Post deregulation, many U.S. airlines created hubs with banked schedules, however, in the past decade these same airlines began to experiment with depeaking their schedules to reduce costs and improve operational performance. To date there has been little research that has investigated revenue and operational shifts associated with depeaked schedules; yet understanding the trade-offs among revenue, costs, and operational performance at a network level is critical before airlines will consider future depeaking and related congestion-management strategies. This study develops data cleaning and analysis methodologies based on publicly available data that are used to quantify airport-level and network-level revenue and operational changes associated with schedule depeaking. These methodologies are applied to six case studies of airline depeaking over the past decade. Results show that depeaking is associated with revenue per available seat mile (RASM) increasing slower than the rest of the network and the industry as a whole. Depeaking is associated with improved operations for both the depeaking airlines and competitors. Airports benefit from increases in non-aeronautical sales associated with connecting passengers spending more time in the terminal. The underlying reasons driving airlines' scheduling decisions during depeaking vary greatly by case. Results from the study provide insights for airlines that are considering depeaking and the airports which are affected. The results suggest that losses in RASM and no improvement in operations could potentially lead an airline to repeak, and that RASM is prone to fall when a strong competitive threat exists.

As-built schedules prepared during and after construction are valuable tools for State Highway Agencies (SHAs) to monitor construction progress, evaluate contractor's schedule performance, and defend against any potential disputes. However, previous studies indicate that current as-built schedule development methods are manual and rely on information scattered in various field diaries and meeting minutes. SHAs have started to collect field activity data in digital databases that can be used to automatically generate as-built schedules if proper computational algorithms are developed. This study develops computational algorithms and a prototype system to automatically generate and visualize project level and activity level as-built schedules during and after construction. The algorithm is validated using a real highway project data. The study is expected to significantly aid SHAs in making better use of field data, facilitate as-built schedule development, monitor construction progress with higher granularity, and utilize as-built schedule for productivity analysis.

Today flexibility is an important part of organizational work. This study investigated the relationship between level of flexibility in scheduling and conflict level in caregiving teams, while controlling for team cohesion, team trust, age, team size and how long they have been in the team. The study was conducted in two small towns in the southeast of Sweden in elderly care and handicap care organizations. The ages of participants varied from 16 to 65 years. Out of 109 participants who filled out questionnaires 61 worked with an adapted (flexible) schedule and 48 with the ordinary schedule. Results showed no significant difference between the scheduling types and the conflict level, even after controlling for the named variables. Overall, it was found that team trust and team cohesion were more important for conflict level than scheduling type. / Today flexibility is an important part of organizational work. This study investigated the relationship between level of flexibility in scheduling and conflict level in caregiving teams, while controlling for team cohesion, team trust, age, team size and how long they have been in the team. The study was conducted in two small towns in the southeast of Sweden in elderly care and handicap care organizations. The ages of participants varied from 16 to 65 years. Out of 109 participants who filled out questionnaires 61 worked with an adapted (flexible) schedule and 48 with the ordinary schedule. Results showed no significant difference between the scheduling types and the conflict level, even after controlling for the named variables. Overall, it was found that team trust and team cohesion were more important for conflict level than scheduling type.

The purpose of this study was to determine the differences, if any, between junior high school and senior high school industrial arts teachers in the seven areas of temperament measured by the Thurstone Temperament Schedule.

The effect of a reinforcer on behavior is largely determined by the schedule in which it is implemented. One type of reinforcement schedule that has not been explored extensively is conjugate reinforcement. Previous researchers have used conjugate schedules to evaluate a reinforcer's effects on behavior and as an assessment tool. However, none have explored how to effectively engineer conjugate schedules in applied settings. The current study explores the effectiveness of conjugate reinforcement implemented by several interventionists across a variety of responses, reinforcers, and in a wide range of participants with autism. The results indicated that delivering social, audio/visual, and tangible stimuli in a conjugate schedule resulted in increased durations of various target responses (e.g. social skills, motor skills) and non-targeted measures (e.g., approach, social bids, speed) across participants. Considerations regarding reinforcer and response selection in implementing conjugate schedules in applied settings are provided.

The purpose of this series of studies was to evaluate the effects of schedule thinning and delay-to-reinforcement following intervention for individuals diagnosed with intellectual and developmental disabilities. Study one was a systematic review of the available literature on schedule thinning, and study two evaluated the effects of a novel approach to delay-to-reinforcement following functional communication training. Results of both studies found that schedule thinning and delay-to-reinforcement are efficacious procedures for continued reductions in challenging behavior following intervention.

In order to meet the fast-growing demand, airlines have applied much more compact air-fleet operation schedules which directly lead to airport congestion. One result is the flight delay, which appears more frequently and seriously; the flight delay can also significantly damage airline's profitability and reputation The aim of this project is to enhance the dispatch reliability of Australian X Airline's fleet through a newly developed approach to reliability modeling, which employs computer-aided numerical simulation of the departure delay distribution and related cost to achieve the flight schedule optimization. The reliability modeling approach developed in this project is based on the probability distributions and Monte Carlo Simulation (MCS) techniques. Initial (type I) delay and propagated (type II) delay are adopted as the criterion for data classification and analysis. The randomicity of type I delay occurrence and the internal relationship between type II delay and changed flight schedule are considered as the core factors in this new approach of reliability modeling, which compared to the conventional assessment methodologies, is proved to be more accurate on the departure delay and cost evaluation modeling. The Flight Delay and Cost Simulation Program (FDCSP) has been developed (Visual Basic 6.0) to perform the complicated numerical calculations through significant amount of pseudo-samples. FDCSP is also designed to provide convenience for varied applications in dispatch reliability modeling. The end-users can be airlines, airports and aviation authorities, etc. As a result, through this project, a 16.87% reduction in departure delay is estimated to be achieved by Australian X Airline. The air-fleet dispatch reliability has been enhanced to a higher level - 78.94% compared to initial 65.25%. Thus, 13.35% of system cost can be saved. At last, this project also achieves to set a more practical guideline for air-fleet database and management upon overall dispatch reliability optimization.

