Teses / dissertações sobre o tema "Transportation Group"

The essays presented in this dissertation strive to narrow the gap between Operations models and practice. They describe three models with seemingly paradoxical or counter-intuitive predictions and then test them in the controlled environment of the laboratory.Essay 1 studies the departure time decisions of commuters traversing a Y-shaped network with two bottlenecks, who wish to arrive at their common destination at a desired time. Imposed on the network are costs associated with arriving either too early or too late with respect to an exogenously determined arrival time as well as to the delay experienced due to the bottlenecks. The equilibrium solution implies that, for certain parameter values, expanding the capacity of the upstream bottlenecks while keeping the capacity of the other fixed may induce a shift in the endogenously-determined departure times so as to increase total travel costs. We report the results of a large-group experiment designed to test this counterintuitive hypothesis. Our experimental results are strongly supportive of this prediction.Essay 2 examines the Braess Paradox which is a counterintuitive discovery that removing a link from a network that is subject to congestion may decrease the equilibrium travel cost for each of its users. We demonstrate this phenomenon in a complex network and test it experimentally with large groups of players. Our main purpose is to compare two information conditions. In the PUBLIC condition every user is informed of the route choices and payoffs of all the users. In the PRIVATE condition, each user is only informed of her own payoff. We show that under both information conditions, aggregate route choices converge to equilibrium.Essay 3 examines the impact of information on the routing decisions that drivers make in a congestible two route traffic network. We present a model and theoretical predictions of driver choices in such a network and compare outcomes under conditions of full and no-information regarding the capacities of each route. Under certain circumstances, the model predicts a paradox: aggregate travel delays increase with the provision of a priori information regarding stochastic travel conditions. We report evidence supporting this paradox in a laboratory experiment.

Understanding household long-term decisions concerning residential location/relocation, car ownership and short-term activity travel choices are crucial for land use and transport planning. However, when addressing these issues, multitudes of choice models applying individual or unitary household decision-making mechanisms have dominated in transport studies, ignoring the interactions among household members in consensual decision making in real situations. To promote the investigation of these issues from a group decision-making perspective, this study explores the applicability of various group decision-making approaches to investigate multiple long-term decisions and short-term choices. Specifically, this thesis has four main research objectives: 1) adopt a utilitarian approach to develop an integrated model that links household members' consensual long-term decisions like housing, vehicle ownership and short-term activity-travel decisions like time use, explicitly capturing expenditure tradeoff for long-term decisions on housing and car ownership; 2) employ the Nash bargaining approach to model household members' consensual car ownership choice and examine this choice from the perspective of household time allocation; 3) apply an egalitarian bargaining approach (capture household members' concern for equity) to model household residential relocation choice, make a comparative study among this approach, Nash bargaining approach, and conventional utilitarian approach, and then accommodate these heterogeneous group decision mechanisms in a unified modeling framework; 4) examine the impacts of vehicle usage rationing policy on household car ownership and spouses' time allocation patterns. The database that serves for empirical applications of the formulated models is from a two-wave household activity-travel diary survey conducted in Beijing. This thesis contributes to current literature by adopting new approaches to investigate various group decision-making mechanisms among household members, comparing and assessing the predictive performance of different group decision approaches, as well as explicitly capturing household's long-term expenditure tradeoff. Insights and findings from this study are helpful for gaining profound understanding of spatial distribution of residence, household car ownership and individuals' activity-travel patterns, which will be conducive to the formulation of relevant policies for sustainable urban development.

Thesis (M.C.P.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Urban Studies and Planning, 1992.
Title as it appears in the June, 1992 MIT Graduate List: The transportation requirements of the Americans with Disabilities Act.
Includes bibliographical references (leaves 100-101).
by Michael Flaherty.
M.C.P.

