Applying Human Systems Integration to the Rapid Acquisition Process

The rapidly changing complexity of the Global War on Terrorism has changed the approach to equipping forward-deployed military forces. Combatant Commanders conducting operations now require timely materiel solutions to enhance mission capabilities and reduce the risk for individual soldiers. To address this challenge, the US Army established the Rapid Equipping Force to assess emerging requirements, to propose solutions to those requirements, and to implement those solutions in an expedient time frame. Unfortunately, the REF lacks a consistent analytical methodology for assessing alternative materiel solutions. To address the need for a human systems integration (HSI) analysis method, the authors developed an Assessment-Based Rapid Acquisition HSI Analysis Method (ABRAHAM) capable of generating tailored surveys and evaluating these surveys for unacceptable risks to soldiers. To validate ABRAHAM's concept and content, ABRAHAM was showcased in three Department of Defense settings: the Human Factors Engineering Technical Advisory Group, the REF, and the US Marine Corps' Operational Test and Evaluation Activity. The ABRAHAM appears to fill a gap in the current library of HSI tools. Based on the feedback provided during the product showcases, there is sufficient interest and technological maturity to further develop ABRAHAM to serve both the traditional and rapid acquisition processes.     

Livelihoods,daily mobility and poverty in sub-saharan Africa

Based on research funded by the UK Department for International Development, this paper investigates the utility of a livelihoods approach in identifying the mobility and accessibility needs of the poor. Mobility patterns and livelihoods of stratified samples of households in urban-to-rural corridors originating in the national capital cities of Zimbabwe and Uganda are compared, with emphasis on the poor's position relative to higher income groups. It is found that livelihood work was the most frequent purpose of short-distance travel for all income groups and localities, amounting to 38% of trip purposes in Uganda and 46% in Zimbabwe. On average, Zimbabweans were more mobile making more daily trips over longer distances reflective of greater reliance on motorized transport in the country. Nonetheless, walking dominates modal journeys in both countries. Ugandans display heavier dependence on bicycle and motorcycle transport primarily through taxi hire compared with Zimbabweans' private care and public kombi bus transport. Survey evidence suggests that Uganda's poor and middle-incomed urban and rural residents benefit from more widely available multimodal public transport.     

Current operational urban land‐use–transport modelling frameworks: A review

Various alternative frameworks are available for modelling urban land‐use–transport interaction. This paper provides a detailed review of six of these frameworks that have been or are currently being used to develop operational models. The intention is to indicate what is the general nature of the current state of practice and what is now available for practical modelling work in the area. The intention is also to compare the current state of practice with what might be the ideal in various respects. The six frameworks reviewed (ITLUP, MEPLAN, TRANUS, MUSSA, NYMTC‐LUM and UrbanSim) are considered in terms of their representations of physical systems, decision‐makers and processes, along with various more general modelling and implementation issues. None matches the ideal as envisaged here in all respects. However, a wide range of policy considerations can be handled explicitly with what is available, and more recent developments show an encouraging trend towards expansion in the scope of what can be considered. Further strengthening of the behavioural basis and relaxation of some of the more restrictive assumptions would appear to be both appropriate and likely in the future.     

An assessment of advanced transport telematics evaluation procedures

This paper reviews and critically assesses procedures which have been adopted to evaluate Advanced Transport Telematics (ATT) projects. The importance of such a review at this juncture stems from the changing position of ATT in transport planning. ATT is no longer simply a field for experimentation, where technical feasibility and user acceptance are dominant concerns. Rather it is a potential mainstream contributor to the functioning of road transport systems. For this reason, ATT project appraisal needs to be developed to the same form, level of sophistication and consistency as the appraisal of conventional transport infrastructure investment. Based on the review set out here, we argue that appropriate methods have not yet been established which, in turn, poses a number of challenging questions, since current socio‐economic evaluation procedures are not directly suited to either measuring or evaluating many of the impacts which ATT schemes are implemented to achieve.     

