Air Sector Research Articles

Acercamiento al campo de la Psicología aeronáutica

El impacto de la psicología en el sector aeronáutico es innegable. Este artículo presenta un estudio de profundización que indaga la forma en la cual el sector aéreo ha recurrido a la ciencia que indaga por las motivaciones del comportamiento, y trata de que ésta permita entender de qué manera la actuación humana se ajusta con los objetivos que buscan fomentar y mantener la seguridad operacional a través del estudio e intervención sobre el elemento humano y la comprensión de los Factores Humanos en Aviación. Se hace un recorrido por la definición del campo y la forma en que éste, desde sus comienzos, tuvo un interés por las respuestas comportamentales humanas en las condiciones de vuelo, así como preguntas sobre la selección de las personas que intervienen en la operación aérea y finalmente, el impacto de este campo en el contexto colombiano. El presente texto pretende situar cómo se ha definido la psicología aeronáutica, cuál es su objeto de estudio y la concepción de sujeto al interior de esta. Así mismo, plantear algunas de las limitaciones del hacer del psicólogo en este campo.

Analyzing the topological characteristic and key nodes of Chinese air sector network

In this paper, an air sector network (ASN) model is established based on the airspace of Chinese mainland. Meanwhile, the ASN is a weighted graph whose nodes are sectors, and its edge weight is the flights between sectors. In addition, a node ranking algorithm is proposed according to the variation coefficient method (VCM). Then, the topological structure of the ASN is analyzed by the complex network theory, simultaneously, the key sectors are ranked through the proposed VCM. The results indicate that the ASN has heterogeneous and assortativity structure characteristics to a certain extent. Finally, the effectiveness of the proposed VCM centrality measure is verified by the susceptible-infected-removed (SIR) model and Kendall’s tau coefficient. Results show that the VCM centrality method is applicable and effective.

Local Emissions and Regional Wildfires Influence Refractory Black Carbon Observations Near Palmer Station, Antarctica

Antarctica is often regarded as the most pristine continent on Earth. However, local human activity can be significant point sources of production of contaminants, as well as light absorbing aerosols, such as black carbon (BC). In May 2015, over the Austral fall season (at the beginning of the accumulation season), surface snow was sampled at eight sites along a 1.7 km transect extending from Palmer Station, Antarctica. Two additional sites were sampled on Biscoe Point 14 km from the station. Snow samples were analyzed for refractory black carbon (rBC) with a Single Particle Soot Photometer (SP2). rBC concentrations increased with proximity to the Palmer Station 1.2 - 16.5 µg-rBC/L-H2O (4.7 ± 4.9 µg-rBC/L-H2O) and were higher than other studies of rBC in snow, such as in the McMurdo Dry Valleys, Antarctica (MDV) and the Clean Air Sector of the South Pole Station (CAS-SP), except on the more remote Biscoe Island, 0.4 - 1.2 µg-rBC/L-H2O, which had similar background concentrations to the MDV and CAS-SP, 0.3 - 1.2 (0.6 ± 0.3 µg-rBC/L-H2O) and (0.14 – 0.80 µg-rBC/L-H2O), respectively. However, concentrations were lower than previous observations at South Pole Station downwind of the generator and long the runway (6.6 – 7000 µg-rBC/L-H2O). Palmer Station is located on the southwestern coast of Anvers Island which lies off the western coast of the Antarctic Peninsula at 64° 46’S, 64° 03’ W. Comparison with the Navy Aerosol Analysis Prediction System (NAAPS) model show that wildfire smoke may have reached this region of the Antarctic continent during the time period of the deposition of this seasonal snow, suggesting the increase in rBC may be a combination of local combustion of fossil fuels and regional wildfires. Although significant increases in rBC concentrations are found within a km of Palmer Station, like the South Pole Station, rBC is limited to a few kms from the station. Additionally, these measurements of rBC, which may be the only BC measurements in snow on the Antarctic Peninsula, show that background levels are similar to other locations on the continent.