Доступ до роботи тільки на території бібліотеки ОНЕУ, для переходу натисніть на посилання нижче
У роботі розглядаються теоретичні аспекти ефективності міжнародних вантажоперевезень, показники ефективності та фактори, що на них впливають. Проаналізовано різні методики оцінки ефективності вантажоперевезень. Здійснено аналіз сучасного стану ТОВ «Імпорт Сервіс Груп», проаналізовані основні показники міжнародної діяльності підприємства. Проведено аналіз чинників зовнішнього та внутрішнього впливу. Комплексним методом здійснено аналіз ефективності імпортних вантажоперевезень ТОВ «Імпорт Сервіс Груп». Запропоновано напрямки підвищення ефективності діяльності ТОВ «Імпорт Сервіс Груп» шляхом автоматизації процесу ведення постачань та складської логістики, а також запропоновано використання власних транспортних засобів для постачань по Україні.
Thesis consists of three chapters. The object of the study is the efficiency of import of cargo transportation of «Import Service Group» LTD and ways to improve it. The study considers the theoretical aspects of the efficiency of international cargo transportation, efficiency indicators and the factors that affect them. Various methods for assessing the efficiency of cargo transportation are analyzed. The analysis of a modern condition of «Import Service Group» LTD is carried out, the basic indicators of the international activity of the enterprise are analyzed. The analysis of factors of external and internal influence is carried out. The analysis of efficiency of import cargo transportations of «Import Service Group is carried out by a complex method. The directions of increase of efficiency of Import Service Group’s activity with automation of process of conducting deliveries and warehouse logistics are offered, and also use of own vehicles for deliveries across Ukraine is offered.

1. Mkrtichyan D.I. (2017). Vantazhni perevezennya na zaliznychnomu transporti : pidruch. [Freight transportation by rail: textbook.]. Kharkiv: UkrDUZT [in Ukrainian]. 2. Gabrielova T. Yu. (2018). Orhanizatsiya ta tekhnolohiya dostavky spetsialʹnykh katehoriy vantazhiv: pidruchnyk [Organization and technology of delivery of special categories of goods: textbook] Kiev: Kondor [in Ukrainian].
One of the main factors that must be taken into account when developing a design model of the transport and warehousing process is the ability of this process to conduct quality control procedures for its implementation. That is, if the process cannot be controlled, it cannot be managed. It is necessary to take into account the cost of control procedures in relation to the project itself. It is possible that the cost of control will exceed the cost of the project itself, which may make its implementation inexpedient.
Одним з основних факторів, який необхідно враховувати при розробці проектної моделі транспортно-складського процесу, є здатність цього процесу проводити процедури контролю якості для його здійснення. Тобто, якщо процесом не можна керувати, ним не можна керувати. Необхідно враховувати вартість процедур контролю стосовно самого проекту. Можливо, вартість контролю перевищить вартість самого проекту, що може зробити його доцільним здійснення.

1. Mkrtichyan , D.I. (2017). Vantazhni perevezennya na zaliznychnomu transporti : pidruch. [Freight transportation by rail: textbook.]. Kharkiv: UkrDUZT [in Ukrainian]. 2. Gabrielova, T. Yu. (2018). Orhanizatsiya ta tekhnolohiya dostavky spetsialʹnykh katehoriy vantazhiv : pidruchnyk [Organization and technology of delivery of special categories of goods: textbook] Kiev: Kondor [in Ukrainian].
One of the main factors that must be taken into account when developing a design model of the transport and warehousing process is the ability of this process to conduct quality control procedures for its implementation. That is, if the process cannot be controlled, it cannot be managed. It is necessary to take into account the cost of control procedures in relation to the project itself. It is possible that the cost of control will exceed the cost of the project itself, which may make its implementation inexpedient.
Одним з основних факторів, який необхідно враховувати при розробці проектної моделі транспортно-складського процесу, є здатність цього процесу проводити процедури контролю якості для його здійснення. Необхідно враховувати вартість процедур контролю стосовно самого проекту.

