paper we study the relationship between airport efficiency and two factors: an airport’s centrality in the EU network, and the intensity of competition from alternative airports in the same catchment area. We apply a two-stage econometric model based on the Simar & Wilson (2007) bootstrap procedure to a balanced sample of 57 European airports. We also design and compute our own measures of airport centrality and competition. The results show that efficiency is positively related to centrality in the European network, as measured by a weighted sum of minimal paths passing through the airport in question. The intensity of competition between airports also has a positive effect on efficiency. Our analysis suggests that air transportation policies should focus on increasing competition within important catchment areas (e.g., by investing in infrastructure facilitating access to alternative airports) and enhancing the connectivity of the EU network (e.g., by subsidizing new point-to-point connections between airports with capacity to spare)

Analytical framework for Adaptive Compressive Sensing for Target Detection within Wireless Visual Sensor Networks

Wireless visual sensor networks (WVSNs) are composed of a large number of visual sensor nodes covering a specifc geographical region. This paper addresses the target detection problem within WVSNs where visual sensor nodes are left unattended for long-term deployment. As battery energy is a critical issue it is always challenging to maximize the network's lifetime. In order to reduce energy consumption, nodes undergo cycles of active-sleep periods that save their battery energy by switching sensor nodes ON and OFF, according to predefined duty cycles. Moreover, adaptive compressive sensing is expected to dynamically reduce the size of transmitted data through the wireless channel, saving communication bandwidth and consequently saving energy. This paper derives for the first time an analytical framework for selecting node's duty cycles and dynamically choosing the appropriate compression rates for the captured images and videos based on their sparsity nature. This reduces energy waste by reaching the maximum compression rate for each dataset without compromising the probability of detection. Experiments were conducted on different standard datasets resembling different scenes; indoor and outdoor, for single and multiple targets detection. Moreover, datasets were chosen with different sparsity levels to investigate the effect of sparsity on the compression rates. Results showed that by selecting duty cycles and dynamically choosing the appropriate compression rates, the desired performanc