A topologia das linhas aéreas no Brasil: novas lógicas do poder territorial

Discussing the business strategies in the Brazilian air transport sector requires an analysis about the performance of the main companies in this market: Latam Airlines, Gol Airlines, Avianca Brazil and Azul Brazilian Airlines. The activities of these companies are concentrated in the main airports of Brazil, especially in the fixed airports located in the Concentrated Region of the country. The territorial configuration of flights is a trend that comes from the performance of the old company Varig Brazilian Airlines, which centralized its flights in the main hubs of Brazil, starting from a regional base until becoming recognized worldwide before going bankrupt, causing the shrinkage of its air network and defining an end point in its expansion. Today, it is observed that there is a new logic of capital that has redefined this flights aerial topology with a distribution from the airports located in the Concentrated Region of the country. There is a territorial rearticulation, based on a relative decentralization of the national connections in a process of valorization of the regional scale, like the company Azul Brazilian Airlines, that increased exponentially the service of air transport in those places where there was an underutilized demand. Thus, this article aims, based on a historical-geographical approach, to analyze and discuss the Brazilian air sector as a way to verify how the strategy articulates the dynamics of capital to a territorial power.

Environmental regulation, economic growth and air pollution: Panel threshold analysis for OECD countries

Particles with a diameter of <2.5 μm (PM2.5) have serious adverse-effects on human health, which have caused widespread public concern in recent decades. Currently, most of the existing research on PM2.5 have used linear regression analysis; very few studies on the subject have been conducted using non-linear models. This study adopts a panel threshold model, which is seldom used in environmental studies, to examine the non-linear effects of environmental regulation and economic growth on PM2.5 in 30 OECD countries, and we also explore the key driving socio-economic factors for PM2.5 emissions. The results of our analysis show that, along with an increase in environmental policy stringency, PM2.5 emissions first rise and then show no significant correlations, and thus a reduction in emissions can be expected if current trends continue. As for GDP per capita, significant and negative correlations are found across the three phases divided by the panel threshold model, indicating a promoting effect for PM2.5 mitigation. In addition, public expenditure on the air sector correlated positively with PM2.5 concentrations, expanding the share of service economy reward to reduce air pollution, and urban population ratio exhibits an inverted U-shaped pattern. Future studies may shed more light on the regulation-PM2.5 nexus, and more studies are needed to confirm the existence of bi-directional correlations between economic development and air pollution.

Establishing long-term measurements of halocarbons at Taunus Observatory

Abstract. In late 2013, a whole air flask collection programme was started at Taunus Observatory (TO) in central Germany. Being a rural site in close proximity to the Rhine–Main area, Taunus Observatory allows assessment of emissions from a densely populated region. Owing to its altitude of 825 m, the site also regularly experiences background conditions, especially when air masses approach from north-westerly directions. With a large footprint area mainly covering central Europe north of the Alps, halocarbon measurements at the site have the potential to improve the database for estimation of regional and total European halogenated greenhouse gas emissions. Flask samples are collected weekly for offline analysis using a GC/MS system simultaneously employing a quadrupole as well as a time-of-flight mass spectrometer. As background reference, additional samples are collected approximately once every 2 weeks at the Mace Head Atmospheric Research Station (MHD) when air masses approach from the site's clean air sector. Thus the time series at TO can be linked to the in situ AGAGE measurements and the NOAA flask sampling programme at MHD. An iterative baseline identification procedure separates polluted samples from baseline data. While there is good agreement of baseline mixing ratios between TO and MHD, with a larger variability of mixing ratios at the continental site, measurements at TO are regularly influenced by elevated halocarbon mixing ratios. Here, first time series are presented for CFC-11, CFC-12, HCFC-22, HFC-134a, HFC-227ea, HFC-245fa, and dichloromethane. While atmospheric mixing ratios of the chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) decrease, they increase for the hydrochlorofluorocarbons (HCFCs) and the hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs). Small unexpected differences between CFC-11 and CFC-12 are found with regard to frequency and relative enhancement of high mixing ratio events and seasonality, although production and use of both compounds are strictly regulated by the Montreal Protocol, and therefore a similar decrease in atmospheric mixing ratios should occur. Dichloromethane, a solvent about which recently concerns have been raised regarding its growing influence on stratospheric ozone depletion, does not show a significant trend with regard to both baseline mixing ratios and the occurrence of pollution events at Taunus Observatory for the time period covered, indicating stable emissions in the regions that influence the site. An analysis of trajectories from the Hybrid Single Particle Lagrangian Integrated Trajectory (HYSPLIT) model reveals differences in halocarbon mixing ranges depending on air mass origin.