Sverige har med sina åtaganden inom EU Battle Groups tagit ansvar för en militär verksamhet som kräver storamått av rörlighet med snabb insatstid. Troliga konflikthärdar kommer inom en överskådlig tid att uppstå långtifrån Skandinaven vilket kräver planering och snabba transporter med stor kapacitet samt lång räckvidd. Enallvarlig kapacitetsbrist i en svensk Battle Group utgörs av bristen på nationella resurser för strategiskatransporter. Avsaknaden av egna militära strategiska transportresurser gör att behovet av civila aktörer och nyagemensamma samverkansformer inom kommunikationstjänsten aktualiseras.Uppsatsens syfte är att analysera hur EU Battle Groups insatstid påverkar transporterna och desstransportförberedelser.Metodmässigt bygger uppsatsen på ett antal frågeställningar vars svar söks genom litteraturstudier ochkvalitativa intervjuer. Den teoriansats som ligger till grund för denna uppsats är systemteorin vilken i sin turhar kompletterats med System Dynamics och dess systemformalisering av materielflöden.Resultat visar på att EU BG med nuvarande resurser inte kan hålla uppsatta tidskrav men med bättreförberedelser kan transporterna påskyndas. För att rådande insatstid skall kunna hållas krävs ett säkerställandeav tillgängliga och kontrollerbara strategiska transportresurser. Det konstateras även att omlastningar och byteav transportsätt kan skapa stora fördröjningar i transportkedjan.Uppsatsens vetenskapliga bidrag är att modellen kan ligga till grund för en utveckling av ettsimuleringsverktyg för beräkning av transportvolymer.
Because of her commitment to the EU Battle Group concept, Sweden hasassumed responsibility for military action requiring a high degree of mobilityand rapid deployment. In the foreseeable future, conflicts will probably occurfar from Scandinavia, which demands planning rapid, long-distance movementusing considerable transport resources. A lack of military strategic transportcapability raises a need for civilian organisations and new forms of cooperationin the field of transport and movement.The purpose of this essay is to analyse how the EU Battle Group’s deploymenttimeframes affect transport and transport preparations.The methodology of this essay is based on the definition of a number ofquestions, and the search for their answers through the study of literature andqualitative interviews. The essay is built on the system theory, which in turnhas been supplemented with System Dynamics and its formalisation of materialflow.The results show that present resources do not allow the EU Battle Groups tomeet the specified timeframes for transport and movement, although betterpreparation can speed things up. To meet the current deployment timeframesthere is a requirement for existing strategic transport resources as well ascontrol of additional transport resources. Re-loading and changing means oftransport can create serious delays in the transport chain.In scientific terms, the model used in this essay may form the basis for thedevelopment of a simulation tool for the calculation of transport volumes.
Avdelning: ALB - Slutet Mag 3 C-upps.Hylla: Upps. ChP 03-05

Satisfactory public transportation (PT) should enable people to reach attractive destinations and desired activities fast, comfortably, safely, and affordably. When PT fails to do so it will have negative effects on the overall accessibility in a society. Evaluating a PT system essentially means measuring to what extent the demand from the users is met, and for such an analysis understanding the concept of accessibility is paramount. Whether an individual will experience a high or a low level of accessibility will likely depend on their personal capabilities, as well as on the surrounding environment. Barriers obstructing an individual from using PT could for example be of physical of phycological nature or come in the shape of public space management disproportionally favoring certain groups of society. Low accessibility can thus be linked to social exclusion, since when a person cannot reach important destinations, their chances to participate in society will be subdued. To measure the accessibility of a PT system, and how a PT system affects the overall accessibility of a destination, it is common practice to use indicators that can represent different categories of social exclusion. This approach was the basis for constructing the performance measurement tool called Bus Stop Ranking Algorithm (BSRA) which was created in the QGIS application Graphical Modeler. BSRA calculates the usefulness of bus stops by counting the number of vulnerable groups, the number of workplaces, and the total population within comfortable walking distance from bus stops, as well as comparing travel times by car and bicycle from residential areas to important locations. The tool was ordered by a private PT company which will use it to make decisions regarding e.g., creating new bus stops, or for relocating, removing, or redesigning existing bus stops or bus routes. The Swedish municipality Lidingö was used as the study area to demonstrate how to use BSRA and how to interpret its output. Using equal weights for all indicators, it was discovered that 9 bus stops in the southern part of Lidingö could be regarded as particularly useful compared to the other 207 bus stops in the municipality. Variables such as the space-temporal component, i.e., changes during the day were not used. Socio economic factors such as segregation were also not highlighted, since all indicators had the same effect on the total scores. Adjusting the weights for some indicators could expose underlying dynamics affecting the total scores for the bus stops and help the PT company make design changes where they will be needed the most.

