A Doctoral Thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements of Loughborough University for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy.

With Airport Collaborative Decision Making (A-CDM) as a generic concept of working together of all airport partners, the main aim of this research project was to increase the understanding of the Influences on the Target Off-Block Time (TOBT) Prediction Accuracy during A-CDM. Predicting the TOBT accurately is important, because all airport partners use it as a reference time for the departure of the flights after the aircraft turn-round. Understanding such influencing factors is therefore not only required for finding measures to counteract inaccurate TOBT predictions, but also for establishing a more efficient A-CDM turn-round process. The research method chosen comprises a number of steps. Firstly, within the framework of a Cognitive Work Analysis, the sub-processes as well as the information requirements during turn-round were analysed. Secondly, a survey approach aimed at finding and describing situations during turn-round that are critical for TOBT adherence was pursued. The problems identified here were then investigated in field observations at different airlines’ operation control rooms. Based on the findings from these previous steps, small-scale human-in-the-loop experiments were designed aimed at testing hypotheses about data/information availability that influence TOBT predictability. A turn-round monitoring tool was developed for the experiments. As a result of this project, the critical chain of turn-round events and the decisions necessary during all stages of the turn-round were identified. It was concluded that information required but not shared among participants can result in TOBT inaccuracy swings. In addition, TOBT predictability was shown to depend on the location of the TOBT turn-round controller who assigns the TOBT: More reliable TOBT predictions were observed when the turn-round controller was physically present at the aircraft. During the experiments, TOBT prediction could be improved by eight minutes, if available information was cooperatively shared ten minutes prior turn-round start between air crews and turn-round controller; TOBT prediction could be improved by 15 minutes, if additional information was provided by ramp agents five minutes after turnround start.

Anxiety among scientists has been growing over the past decade regarding the negative impact of environmental pollution on the planet. These concerns ultimately could have a bearing on the survival of mankind itself and include a warming climate, threats to the earth's ozone layer, an accumulation of greenhouse gases and the expansion of deserts at the expense of agricultural land. Scientific evidence is assembled daily confirming that the ongoing deterioration of the environment is beginning to have a negative effect on the earth's habitat. Increased public awareness of these issues is leading to growing pressure on policy makers, especially national governments to bring forward solutions but this is proving difficult due to the number of contributing factors involved. This thesis examines one aspect of human behaviour that is widely acknowledged to be a significant source of pollution: use of the private motor car. The car is now perceived as an everyday necessity for many people and this has brought with it ever-increasing levels of pollution. While this behaviour can be tackled in a number of ways, this research scrutinises the capacity for a voluntary change in behaviour among private transport users. As part of this process the role and influence of social marketing is examined at work in the transportation sector. Based upon a qualitative study of a number of households the empirical research specifically explores social marketing campaigns whose prime purpose was to induce voluntary behavioural changes among transport users. The study is specifically directed towards a major topic within the transport debate, the role of public and private transport. While weaknesses are identified in the campaigns the research concludes that social marketing in itself cannot persuade people to make significant changes to their behaviour. Its value instead may lie as an effective channel of communication that can be utilised between private transport users and designated authorities.

The level of bike-rail integration (combining cycling with rail) in the UK presents an unrealised sustainable mobility potential: two per cent of rail passengers access the rail network by bicycle, contrasting with 40 per cent in the Netherlands. Cycling on its own has distance limitations but in combination with rail it can substitute for longer car journeys and is one means of reducing car dependence. The overall objective of this PhD research project was to understand existing bike-rail integration behaviour in the UK, using as the research location two stations in the South West of England (Bristol Temple Meads and Bristol Parkway), to inform the design, development and implementation of initiatives to increase its incidence. It therefore had two distinct research phases: an exploratory phase and an action research phase. The exploratory phase demonstrated that bike-rail integrators were mainly motivated by saving time or money and taking exercise. The majority were male, in their thirties, in full-time employment and cycled on average 3.7 km to the station. These data in conjunction with a conceptual „ecological‟ model developed from a critical review of behaviour change theory were used to inform the design and implementation of a pay-as-you-go self-hire cycle network (Hourbike) and an intervention to attract car drivers to switch to rail with either walking or cycling access. In the first year of Hourbike, seven per cent of users had never really cycled before and one per cent of car drivers responded to the opportunity to try rail with walking or cycling access rendering rich qualitative data from non-users about the attractors and barriers to bike-rail integration. The process of incorporating theory into practice is described providing useful insights for future interventions which are discussed in the light of theory. Opportunities are identified in the context of the national policy to implement station travel plans which emerged in the latter phases of the research.

No description available.

An efficient transport system is essential for an efficient supply chain to facilitate international trade. To utilise all cheaper resources, such as labour in Bangladesh, companies receive supplies from one coxintry (e.g. in Hong Kong), produce the products in another country, and sell them in other countries (e.g. European countries). Thus the production and consumption has turned into a global activity with transport filling the gaps among them. To perform the transport function a carrier may require the use of more than one mode, the so-called multimodal transport. Multimodal transport, an integrated systems approach, can be defined as the most cost- and time-effective way of moving goods from shipper to consignee by at least two different modes of transport under a single contract. The system has been operating for more than three decades in developed countries, but in developing countries the transport system is still operating in a conventional fragmented way where modal integration has not been achieved. In particular the inland part of the international transport haul has appeared as a barrier to establishing an integrated multimodal transport system. In general, the transport systems in developing countries have failed to contribute to effective international supply chain. Little research has been conducted in this field in developing countries, including Bangladesh. The present research attempts to fill this gap through a triangulation technique; an in-depth literature review of international freight transport of developing countries particularly Bangladesh and developed countries; two rounds of Delphi study among a Bangladeshi panel; and a quantitative study based on a survey. The research hypothesises that Uhe extent to which a fragmented freight transport system can be transformed into an integrated multimodal transport system depends on the present state of the country'. The validity of the hypothesis was established through triangulation. The research also found that there has been a significant freight transport multimodal development in Bangladesh but it has not been perceived by the stakeholders.