Book reviews

THE SEVENTH AUSTRALIAN TRANSPORT RESEARCH FORUM, by K. W. Ogden.

AIRLINE PLANNING: CORPORATE, FINANCIAL AND MARKETING by Nawal K. Taneja. Lexington, Mass., Lexington Books, 1982. 207 pp. (£19.50)

SOLVING LOCAL GOVERNMENT PROBLEMS: PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS OF OPERATIONS RESEARCH IN CITIES AND REGIONS, by Charles E. Pinkus and Anne Dixson. George Allen and Unwin, London, 1981. (Hardback £20.00; paperback £8.95)

SCIENTIFIC MANAGEMENT OF TRANSPORT SYSTEMS, edited by N. K. Jaismal. Published by North‐Holland Publishing Company (U.S. $58.50)

TRANSPORTATION AND TRAFFIC ENGINEERING HANDBOOK (Second Edition), edited by W. S. Homburger, Englewood Cliffs, N.J., 1982. Prentice Hall, pp. 883.

ECONOMICS OF PUBLIC TRANSPORT, by C. A. Nash. Longman, London, pp. 194. (£6.95).     

Book review

AUTOMATED‐TRANSIT GUIDEWAYS: ANALYSIS AND DESIGN, by Clarence W. de Silva and David N. Wormley. 276 pp. (£33.00)     

Scenario construction for transport planning

This paper argues that the types of uncertainty having the most serious consequences for transport planning are not captured by existing modelling procedures, which typically rely on a limited amount of sensitivity testing of plans based on extrapolative forecasts. It recommends as an alternative scenario‐based planning, an approach which is finding increasing application in private sector policy formation. The paper summarises the origins of scenario planning and the gradual broadening in its range of application, before going on to suggest methods of scenario construction suitable for transport planning applications. It considers the arguments for and against associating probabilities with scenarios and also addresses the problems of formulating transport strategies and evaluating them within the context of a scenario‐based approach to strategy choice.     

The wind-forced response on a buoyant coastal current: Observations of the western Gulf of Maine plume

The freshwater plume in the western Gulf of Maine is being studied as part of an interdisciplinary investigation of the physical transport of a toxic alga. A field program was conducted in the springs of 1993 and 1994 to map the spatial and temporal patterns of salinity, currents and algal toxicity. The observations suggest that the plume's cross-shore structure varies markedly as a function of fluctuations in alongshore wind forcing. Consistent with Ekman drift dynamics, upwelling favorable winds spread the plume offshore, at times widening it to over 50 km in offshore extent, while downwelling favorable winds narrow the plume width to as little as 10 km.Using a simple slab model, we find qualitative agreement between the observed variations of plume width and those predicted by Ekman theory for short time scales of integration. Near surface current meters show significant correlations between cross-shore currents and alongshore wind stress, consistent with Ekman theory. Estimates of the terms in the alongshore momentum equation calculated from moored current meter arrays also indicate a dominant Ekman balance within the plume. A significant correlation between alongshore currents and winds suggests that interfacial drag may be important, although inclusion of a Raleigh drag term does not significantly improve the alongshore momentum balance.     

Fatigue design approach for the spot-welded T-type member using a simulated single spot-welded joint

In order to develop a fatigue design method for actual railroad car and commercial vehicle body structures using the fatigue data of simulated single spot-welded lap joints, we first analyzed the stress distribution and evaluated fatigue strength of spot-welded T-type members that are the components of actual railroad car and commercial vehicle body structures. Next, fatigue design approach of these members using the fatigue data of single spot-welded lap joints was investigated. From our results, we found that, even though there was a quantitative difference of fatigue strength between the single spot-welded joint and the actual members over the same number of fatigue cycles, through the use of appropriate correction, the fatigue design criterion of actual spot-welded members, such as those used in railroad car and commercial vehicle body, can be predicted using the fatigue strength of single spot-welded joint.