Two interesting challenges have been created in the traditional transportation planning process through recent adoption of more interactive roles by Federal, State and local transportation agencies and of those representing the communities being impacted by proposed transportation projects. First, the decision-making groups that formerly included solely transportation and related professionals now consist of professionals from state and local agencies and other stakeholders impacted by those proposed projects. Furthermore, the economic justification methodologies commonly used, such as the benefit/cost ratio, no longer provide a sufficient means for evaluation since they now must take account of non-quantifiable or qualitative impacts, such as local quality of life and sustainable development. These new challenges require a new way of thinking, and a new methodology to handle them. A new methodology is required not only to take qualitative performances into consideration, but also to accommodate the diversities created by those in the decision-making process. This research focuses on the alternative evaluation stage as it often demonstrates the above challenges. The objective of the proposed methodology is to develop "a continuous process of learning and understanding through communicative means by virtue of a fair and open framework in developing the group consensus rather than relying solely on the STATUS QUO." The new methodology that combines the advantages of three unrelated components is proposed to reduce the complexities in complex decision situations. The three components include the conflict resolution model (SANTA), the analytical method (AHP), and the group decision support system (GDSS). The proposed methodology also explores a new way to take advantage of the Internet which allows decision makers to make their decisions from any where at any time. A small-scaled pilot study was set up to test the methodology and the software developed according to the framework outlined by the proposed methodology. Many benefits are discovered by the participants' observations without their prior knowledge about the methodology and the software. Those benefits include Flexibility, Accessibility, Transparency, and Efficiency, or FATE. There are two possible applications of this new methodology, i.e., in real-world problem-solving situations and as a learning tool.
Graduation date: 2003

碩士
國立海洋大學
河海工程學系
88
All the departments of the government, will often use the Multiple Criteria Decision Making principle to solve the public decision problems which are getting complicated day by day, but in the way of using this principle, the size of the decision-making group will often be questioned by many others. At the mean time the "government purchase regulation" has set the rule that all the institutions should have the purchase senates, which contains five to seventeen senators, however, it does not mention about the neither the number of the senators nor the timing of choosing them. Because of this, this research is trying to analyze in the position of the transportation department. Using the "decision quality" and the "decision efficiency" these two indexes to establish the relationship of the transportation decision problems and the decision group size from the different layers and to discuss the usability of this analysis on the public departments. Here are the results of this research. 1.The transportation decision problem of higher investment the decision makers will face to, the higher decision quality and the lower decision efficiency they will require. 2.The larger size of the decision group is, the longer it will take to make an agreement, but there will be fewer faults. 3.The larger investment size of the transportation decision problem is, the larger decision group size it will need to fit the decision makers'' request of decision quality and decision efficiency. This research''s main containment is to establish the relationship between the investment size and the group size. To aim directly at the different investment extents, this research suggests the optimal decision group size will be as following.