Analysis of high-speed rail and airline transport cooperation in presence of non-purchase option

We study cooperation between the airline and high-speed rail (HSR) sectors by formulating their joint profit as a maximization problem using a multinomial logit choice model in a three-node setting. We allow the non-purchase option as an outside option available to consumers. The demand for each choice is not only a function of the price but also the service quality, such as the total trip time, frequency of service, and ease of connecting from the hub to a nearby HSR station. As a result, the following findings are presented. First, regardless of the service quality of either sector and the non-purchase option, cooperation decreases the total volume of the domestic market of a country. Second, when the attractiveness of the outside option is high, the HSR and air sectors can prevent a large reduction in the total volume by cooperation in the connecting market. However, this is not the case in the domestic market. Third, if the non-purchase quality in the domestic market is high, then cooperation increases the social welfare of the whole market. If the non-purchase quality is low, then cooperation increases the welfare of the whole market only in cases where the number of potential customers in the connecting market is relatively large. We also show the effect of improving air–rail service quality on each market share and on the total profit.

Air-Rail Cooperation and Multiple-Airports System: A Revenue-Sharing Mechanism between Air and Rail Sectors

This paper investigates cooperation between air transport and high-speed rail (HSR), with the air sector reimbursing air-HSR transfer passengers for their HSR tickets while the rail sector sharing revenue with the air sector to compensate for the reimbursement. The air-HSR cooperation facilitates forming a multiple-airports system (MAS). The conditions for reaching such an air-HSR cooperation, with either a competing or monopolized air sector in the MAS, are explored. We find that when the HSR operator is oriented to maximize social welfare, or when the air sectors are monopolized in the MAS, the air-HSR cooperation is more likely to arise. Furthermore, airport congestion has important implications on such air-HSR cooperation. Specifically, air-HSR revenue sharing is conducive to welfare improvement as it is more effective in diverting passengers from the capacity-constrained airport. However, when the air sectors are monopolized, their self-internalization of congestion may discourage HSR from engaging in the revenue sharing. We also find that improving connectivity of airport and HSR station may not always be welfare-enhancing with competing air sectors in the MAS. Finally, the Pareto efficient range of revenue sharing to achieve the air-HSR cooperation is identified.

Stable two-sided matching of slot allocation in airport collaborative decision making by top trading cycles mechanism

The problem of capacity shortage in some airports needs to be dealt with sustainable solutions including a more efficient use of the existing runway slots at the airports. The Collaborative Decision Making (CDM) is an important approach applied to Air Traffic Management (ATM) to achieve this efficient use of the slots allocation. Using the Matching approach for two-sided markets of Game theory, the Top Trading Cycle CDM (TTC-CDM) algorithm developed in this research is an extension of the CDM approach aggregating the Ground Delay Program (GDP) of the air sector. The paper compared the developed TTC-CDM model to the existing models such as the conventional Compression algorithm in CDM, the Trade Cycle algorithm and the Deferred Acceptance CDM (DA-CDM) model to evaluate the performance of the proposed model. Through a case study, the results show the effective application of TTC-CDM model to slot allocation in ATM and also presents the advantage of considering the preferences of airport managers beside ATC controllers and airlines in the decision processing.

