The subject of this master‘s thesis is the design of a passenger quadcopter, which is intended for transporting two passengers and luggage. Diploma thesis includes an analysis of the existing products and deals with further direction in the solved topic. The goal of this thesis is to create a conceptual design that respects the technical, ergonomic and aesthetic requirements. The proposal itself offers possible direction of autonomous passenger quadcopters in the future.

After decades of standstill in intercity passenger rail in the United States, the Obama administration recently started major initiatives to implement high-speed ground transportation projects that are expected to improve the nation's transportation system significantly, addressing most prevailing issues like congestion and energy prices while having positive effects on the economy. This study evaluates and compares two high-speed ground transportation systems that have the potential to improve intercity passenger transportation in the United States significantly: the wheel-on-rail high-speed system and the high-speed maglev system. Both high-speed ground transportation systems were evaluated with respect to 58 characteristics organized into 7 categories associated with technology, environmental impacts, economic considerations, user-friendliness, operations, political factors, and safety. Based on the performance of each system in each of the 58 characteristics, benefit values were assigned. In order to weight the relative importance of the different characteristics, a survey was conducted with transportation departments and transportation professionals. The survey produced weighting factors scoring each of the 58 characteristics and the 7 categories. Applying a multi-criteria decision making (MCDM) approach, the overall utility values for either system were calculated based on the benefit values from the systems comparison and the weighting factors from the survey. It was shown that the high-speed maglev system is generally slightly superior over the wheel-on-rail high-speed system. Because the magnitude of the difference in the overall performance of both transportation systems is not very big, it is recommended that every project in the high-speed intercity passenger transportation market consider both HSGT systems equally.

The first part of a study of passenger flight experience of Urban Air Mobility was completed. This first part included the design of different Urban Air Mobility vehicle models, in which the passenger flight experience would be quantitatively measured. A first version of a simulator setup, in which the measurements were performed, was also developed. Three concept vehicle models, a single main rotor, a side-by-side rotor and a quadrotor, were designed in the conceptual design software NDARC. The vehicles were electrically propelled with battery technology based on future technology predictions and were designed for autonomous flight with one passenger. The emissions of the vehicles were analyzed and compared with an existing turboshaft helicopter. The interface between NDARC and the flight dynamics analysis and control system software FlightCODE, which was used to create control systems to the NDARC models,  was developed to fit the vehicle configurations considered. The simulator setup was created with a VR headset, the flight simulation software X-Plane, an external autopilot software and stress sensors. Trial runs with the simulator setup were performed and gave important data for the continued development. Planned upgrades of the simulation station were presented and the continuation of the study was discussed.

The increasing population leads to higher passenger travel demand in Stockholm. The public transport becomes more and more crowded in rush hours. However, passengers carry out decisions usually based on limited traffic information and their travel experience. Passengers cannot take the initiative to avoid crowding based on existing SL traffic information. Real time crowding information (RTCI) research aims to help passenger to have more initiative to plan their travel in metro system, and assist operator to have higher space utilization efficiency. RTCI system contains4 subsystems: projection system, communication system, speaker system and recording system. The practical test was applied in Tekniska Högskolan metro station for two weeks in May 2015 with the permission from SL. The triangle analysis was applied to analyze the impacts of RTCI. The analysiscontains three analysis methods: passenger load data analysis, video record analysis and interview result analysis. The interview result shows RTCI increased round nine tenth of passengers ‘satisfaction and 43% of interviewees thought it was very useful for them. The calculation based on video record and interview result shows that 25% of passengers consulted this information and changed their behaviors on platform. According to the video record, the path became wider and passenger flow became smoother while RTCI system was activated. Passenger distribution was more even in metro based on passenger load data. The number of passengers who got into last unit train increased 8%, and the number in first and second unit train decreased 4% during RTCI practical test. The thesis mainly focused to analyze the impacts of RTCI instead of solving technical challenges. But the technical solution for RTCI system was proposed in thesis. The concept - “Smart Travel” was discussed in chapter11 which mainly considers travel time, crowding information and travel cost as most important factors to passenger.

published_or_final_version / Transport Policy and Planning / Master / Master of Arts in Transport Policy and Planning