碩士
國立交通大學
工業工程研究所
83
Group Technology (GT) is a manufacturing philosophy which can reduce operational wastes and can effectively manage complicated but similar information through properly classifying and grouping like things together. Major applications of group technology in manufacturing are generally recognized as part design, process planning, and production planning and control. In addition, a plenty of successful real- world practices of GT in purchasing, sales, and cost estimation have been reported in U.S.A., in P.R.C., and in European Countries in the last few decades. Although the concept of GT has been propagated in Taiwan's industries for at least ten to fifteen years, there are very very few practical applications been reported or survey. It is indeed necessary to have an extensive study of GT applications in Taiwan's manufacturers. This reserch focuses on the study of applications of classification and coding (C&C) techniques in transportation manufacturers whose potential in the application of GT concept is relatively higher. This pilot study presents a general profile of GT applications in Taiwan's transportation manufacturers. It provides a valuable references for the Industrial Bureau as well as corresponding coporate organizations in future assisting industrial upgrades. Equivalent studies to other industries are highly suggested.

碩士
國立高雄第一科技大學
風險管理與保險所
92
Due to the nature of limited land space and over-crowded populations, Taiwan highly relies on trade business for resources and goods importation, transportation industry therefore plays an important role. Followed by the newness and flux of the overall economy, aviation transportation is getting even more important among the whole transportation industry. It shortens the distance between countries and brings the world closer, accelerates global economical development, makes international trade possible and easier, provide a boost to the tourism industry, that contributes human’s life in all ways. However, loss ratio of Taiwan’s aviation insurance has been higher than average, which makes Taiwan a less preferred market to reinsurers. Moreover, financial situation of major international reinsurance companies was badly affected by 911 terrorist attack, which event also pushed many insurance companies out of business. The fact of underwriting capacity shrinkage in reinsurance market leads to supply shortage of war risk protection for aviation insurance, and results in no insurance available for airline operators. Not only the aviation industry is facing the difficulties for not being able to transfer the risk, but also the whole national economy will suffer because people are less willing to use air transportation although it is unavoidable in most cases. To solve the problem, industry and government should take the issue of risk management into more serious consideration. This research takes the point of view from aviation operators, considers how to apply risk financing to transfer their risks rather than buying insurance coverage. To aim at increase profit, but reduce cost and risk exposure. Figures of loss experience from local non-life insurance companies and premium paid by local aviation transportation carriers in the past years were analyzed by cash-flow model, to compare the advantages and disadvantages among self-insurance funding, group-owner captives insurance and commercial insurance. The results of this research provide suggestions of risk financing strategies for future to Taiwanese aviation transportation industry by developing feasibility and operating model of self-insurance funding and group-owner captives insurance.

碩士
高雄師範大學
環境教育研究所
98
The number of foreign tourists to Taiwan has been steadily increased from 37.88% in 1993 to 52.29% in 2009. In addition, a new policy finally made tourists from mainland allowed to visit Taiwan in July 2008. More than 1 million mainlanders have visited Taiwan as of May 2010. The “around the island” package is the most popular tour for these mainlanders. However, the greenhouse gas (GHG) emission might increase because of these activities. Although Taiwan is not bound by international treaties for climate change, reduction of greenhouse gas emission has always been a concern in Taiwan. “Low Carbon Tourism”, which combines green tourism, eco tourism, and sustainable tourism, is now popular as products of the global awareness of climate change. The objective of our study is determine the potential greenhouse gas emission during the “around the island”, and in an attempt to propose a “carbon neutral” tour package in Taiwan. Literature review of carbon emission coefficients for transportation were conducted for estimation of the emission associated with the tour. Tour packages from the agencies and GoogleMaps were used for calculation of the travel distance. An interview with coach drivers and the participation of the tour by investigator were also performed. Our results showed that an average of 1184.86kg of CO2 (1204.82kg of GHG), 1283.18kg of CO2 (1304.80kg of GHG), and 1388.23kg of CO2 (1411.62kg of GHG) in a 7-, 8-, and 9-day around the island tour, respectively. However, these figures may be off as large as 70% compared to the actual emission. For reduction of GHG emission and hopefully reaching a “carbon neutral” tour, the first alternative may be choosing the green hotels. The other methods can be planting trees and add-on cost on tour package for compensation of the pollution.

