Willingness-to-pay of public transport users for improvement in service quality

In this paper, passenger willingness-to-pay (WTP) for improving the quality levels of a bus service is examined. Specifically, the objective of this research is to provide a tool for evaluating passenger willingness-to-pay by considering some qualitative service aspects, in addition to the traditional quantitative service aspects like travel time and cost. The adopted methodology is built on the calibration of behavioural models based on user choices. The WTP values are obtained as marginal rates of substitution between some service quality attributes and travel cost at constant utility. For this purpose, Multinomial and Mixed Logit models are introduced. The models were calibrated by using the data collected from an SP experiment in which each user makes a choice between an alternative representing the current service and two alternatives representing hypothetical bus services. In order to take into account the randomness of the estimated WTP, the limits of the confidence intervals are calculated

Optical determination of flexoelectric coefficients and surface polarization in a hybrid aligned nematic cell

A. Mazzulla, F. Ciuchi, and J. Roy Sambles, Physical Review E, Vol. 64, article 021708 (2001). "Copyright © 2001 by the American Physical Society."We present an optical study of the influence of both the flexoelectric effect and surface polarization on a hybrid-aligned nematic cell using the half-leaky guided mode technique. Tilt angle profiles, obtained from fits of experimental data (reflectivity curves) taken under applied voltages, are compared with the ones derived by a complete theoretical model. Measurements with an applied alternating voltage allow the evaluation of the anchoring energy by solving the torque balance equation at the planar surface. From measurements with static fields, the sum of flexoelectric coefficients and the surface polarization are determined by numerical solution of Euler-Lagrange equations

Effect of the catechin in the mechanism of production/degradation of ROS and RNS in hypothernia on HUVEC

The polyphenols derived from red wine, as the catechin, possess highly antihypertensive properties so the possibility of their use in vitro is studied since they prevent oxidative stress-induced endothelial dysfunctio

Polymer Dispersed Liquid Crystals as optical storage materials

none5F.Simoni; S.Di Bella; L.Lucchetti; G.Cipparrone; A.Mazzulla;Simoni, Francesco; S., Di Bella; Lucchetti, Liana; G., Cipparrone; A., Mazzull