The chromosome passenger complex (CPC) is an essential mitotic regulator with key roles in mitotic processes such as chromosome condensation, spindle dynamics, chromosome bi-orientation, the spindle checkpoint and cytokinesis. The Aurora B kinase is the CPC’s catalytic subunit. Its targeting and activation are dependent on interactions with the other components of the complex: inner centromere protein (INCENP), survivin and borealin/Dasra B. INCENP serves both as a scaffolding subunit for the CPC as a whole and as an activator of Aurora B via its highly conserved INbox domain. Aurora B is a putative anti‐cancer target; several inhibitors of the kinase are currently in clinical trials. All these are ATP-analogues targeting the kinase active site. The protein-­protein interaction between Aurora B and the INCENP INbox is also essential for CPC function. Earlier studies have demonstrated that INCENP INbox mutants unable to bind and/or activate Aurora B cannot rescue lethality in the absence of endogenous INCENP. The first goal of this study was to test the in vivo effects of disrupting the interaction between endogenous wild type INCENP and Aurora B. For this, a cell-based CPC function assay was developed in HeLa cells. Using this assay, I show that expression of soluble INbox in HeLa cells produces a significant increase in multinucleated and micronucleated cells: both effects consistent with Aurora B loss of function. Expression of soluble INbox bearing the mutations W845G and/or F881A does not elicit this effect suggesting that those mutants cannot bind to Aurora B and occlude INCENP binding. The result concerning the F881A mutant contrasts with earlier reports that equivalent mutants could bind, but not activate, Aurora B. Expression of an INbox mutant lacking the C-­terminal TSS motif reported to be involved in Aurora B activation but not binding has effects similar to those of the wild type INbox. Using the INbox/Aurora B interaction as a model, a secondary goal of this study was to develop and evaluate a novel approach to identify small peptides capable of dissociating intracellular protein‐protein interactions. For this, a library of small (5-­9 residues long) circular peptides (CPs) mimicking the INbox was generated using the split intein circular ligation of proteins and peptides (SICLOPPS) methodology and assayed using the cell-­based CPC function assay. Over two successive rounds of screening, a small number of CPs were identified that caused a significant increase in rates of multinucleated and micronucleated cells. Although statistically significant, these increases were very modest. Furthermore, due to high heterogeneity in SICLOPPS processing efficiencies, it was not practicable to compare the effects of different peptides side-­by-side by transfection. The level of variation in processing efficiency – thus, CP production – was unexpectedly high and puts into question the functional complexity of more commonly used combinatorial cyclic peptide libraries derived using current SICLOPPS methodology. The results of this study are divided into three sections. The first is a methods section concerning the testing of SICLOPPS in HeLa cells and the development of a cell­‐based CPC function assay. In the second, the effects of expressing soluble INbox and mutants thereof in HeLa cells are presented. The final results section presents the results of the feasibility study of the rationally-­designed genetically encoded library approach.

Master of Science / Department of Mechanical and Nuclear Engineering / Mohammad H. Hosni / Byron W. Jones / With the increasing number of passengers traveling on commercial aircraft, it is important to mitigate the possibility of diseases and contaminants spreading throughout aircraft cabins and becoming harmful to the health of passengers. The ventilation system on a Boeing 767 aircraft is designed to create lateral flow to isolate contaminants to a single row of the cabin and remove the harmful air quickly. There are many variables that can influence the airflow patterns inside the cabin. The thermal plumes created by occupants are one of the variables investigated in this experimentation. Another special case investigated is the transport of gases in the cabin when the ventilation air is eliminated. Experimentation is performed in a mock-up Boeing 767 cabin. The mock-up enclosure consists of 11 rows and 7 columns of seats in each row. Ventilation apparatus, seating, and cabin dimensions used for testing are all representative of an actual aircraft. Thermal manikins are placed in the cabin seats to simulate the heat load from a seated person. A mixture of carbon dioxide (CO²) and helium (He) is injected into the cabin as a tracer gas to simulate the release of contaminants. The CO² concentration is measured by analyzers placed at the cabin inlet, exhaust, and seat of interest. The tracer gas can be injected and sampled at any of the 77 seats. In order to determine the effects of passenger density, testing is performed with maximum occupant load and repeated with half of the passenger load. Tracer gas is injected in three locations of the cabin and sampled in 32 seats for each injection seat. The testing revealed a significant effect of passenger load on airflow patterns. To determine the effects of removing the ventilation air, the cabin is supplied with 1400 cfm of outdoor air at 60°F for three hours to bring the cabin to a steady state temperature. Then, the supply air is shut off, and tracer gas is injected into the cabin and the CO² concentration is sampled at 12 locations throughout the cabin. It was found that contaminants are still transported throughout the cabin without the ventilation air.