No
Large-scale behavioral simulations are widely used to study real-world multi-agent systems. Such programs normally run in discrete time-steps or ticks, with simulated space decomposed into domains that are distributed over a set of workers to achieve parallelism. A distinguishing feature of behavioral simulations is their frequent and high-volume group migration, the phenomenon in which simulated objects traverse domains in groups at massive scale in each tick. This results in continual and significant load imbalance among domains. To tackle this problem, traditional load balancing approaches either require excessive load re-profiling and redistribution, which lead to high computation/communication costs, or perform poorly because their statically partitioned data domains cannot reflect load changes brought by group migration. In this paper, we propose an effective and low-cost load balancing scheme, named Inc-part, based on a key observation that an object is unlikely to move a long distance (across many domains) within a single tick. This localized mobility property allows one to efficiently estimate the load of a dynamic domain incrementally, based on merely the load changes occurring in its neighborhood. The domains experiencing significant load changes are then partitioned or merged, and redistributed to redress load imbalance among the workers. Experiments on a 64-node (1,024-core) platform show that Inc-part can attain excellent load balance with dramatically lowered costs compared to state-of-the-art solutions.

This professional report examines the degree to which the perception of safety shapes travel behavior in Austin, Texas, using Huston Tillotson University (HT) students as our case study. Focus groups are used to explore and identify what elements of the public transit experience are considered safe and unsafe. The report explores what “frightens” HT participants away from using the bus. A quantitative study is then used to measure environmental variables and their relation to bus stops and perceptions of safety. Austin crime data are used to locate bus stop crimes and develop a real context for bus riders’ perceptions of crime. After describing the conditions of bus stops based on physical, environmental, and criminal attributes, the study develops scenarios for the study areas. This report closes by summarizing the empirical findings and gives design and policy recommendations for transportation planners, agencies, and policy makers.
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Public transportation ridership levels have decreased since the end of World War II. Transit systems in small cities struggle to maintain ridership levels high enough to continue receiving local subsidies. Individuals with refugee status, and those with limited English proficiency (LEP), represent an opportunity to increase ridership. The bus system increases mobility for people without a car or driver’s license, including many refugees and LEP people, thereby increasing their accessibility to work and education. This thesis places the local bus system in Manchester, New Hampshire in a historical context and identifies some barriers and potentials for increasing refugee and LEP ridership. In addition to increasing headways and hours of operation, recommendations point to improved publicity, including distributing route maps and schedules more widely, using clearer bus stop signs, and providing bus passes for refugees in the first few months after arrival. It should be noted that language did not arise as a barrier to transit ridership in this study.

Bike to the Future is an Active Transportation advocacy organization in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. Since its incorporation in 2007, active transportation attitudes, policies, funding, and infrastructure have improved substantially in the city. Many successes have been attributed to this organization, representatives of which are now considered to be the Winnipeg experts in cycling infrastructure and policy creation. This thesis explores how people who use (or want to use) a comparatively marginalized traffic form empowered themselves and spurred on positive changes to cycling policy and infrastructure. The literature review offers a larger context for the importance of power analysis, collaborative planning and the work of Bike to the Future. This provides a framework overview of power discussions in planning discourse, and connects heterarchical power structures to collaborative planning theory and strategic networking. Research for this project involved a case study of the work of Bike to the Future. Four different research methods were employed during different stages of research, including media and literature searches (of news sources, blogs, and planning literature), a case study, semi-structured interviews, and participant observation. The work of Bike to the Future has also shown that influence can be strengthened when different power resources—powers of knowledge, speech, place, and political and market powers – are used. The value of using different power structures, hierarchical and heterarchical, is highlighted. In order to be most effective, this study suggests all structures and resources must be used cooperatively and collaboratively. Because of its ability to engage wide audiences, recognize interdependence, and connect the different types of knowledge and expertise, Bike to the Future can be understood as a collaborative success. Although at the time of this study, this organization was susceptible to volunteer schedules and burnout, its networking potential and networking power was strong. These will continue to be major assets in the evolution of this organization evolution. Lessons learned from this research process may be useful for many other groups seeking to expand their influence in decision-making realms and on multiple fronts.