Transportation in a 100% renewable energy system

A 100% renewable economy would give a lasting solution to the challenges raised by climate change, energy security, sustainability, and pollution. The conversion of the present transport system appears to be one of the most difficult aspects of such renewable transition. This study reviews the technologies and systems that are being proposed or proven as alternative to fossil-fuel based transportation, and their prospects for their entry into the post-carbon era, from both technological and energetic viewpoints. The energetic cost of the transition from the current transportation system into global 100% renewable transportation is estimated, as well as the electrical energy required for the operation of the new renewable transportation sector. A 100% renewable transport providing the same service as global transport in 2014 would demand about 18% less energy. The main reduction is expected in road transport (69%), but the shipping and air sectors would notably increase their consumptions: 163% and 149%, respectively. The analysis concludes that a 100% renewable transportation is feasible, but not necessarily compatible with indefinite increase of resources consumption. The major material and energy limitations and obstacles of each transport sector for this transition are shown.

Carbon and Energy Saving Financial Opportunities in the Industrial Compressed Air Sector

The transition towards a more sustainable energy scenario calls for both medium-to-long and short term interventions, with CO2 reduction and fossil fuel saving as main goals for all the Countries in the World. Among all others, one way to support these efforts is the setting-up of immaterial markets able to regulate, in the form of purchase and sales quotas, CO2 emissions avoided and fossil fuels not consumed. As a consequence, the upgrade of those sectors, characterized by high energy impact, is currently more than an option due to the related achievable financial advantage on the afore mentioned markets. Being responsible for about 10% electricity consumption in Industry, the compressed air sector is currently addressed as extremely appealing, when CO2 emissions and burned fossil fuels saving are in question. In the paper, once a standard is defined for compressors performances, based on data from the Compressed Air and Gas Institute and PNEUROP, the achievable energy saving is evaluated along with the effect in terms of CO2 emissions: with reference to those contexts in which mature intangible markets are established, an estimation of the financial benefit from savings sale on correspondent markets is possible, in terms of both avoided CO2 and fossil fuels not burned. The approach adopted allows to extend the analysis results to every context of interest, by applying the appropriate emission factor to the datum on compressor specific consumption.

The Reflections of Israeli Siege over Economic and Social Indices on Gaza Strip

Gaza’s economy is still suffering from the Israeli blockade and the continued closure policy for a long time which have become more rigorous since 2000 and increased with the construction of the Apartheid wall in 2002. After the Israeli retraction from Gaza in 2005, the economic conditions were exacerbated in which Israel continued control over the air, sea and land private sectors. Moreover, in 2007, the restrictions have increased and switched into expanded blockade separates Gaza strip from the outside world. In spite of the mitigations that carried on during 2007-2015 period, represents in increasing the goods quantities which allowed to enter and exit from Gaza Strip for commercial purposes and the increasing number of Palestinians who are allowed to leave through Eretz crossing, the siege and its effects still exists till now.

The Climatology, Meteorology, and Boundary Layer Structure of Marine Cold Air Outbreaks in Both Hemispheres*

Abstract A comparison of marine cold air outbreaks (MCAOs) in the Northern and Southern Hemispheres is presented, with attention to their seasonality, frequency of occurrence, and strength as measured by a cold air outbreak index. When considered on a gridpoint-by-gridpoint basis, MCAOs are more severe and more frequent in the Northern Hemisphere (NH) than the Southern Hemisphere (SH) in winter. However, when MCAOs are viewed as individual events regardless of horizontal extent, they occur more frequently in the SH. This is fundamentally because NH MCAOs are larger and stronger than those in the SH. MCAOs occur throughout the year, but in warm seasons and in the SH they are smaller and weaker than in cold seasons and in the NH. In both hemispheres, strong MCAOs occupy the cold air sector of midlatitude cyclones, which generally appear to be in their growth phase. Weak MCAOs in the SH occur under generally zonal flow with a slight northward component associated with weak zonal pressure gradients, while weak NH MCAOs occur under such a wide range of conditions that no characteristic synoptic pattern emerges from compositing. Strong boundary layer deepening, warming, and moistening occur as a result of the surface heat fluxes within MCAOs.