The acceleration of economic globalisation, over the past few decades, has put the role of the state, as an important actor in the management of the global economy, in the spotlight. The question that continues to dominate the globalisation debate is whether or not individual states, operating within a neoliberal paradigm, are in a position to effectively regulate the economic activities of powerful multinational capital, manage domestic economies and protect labour. The main aim of this thesis is to assess how effectively nation states can respond to globalisation and mitigate negative impacts such as the decline of domestic industries and local labour markets while maximising the benefits. Shipping is one of the most globalised industries and one where capital is highly mobile. The challenges facing nation states in their attempt to manage domestic economies and protect local industries are therefore well illustrated in the relationship between the state and multinational shipping capital. The UK, along with other Traditional Maritime Nations, has been dramatically affected by the globalisation of the industry. Following a huge decline in the UK's merchant shipping fleet, the UK government has attempted to respond, by way of a tonnage tax. This is primarily a tax incentive to encourage ship-owners to register and operate their ships in the UK. The tonnage tax regime contains within it a training commitment by which the ship-owners undertake to recruit and train UK cadets. An assessment of the performance of the strategy reveals that, whereas it has boosted significant growth in UK registered tonnage, it has achieved little success with regard to increasing the number of qualified junior officers. It is this paradox that comprises the focus of this study. Using interview data collected from key stakeholders in the UK shipping industry the thesis analyses the form and impact of the tonnage tax. The main conclusion is that, having initially committed to the advocacy of the neoliberal agenda and the concept of free capital markets, states are no longer capable of effectively responding to globalisation and the consequent negative impact on domestic economies. Because of the growing influence of corporate capital and the fear of capital flight, the limitations of state policies is especially evident in the British shipping industry in relation to the decline of local seafaring labour.

The mitigation of supply chain uncertainty within transport operations can minimise the risk of disruptions in the delivery process, so transport resources can be utilised in the most efficient and least polluting manner. The overall aim of this thesis is to link the uncertainties originating within the supply chain and externally with the economic and environmental performance of road freight transport operations and also to identify potential mitigation tools and/or approaches to minimise their effects. In the deductive stage, a conceptual model was developed by adapting existing manufacturing-focused uncertainty frameworks. This model has been refined through the application of focus groups and confirmed in a structured questionnaire-based survey. The outcome was the four main uncertainty clusters that affect transport operations in the UK. These uncertainty clusters are: delays, variable demand and/or inaccurate forecast, delivery constraints and insufficient supply chain integration and coordination. Furthermore, the main uncertainty cause found in the focus groups was unplanned road congestion. In the inductive stage, uncertainty evaluation assessments in three FMCG distribution networks were undertaken to evaluate the effects that different uncertainty causes have on the economic and environmental performance of such operations. An "extra distance" measure was developed for these assessments, further complemented by including the time dimension of performance in two of them. As a result of this, a new and innovative transport uncertainty evaluation tool has been developed. The main uncertainty clusters found in the deductive stage of the research are the uncertainty clusters found in the deductive stage of the research are those that contribute more to the generation of unnecessary kilometres run within the distribution networks assessed.

This thesis presents a new approach, based on human visual perception, for detecting and recognising traffic signs under different viewing conditions. Traffic sign recognition is an important issue within any driver support system as it is fundamental to traffic safety and increases the drivers' awareness of situations and possible decisions that are ahead. All traffic signs possess similar visual characteristics, they are often the same size, shape and colour. However shapes may be distorted when viewed from different viewing angles and colours are affected by overall luminosity and the presence of shadows. Human vision can identify traffic signs correctly by ignoring this variance of colours and shapes. Consequently traffic sign recognition based on human visual perception has been researched during this project. In this approach two human vision models are adopted to solve the problems above: Colour Appearance Model (CIECAM97s) and Behavioural Model of Vision (BMV). Colour Appearance Model (CIECAM97s) is used to segment potential traffic signs from the image background under different weather conditions. Behavioural Model of Vision (BMV) is used to recognize the potential traffic signs. Results show that segmentation based on CIECAM97s performs better than, or comparable to, other perceptual colour spaces in terms of accuracy. In addition, results illustrate that recognition based on BMV can be used in this project effectively to detect a certain range of shape transformations. Furthermore, a fast method of distinguishing and recognizing the different weather conditions within images has been developed. The results show that 84% recognition rate can be achieved under three weather and different viewing conditions.

This study is concerned with the problems of valuation of time and the estimation of models of modal choice. Following a survey of the value of time literature, a behavioural hypothesis is developed which forms the basis of the modal choice model to be estimated. This model is then set in the context of the theory of consumer demand. The data used in the estimation of this model is derived from the Edinburgh Glasgow Area Modal Split Study; the objectives, operations and results of this survey effort are described, and the development of the data base is outlined. It is a feature of this study that some novel collection methods were used, notably in the questionnaire. The estimation procedures which may be used to estimate binary choice models are compared statistically and logit analysis is selected for estimating the model. The content of the model was found to differ greatly from the models estimated for commuters, and the income stratification was discovered to modify the models considerably. A value of time was derived, but only from a sub-optimum model. This value is higher than the values derived from commuting studies. No value of time could be derived for the separate income groups. The major conclusion is that the use of models built for commuters in other situations is not a justifiable procedure.