Les contrevenants de la conduite avec capacités affaiblies (CCA) n’entrent pas tous dans les registres de la sécurité routière avec le même risque de récidive. Pour pallier cette hétérogénéité, cette thèse propose de modéliser les interrelations entre les traits de personnalité et les comportements à risque associés à la récidive et de détecter un sous-groupe de contrevenants au risque de récidive élevé à l’aide de l’axe hypothalamo-hypophyso-surrénalien (HHS). Plus particulièrement, les trois articles de cette thèse s’intéressent au cortisol, l’hormone du stress. Le premier article élabore un modèle théorique réconciliant les connaissances sur l’axe HHS issues du domaine de la CCA et de domaines connexes. Lors de précédentes études, le nombre de condamnations antérieures pour CCA a été associé négativement à la réactivité du cortisol à la suite d’une situation stressante. Chez les récidivistes, cette faible réactivité s’explique partiellement par la recherche d’expériences, une dimension de la recherche de sensations. Au-delà ce trait de personnalité désinhibiteur, une faible activité de l’axe HHS a été associée à d’autres traits (c.-à-d. impulsivité et tendances antisociales) et d’autres comportements à risque (c.-à-d. infractions routières, arrestations criminelles et consommation problématique de substances psychoactives). Ce modèle intégrant la réactivité du cortisol permet une conceptualisation approfondie des diverses caractéristiques des contrevenants de la CCA et explique hypothétiquement la répétition des comportements à risque. Les deux articles suivants se penchent sur l’intérêt empirique d’utiliser l’axe HHS pour déterminer un sous-groupe de contrevenants à risque élevé de récidive. Plus précisément, le deuxième article émet l’hypothèse que les récidivistes (n = 30) ayant une faible activité de leur cortisol (c.-à-d. médiane de la surface sous la courbe relative au niveau de base et relative à la réactivité) ont davantage de traits de personnalité désinhibiteurs et de comportements à risque que les récidivistes ayant une forte activité. L’hypothèse n’a pas été confirmée. Au contraire, les récidivistes présentant une faible réactivité commettent moins d’infractions routières et d’arrestations criminelles que ceux ayant une forte réactivité. Quant à lui, le troisième article investigue une hypothèse similaire auprès des contrevenants primaires (n = 139). Les contrevenants manifestant une faible réactivité du cortisol (c.-à-d. différence entre prélèvements post-stress et pré-stress) ont davantage d’impulsivité attentionnelle, de non-planification, d’arrestations criminelles et de cigarettes fumées par jour que les contrevenants ayant une forte réactivité. Lors d’analyses exploratoires, la présence d’une variété de traits de personnalité désinhibiteurs et de comportements à risque chez les contrevenants primaires présentant une faible réactivité lorsque comparé au groupe contrôle (n = 31) suggère encore une fois leur risque élevé de récidive. L’intérêt d’ajouter un mécanisme neurobiologique pour modéliser les interrelations entre les traits de personnalité désinhibiteurs et les comportements à risque des contrevenants de la CCA a été exploré dans cette thèse. La détermination d’un sous-groupe de contrevenants présentant un risque élevé de récidive, à l’aide de l’axe HHS, semble davantage profitable auprès de l’hétérogène population des contrevenants primaires. En contrepartie, l’axe HHS ne permet pas de déterminer un sous-groupe ayant une problématique sévère auprès des récidivistes à l’extrême du continuum du risque.