Software handover is a de facto process in all software organizations. It is one of the most business critical and complex processes. It is also one of the most diverse processes, and thereby, one of the most difficult processes to define. Despite this, software handover is not well recognized within the academia. Right now, there are no software handover process models whatsoever although software organizations desperately need guidelines for how to perform this important and critical task. To aid them in defining their handover process models, we are in the process of creating Evolution and Maintenance Management Model (EM 3 ): Software Handover focusing on handover (alias transition) of a software system from developer to maintainer. In this paper, we evaluate one of the EM 3 components, Management and Administration (MA), addressing activities for planning and controlling the transition process, its schedule, budget and resources. We do it within 29 organizations. Our primary goal is to find out whether the component is realistic and whether it meets the needs and requirements of the software industry today. Using the feedback from the industry, we tackle process diversity using the C ontext- D riven P rocess Orchestration M ethod (CoDPOM). / <p>QC 20120223</p>

Abstract This company is a special steel company. The production process of G Company is start from steel making, then go through forging, heat treatment, rolling, and finishing process. G Company acquired AS9100 certification from Canada QMI in June 2006, and awarded as U.S. Boeing supplier in July 2006, then gradually certified by five aerospace companies in the same year. From the moment on, G became the metallurgical material supplier of aerospace. G Company only can provide high-strength, low-alloy material with original production line. Since G Company want to make the level of their product higher then before, they planed to invest the vacuum refining furnace equipment for producing the heat-resistant, high strength material. G Company starts to plan to construct the aerospace material plant from year 2007. But in 2008, G Company met the global financial tsunami, they decided to defer the plan for six months, until March in 2009, they start afresh to build this plant. G company use the project management techniques to carry out control all the jobs, like equipment procurement, design of plant, and project bidding, to make sure the entire project would be completed on time. G is the only one specialty steel manufacturer in Taiwan. Competition among the international manufacturers to enter the market of super alloy material is intense. The planning included the processes design, the market analysis, the product specifications, the installation of equipments, commissioning, and then put into production. These are all the team members to be involved in all aspects of proper use of project management to reach the success. Since the use of project management is important, I take this super-alloy plant project as a case for study. This study includes the following items: business plan, investment risk estimate, product mix, production capability design, production process design, plant layout design, team organization, civil construction and equipment installation, etc. These are the basis of this research, and reference to many other literature and documents to make this business plan in the integrity.

¡@For engineering and construction companies, EPCK Projects which include engineering, procurement, construction and commissioning are the most difficult and complex project type for execution, due to the facts that those projects cover all project aspects (E, P, C and K), and are involved by the most amount and variety of stakeholders, especially EPCK projects for the oil refinery and petrochemical plants, which are combined with the most engineering variables and challenges, and could not be handled without care, even for the worldwide renowned engineering companies. ¡@ ¡@The key project control targets for EPCK projects are quality management, time management, cost management and HSE management. Based on PMBOK, project management includes five Project Processes, i.e. initiating, planning, executing, controlling and closing processes. Among the five processes, planning management is the most important one. If planned well in advance, project could be executed orderly as scheduled. Project Management Knowledge Areas include integration management, scope management, time management, cost management, quality management, human resource management, communication management, risk management and procurement management plans. The integration management is the most important knowledge area, while time management and cost management equally take second place. ¡@ ¡@During the execution of EPCK Project, besides meeting the codes/regulations, specifications and standards, time management and key milestones achievement for meeting contract requirement are most challenging. ¡@ ¡@With regard to shortening the design schedule or changing the design process to meet the EPCK project targets, CTCI¡¦s R&D department had already provided some counter strategies for reaching the targets, but yet provided no solutions to the shortages of the pipe fittings and flanges encountered during pipe prefabrication stage, which every project, not only in domestic but also in overseas, needs to face with, and this issue needs to be further studied in order to find out the improving strategies, which constitute the main topics of this study. ¡@ ¡@The main target of this case study is to solve the shortages of piping fittings and flanges frequently encountered during the project construction phase. For solving this issue, through collecting the execution data of the past domestic oil refinery and petrochemical plant projects of the latest 5 years, sorting out and analyzing the data, this study found out the causes and the counter strategies to shorten total project execution time and meet contract requirements. ¡@ ¡@This case study also used the EPCK P-Project as a pilot project for implementing the new strategies, compared the results with the actual data of the past domestic oil refinery and petrochemical projects, either completed already or currently on-going, explored the differences and did the difference analysis accordingly so as to verify the study results, and hopefully these study conclusions could be used as the reference materials for business process re-engineering in the future, and help the engineering firms to accomplish the mission of sustainable operation.