Thesis advisor: Michael Barry / This paper will study the effects of airline alliances on the economic welfare of passengers and airlines by studying how membership in an airline alliance affects ticket price, revenue passenger miles, and available seat utilization. This paper will analyze three sets of data from the US Department of Transportation, including the DB1BTicket Report, the T-100 International Segment Report, and the T1: US Air Carrier Traffic and Capacity Summary by Service Class. The purpose of this paper is to determine how airline alliances effect consumer welfare. The results show that airline alliances lead to higher fares on domestic routes as well as greater passenger revenue miles and available seat utilization. This paper shows that more anti-trust investigation should be taking place regarding airline alliances. / Thesis (BS) — Boston College, 2011. / Submitted to: Boston College. Carroll School of Management. / Discipline: College Honors Program. / Discipline: Finance.

Esta tese relata e discute conclusões, métodos e processos usados para mostrar que tendências identificadas ao estudar relações estatísticas entre o número de passageiros transportados, distâncias entre cidades e número de habitantes, variáveis que podem contribuir para explicar o comportamento do volume de deslocamentos de habitantes do Brasil quando o meio de transporte for o ônibus interestadual. Foi montado um banco de dados adotado específico com dados publicados por órgãos públicos de governo do Brasil e colaboração de empresas públicas, privadas e entidades de classe. Os dados foram manuseados para se obter um conjunto contínuo de informação sobre o movimento de passageiros ao longo de 20 anos, entre 1980 e 2000. Foram estudados tendências e comportamento do próprio número de passageiros, distância média por viagem, número médio de viagens e distância viajada por habitante do Brasil. Concluiu-se que estimativas obtidas por análise de regressão linear geram séries de tendência crescente. Mas, estimativas obtidas por uso de séries temporais identificaram tendências para a estabilidade ou a redução dos valores estimados para as variáveis estudadas. / This thesis reports and discusses conclusions, methods and processes used to show that identified tendencies when studying statistical relationships among the number of transported passengers, distances between cities and number of inhabitants can contribute to explain the behavior of the volume of inhabitants from Brazil displacements when the means of transportation is the interstate bus. A database was set up adopted specific with data published by government's from Brazil and collaboration of public companies, private and class entities. The data were handled to obtain a continuous group of information on the passengers' movement along 20 years, between 1980 and 2000. Tendencies and behavior of the own number of passengers, medium distance for trip, medium number of trips and distance travels for inhabitant from Brazil were studied. The estimates obtained from linear regression analysis of generate series of growing tendency for the number of transported passengers. But, estimates obtained using temporal series identified tendencies for the stability or the reduction of the estimated values for the studied variables.

Os terminais aeroportuários de passageiros, como um tipo de edifício que nasceu há apenas um século, têm se apresentado, ao longo do tempo, através de soluções muito diversificadas, que revelam a grande dificuldade de se ajustar às necessidades impostas pela aviação e o transporte aéreo em sua extraordinária e contínua evolução, desde os primeiros tempos até os dias atuais. Os principais tipos de solução que foram se cristalizando nesse período e aos quais se está designando como conceitos operacionais, representam um significativo patrimônio técnico e constituem-se em bases iniciais importantes para a arquitetura dos terminais aeroportuários. No entanto, os conceitos operacionais não abrangem todos os aspectos que dizem respeito à disciplina arquitetura, tanto em âmbito geral, quanto no que especificamente se relaciona com esse tipo de edifício. Muitos outros aspectos devem ser considerados, entre os quais, destacam-se os relacionados com a identidade e o lugar que, mais do que em qualquer outro tipo de edifício, devem estar presentes na arquitetura dos terminais de passageiros. / Airport passenger terminals, even though a building type born only one hundred years ago, have been the target, throughout the time, of much different solutions, a fact that reveal the great difficulties to adjust to aviation and air transport demands in constant and extraordinary evolution, from the early years to nowadays. The most meaningful design solutions that have been consolidated in time, which have been established as functional concepts, offer an important technical legacy, as well as starting points for the architectural decisions concerning passenger terminals. However, these concepts cannot enclose all aspects regarding to the architectural problem of airport passenger terminals. Many other aspects must be taken into consideration, especially those related to the concepts of identity and place, which must be present in the architecture of passenger terminals, more than in the architecture of any other building type.