Among driving while impaired (DWI) offenders, the risk of recidivism varies greatly. In order to overcome the heterogeneity among this population, the present thesis proposed a renewed conceptualization of DWI. More specifically, a model integrating disinhibitory personality traits and high-risk behaviours associated with DWI recidivism and the categorization of a high-risk subgroup of offenders based on hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis activity has been proposed. Three manuscripts aimed to answer these general objectives using salivary cortisol, that is, the stress hormone. In the first manuscript, the current HPA axis literature of DWI offenders and other high-risk populations have been merged into a comprehensive theoretical model. Previous studies have demonstrated an inverse correlation between DWI convictions frequency and cortisol reactivity to stress. Among recidivists, cortisol reactivity was partially explained by experience seeking, a sensation seeking dimension. Beyond this disinhibitory personality trait, low HPA axis activity has been linked to various traits (e.g., impulsivity and antisocial tendencies) and high-risk behaviours (e.g., traffic infractions, criminal arrests, and psychoactive drugs). By incorporating cortisol reactivity, this model stimulates a thorough conceptualization of several DWI offenders’ characteristics and as such, explains hypothetically repetition of high-risk behaviours. The following manuscripts are less theoretical and more empirical. The detection of a high-risk recidivism subgroup delineated with HPA axis activity has been investigated among two DWI offender populations. More specifically, the second manuscript hypothesized that among DWI recidivists (n = 30), low cortisol responders have more characteristics linked to recidivism such as disinhibitory personality traits and high-risk behaviours than high cortisol responders (as defined by the area under the curve sensitive to total hormonal release and to response to stimulation). This hypothesis was not supported. On the contrary, low cortisol DWI recidivists have less traffic infractions and criminal arrests than high cortisol recidivists. Finally, the third manuscript investigated a similar hypothesis but this time, among first-time DWI offenders (n = 139). Results demonstrated that low cortisol offenders have more attentional impulsiveness, non-planning impulsiveness, criminal arrests and cigarettes consumed per day than high cortisol offenders (as defined by post-stress minus pre-test episode). An exploratory analysis showed a more prevalent variety of disinhibitory personality trait and high-risk behaviours among low cortisol offenders compared to a non-DWI comparator group (n = 31). These results reinforce the potentially higher recidivism risk of this first-time DWI offenders subgroup. Neurobiological mechanism usefulness in modelling disinhibitory personality trait and high-risk behaviours of DWI offenders has been investigated in the present thesis. Additionally, detection of a high-risk recidivism subgroup seems more relevant among heterogeneous first-time DWI offenders. Instead, HPA axis activity is not as useful in detecting a problematic subgroup among the most severe offenders, namely recidivists.

Enabling patients to be cared for in their preferred location often involves journeys between care settings. The challenge of ensuring journeys are timely and safe emerged as an important issue in an evaluation of palliative care services, which informed a service redesign programme in three areas of the United Kingdom by the Marie Curie Cancer Care 'Delivering Choice Programme'. This article explores perceptions of service users and key stakeholders of palliative care services about problems encountered in journeys between care settings during end-of-life care. This article draws on data from interviews with stakeholders (n = 44), patients (n = 16), carers (n = 19) and bereaved carers (n = 20); and focus groups (n = 9) with specialist nurses. Data were gathered in three areas of the United Kingdom. Data were analysed using a framework approach. Transport problems between care settings emerged as a key theme. Four particular problems were identified: (1) urgent need for transport due to patients' rapidly changing condition; (2) limited time to organise transfers; (3) the management of specialist equipment and (4) the need to clarify the resuscitation status of patients. Partnership working between Ambulance Services and secondary care is required to develop joint protocols of care to ensure timely and safe transportation between care settings of patients, who are near their end of life. Commissioning of services should be responsive to the complexities of patients' needs and those of their families.