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The implications of travel time uncertainty on the operational efficiency of airport terminals have until now not been examined. With the forecast growth in congestion levels predicted for all modes of transport, not only will travel time uncertainty increase but its impact may increase also. The first part of this thesis covers the analysis of two passenger surveys conducted at Manchester Airport and Birmingham Airport. These surveys had the objective of providing evidence to support or dispute the belief that air travellers react to travel time uncertainty. The research identifies that passengers do react by allowing margins of safety for their access journeys, and that this change in behaviour will modify the arrival distribution patterns at airports. The second part of this thesis examines how airport passenger flows could be altered by a change in the arrival distribution of originating passengers at airport terminals. Three airports - Manchester, Birmingham and East Midlands International - are modelled using a simulation tool and tested to assess how a shift in arrival distribution affects queuing and peak passenger volumes within the airport terminal. The findings of this thesis show that airport passenger terminal operational efficiency is affected by access journey time uncertainty. It also identifies that passenger decision making can only be explained by various combinations of factors. Possible methods of minimising the effects of travel time uncertainty are considered. The advantages and disadvantages of access journey time uncertainty for airports and airlines are discussed. It concludes that, to be successful in overcoming negative aspects, both parties must provide a service that results in customer satisfaction. This is the only sure way to maintain their respective revenue levels and secure their future in what is becoming an increasingly competitive industry.

The intent of this study was to investigate the efficient use of energy by developing an energy efficient grocery store combined with cogeneration. This study demonstrated the potential to reduce the energy use in buildings, by implementing a decentralized source of energy generation that allowed for the use of a portion of the energy generated to be shared across building boundaries. This study considered a high energy use building such as a grocery store to be a part of a residential community, which could potentially participate in the sharing of energy across building boundaries. To better utilize energy resources the study proposed the implementation of a cogeneration facility to supply energy primarily to the store. Surplus energy generated by this cogeneration system was then shared with the requirements of the surrounding residential community. Finally, in order to better account for energy consumption of these buildings both site and source energy was considered. The study focused on hot and humid climates. This study was presented in two parts: Analyzing conventional grocery store systems to determine the maximum savings possible; and examining the option of co-generation systems to provide power to grocery stores and a portion of the community in order to reduce source energy use for the grocery store and a portion of the surrounding community. Source energy savings were in the range of 47% to 54% depending on the energy efficiency measures selected and the cogeneration configuration determined in the grocery store. Economic payback periods in the range of 4 to 7 years (time until zero net present value) were observed. The selection of appropriate options was narrowed down to two options that utilized more thermal energy within the boundaries of the store and generated more amount of surplus energy to be absorbed by the neighboring residential buildings.

This thesis applies innovative methods to the efficiency and productivity analysis of the Australian banking system. Key areas of investigation include the impact of regulatory reforms on bank performance, the impact of firm entry and exit on industry productivity and the changing nature of banking and the role of risk in measuring bank value-added. The latter leads to the construction of a new bank production model, emphasising risk management as part of a bank??s value-added. As such, the proposed bank output framework views risk as a productive service, rather than a bad output or externality, which is often assumed in the literature. Aided with this new framework, several refinements are suggested for the treatment and measurement of bank output by researchers and statistical agencies. A unified regulatory framework combined with a greater level of harmonisation in rules in the Australian banking sector, has meant that a pooled analysis of all deposit-taking institutions has become feasible for the first time. With an enlarged dataset new insights are gained into the relative performance of deposit-taking institutions in Australia. The results challenge commonly held views of bank efficiency and the relevance of scale, size and incumbency when measuring bank efficiency. The new definition of bank output is also applied across the sector using econometric and non-parametric techniques to gauge productivity. Problems with balanced data sets and aggregation of firm level productivity are examined. A new approach to decomposing aggregate industry level productivity is introduced based on strong axiomatic grounds and its ability to attribute productivity between continuing, exiting and entering firms. The technique is applied for the first time and uses the newly developed bank output production model. The analysis provides key information on the relative performance of firms in the Australian banking sector.

Until recently, most studies investigating the telecommunication reforms performance fail to incorporate the importance of institutions into the empirical analysis. This study highlights the importance of institutional governance on telecommunications efficiency and provides empirical results for the impact of institutions on reform outcomes. It provides significant evidence that the institutional environment in which reform progress takes place is an important determinant for successful reform. This study uses stochastic distance function approach to capture the role of institutions in explaining the efficiency differences across 70 countries. The empirical analysis reveals that policy stability in the form of substantive checks and balances on executive power is the most important aspect for successful reform. Independently, legal integrity improves telecommunications efficiency through privatization, while greater freedom from corruption influences the effectiveness of a regulatory body.

Thesis (M.S. - Soils, Water and Engineering)--University of Arizona, 1982. / Bibliography: leaves 143-144.

Thesis (Ph. D. - Hydrology and Water Resources)--University of Arizona, 1983. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 159-166).