Aerosol Measurements at South Pole: Climatology and Impact of Local Contamination

The Atmospheric Research Observatory (ARO), part of the National Science Foundation's (NSF's) Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station, is located at one of the cleanest and most remote sites on earth. NOAA has been making atmospheric baseline measurements at South Pole since the mid-1970's. The pristine conditions and high elevation make the South Pole a desirable location for many types of research projects and since the early 2000's there have been multiple construction projects to accommodate both a major station renovation and additional research activities and their personnel. The larger population and increased human activity at the station, located in such close proximity to the global baseline measurements conducted at the ARO, calls into question the potential effects of local contamination of the long-term background measurements. In this work, the long-term wind and aerosol climatologies were updated and analyzed for trends. Winds blow toward the ARO from the Clean Air Sector ~88% of the time and while there is some year-to-year variability in this number, the long-term wind speed and direction measurements at South Pole have not changed appreciably in the last 35 years. Several human activity markers including station population, aircraft flights and fuel usage were used as surrogates for local aerosol emissions; peak human activity (and thus likely local emissions) occurred in the 2006 and 2007 austral summer seasons. The long-term aerosol measurements at ARO do not peak during these seasons, suggesting that the quality control procedures in place to identify and exclude continuous sources of local contamination are working and that the NSF's sector management plan for the Clean Air Sector is effective. No significant trends over time were observed in particle number concentration, aerosol light scattering coefficient, or any aerosol parameter except scattering Angstrom exponent, which showed a drop of ~0.02 yr^(-1) over the 36-year record. The effect of discrete local contamination events in the Clean Air Sector is discussed using one well-documented example.

Energy Saving Potential in Existing Volumetric Rotary Compressors

The issues of energy and Carbon saving in energy intensive sectors, along with that of energy generation from renewable sources, have been recently receiving a growing awareness, as they are perceived as the most effective ways to deal with global sustainability commitments. The Compressed Air Sector (CAS) accounts for a 10% worldwide electricity consumption, and thus is being re-thought as an area offering great opportunities for improvement. Considering that the compression is responsible for a 10-15% consumption, it is vital to pay attention to machines performances. An overview of present compressor technology is given and saving directions for Screw and Sliding Vanes machines are analyzed: interesting source of information was the Compressed Air and Gas Institute (CAGI), whose data have been processed, in order to obtain consistency with fixed reference pressures, and organized as a function of main operating parameters. The overall efficiency has been split and all different sub-terms (adiabatic, volumetric, mechanical, electrical, organic) considered separately. This has allowed a term-by-term evaluation of the margin for improvement. The heat recovery from the oil into mechanical energy via an Organic Rankine Cycle (ORC), together with the thermodynamic improvement during compression phase opens the way to a step change concerning the specific energy consumption.

Air traffic management and energy efficiency: the free flight concept

The insufficient air routes combined with the adverse weather and congestion to air sectors lead to economic, environmental and safety problems to political aviation in Europe. This situation creates negative aspects to airlines and airports, as well. Furthermore, according to recent studies over 40,000 daily flights are predicted for 2020, and therefore the current ATM system will not be able to handle this volume of traffic in an efficient manner. A new promising approach of solving these problems in the future consists of transforming the ATM system from an ‘airport-centered’ to an ‘airplane-centered’ system so it can: (i) increase safety and energy efficiency, (ii) support the free flight concept, (iii) distribute fairly ground-holding and air delays among the flights, (iv) minimize the volume of work of ATCs as an observer, (v) relax the existing distance limits between airplane since the human factor has been annihilated, and therefore, (vi) increase the air sectors’ capacity avoiding congestions and (vii) prioritize the airline preferences. Our attempt will be to develop a mathematical model for a support system for the free flight concept. We divide the problem into two sub-problems (upper and lower level) in order to decrease the computational efforts and the complexity of the air traffic flow management problem and to allow flexibility, supporting in the same time the free flight scenario.

Experimental investigation on materials and lubricants for sliding-vane air compressors

Positive-displacement compressors and, among them, sliding-vane rotary machines are widely used in the compressed air sector. As in many other industrial fields, the efficient utilization of energy has become a major goal also in this sector. The aim of the present activity is the experimental investigation on the influence of two vanes materials (cast iron and aluminium with anodized surface) and of four commercial lubricants (characterized by different formulations and additives concentrations) on the performance of a mid-capacity sliding-vane rotary compressor in a number of operating pressures. The performance is identified by both the volume flow rate and the absorbed mechanical power, evaluated according to the international standard ISO 5167 and ISO 1217. The campaign indicates that the considered lubricants do not affect appreciably the volumetric flow rate. On the other hand, the specific lubricants determine a variation of about 1% of the mechanical power for both materials, while the specific material a variation between 0.9% and 2.6%. The best performance is achieved by aluminium vanes and a synthetic poly-α-olefin lubricant.

Corporate social responsibility as a competitive advantage in the Egyptian airlines (A case study of Egypt Air)

This study aims to clarify the impact of Corporate social responsibility (towards society - environment - suppliers - shareholders - employees - customers) in the airlines to acquire them a competitive advantages, and to identify the means and ways which make airlines get top market share in the air transport market. Field data were collected through a questionnaire designed and distributed to the employees in various Egypt Air sectors. The results showed the following: Egypt Air message and vision are Compatible with society's values, Egypt Air contributes to youth employment, provides aid and development projects to participate in charitable deeds, also adopt ISO 10002 to meet the wishes of customers and solves their complaints, and provides high quality services. Egypt Air uses modern methods to get rid of pollutants, also dealing with many suppliers, invite about policies, plans and activities related to operating systems and services.

Design of a rotary reactor for chemical-looping combustion. Part 2: Comparison of copper-, nickel-, and iron-based oxygen carriers

Chemical-looping combustion (CLC) is a novel and promising option for several applications including carbon capture (CC), fuel reforming, H2 generation, etc. Previous studies demonstrated the feasibility of performing CLC in a novel rotary design with micro-channel structures. Part 1 of this series studied the fundamentals of the reactor design and proposed a comprehensive design procedure, enabling a systematic methodology of designing and evaluating the rotary CLC reactor with different OCs and operating conditions. This paper presents the application of the methodology to the designs with three commonly used OCs, i.e., copper, nickel, and iron. The physical properties and the reactivities of the three OCs are compared at operating conditions suitable for the rotary CLC. Nickel has the highest reduction rate, but relatively slow oxidation reactivity while the iron reduction rate is most sensitive to the fuel concentration. The design parameters and the operating conditions for the three OCs are selected, following the strategies proposed in Part 1, and the performances are evaluated using a one-dimensional plug-flow model developed previously. The simulations show that for all OCs, complete fuel conversion and high carbon separation efficiency can be achieved at periodic stationary state with reasonable operational stabilities. The nickel-based design includes the smallest dimensions because of its fast reduction rate. The operation of nickel case is mainly limited to the slow oxidation rate, and hence a relatively large share of air sector is used. The iron-based design has the largest size, due to its slow reduction reactivity near the exit or in the fuel purge sector where the fuel concentration is low. The gas flow temperature increases monotonically for all the cases, and is mainly determined by the solid temperature. In the periodic state, the local temperature variation is within 40K and the thermal distortion is limited. The design of the rotary CLC is also scaled to different pressures and inlet temperatures. The method of scaling is discussed and desirable operational performances are obtained.

New approach for air traffic management based on control theory

Air traffic management aims to provide solutions to congestion problems in air traffic networks (ATNs) which in turn are mainly generated by the variation in the capacity of air sectors or airports due to adverse weather conditions. Most of the existing approaches to dealing with these problems are based on mathematical programming techniques and inherit its computational difficulty. In this paper, we introduce a control scientist point of view to this topic by proposing an approach to solve the ground-holding problem based on discrete event systems control theory. An ATN can effectively be considered as a timed discrete event system and can be efficiently modelled based on a Time Petri net tool. The main advantage is an explicit representation of the position of each aircraft in the ATN at each time instant. The state space is modelled by a Discrete Time Reachability Graph and the capacity constraints on the air sectors are modelled by time floating general mutual exclusion constraints. Feasible flight plans can be constructed based on control synthesis techniques, while an algorithm to compute the optimal flight plan is proposed assuming a realistic cost function.