Benefits of Electronic Clearance for Enforcement of Motor Carrier Regulations

1996 ◽  
Vol 1522 (1) ◽  
pp. 64-68 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthew J. Titus
Keyword(s):  
Intelligent Transportation System ◽  
Safety Data ◽  
Compliance Cost ◽  
Motor Carrier ◽  
Motor Carriers ◽  
Federal Highway ◽  
Time Requirements ◽  
Service Rates ◽  
The Cost ◽  
Safety Enforcement

The transparent borders concept of the Federal Highway Administration's Intelligent Transportation System for Commercial Vehicle Operations program could enhance regulatory efficiency by improving motor carrier compliance and reducing the costs of compliance. Discussion focuses on the cost of enforcement for motor carriers, which is one of the components of compliance cost. Motor carrier regulations are typically enforced concurrently with weight and safety enforcement efforts. To determine the burden, the amount and value of time spent by motor carriers on enforcement activities was estimated. Recognizing that differences among trucking firms exist, burdens were estimated separately for truckload and less-than-truckload carriers. Values were based on labor and opportunity costs. Time requirements were taken from existing literature. Current weight enforcement efforts cost the industry between $167 and $283 million annually. Furthermore, over 99.4 percent of the burden is borne by compliant carriers. Technologies and enforcement strategies that would greatly reduce the proportion of compliant vehicles subjected to enforcement are currently available and should be pursued. Complying with current safety enforcement efforts costs the industry between $14 and $25 million annually. Compliant carriers bear over 44 percent of this cost. Analysis of safety data indicates that a statistical relationship exists between out-of-service rates and accident rates. Therefore, it is possible to develop a system that would increase the proportion of noncompliant vehicles subjected to inspection relative to compliant vehicles.

Evaluation of Roadside Inspection Selection System for Commercial Vehicles

1997 ◽  
Vol 1595 (1) ◽  
pp. 34-38 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brenda M. Lantz ◽  
Michael W. Blevins ◽  
Thomas J. Hillegass
Keyword(s):  
Safety Data ◽  
Cost Savings ◽  
The United States ◽  
Selection System ◽  
Commercial Vehicles ◽  
Scarce Resources ◽  
Motor Carrier ◽  
Motor Carriers ◽  
Evaluation Survey ◽  
Selection Of

The development and testing of the roadside Inspection Selection System (ISS) have been in progress for more than 2 years. The ISS was developed as part of the Aspen roadside inspection software system in response to a 1995 congressional mandate calling for use of prior carrier safety data to guide in selection of commercial vehicles and drivers to undergo roadside inspections. The Aspen system includes software that helps conduct roadside inspections with portable microcomputers. Ten states were involved in the initial testing of the ISS, but a majority of states throughout the United States are now using the system. An analysis of almost 40,000 inspections conducted in 1996 revealed that the vehicle out-of-service (OOS) rate was 33.7 percent for those vehicles the ISS recommended for inspection versus 20.0 percent for those it did not. The driver OOS rate was 13.5 percent for those drivers recommended for inspection versus 9.9 percent for those not recommended. The ISS will thus help in targeting relatively unsafe carriers (as well as those for which there are insufficient data) and reduce the inspection burden on carriers proved to be safe. This means that more efficient use will be made of scarce resources by focusing on less safe vehicles and drivers. In addition, use of the ISS offers substantial benefits to society in safety and to safe motor carriers in cost savings. Presentations of the system and results of an evaluation survey completed by inspectors show the ISS to be well accepted by both inspectors and the motor carrier community.

Integration of the Motor Carrier Safety Status Measurement System into the Roadside Inspection Selection System

2000 ◽  
Vol 1734 (1) ◽  
pp. 59-63
Author(s):  
Brenda M. Lantz
Keyword(s):  
Measurement System ◽  
Safety Data ◽  
Safety Performance ◽  
Similar Data ◽  
Selection System ◽  
Department Of Transportation ◽  
Commercial Vehicles ◽  
Information Systems Management ◽  
Motor Carrier ◽  
Selection Of

The roadside Inspection Selection System (ISS) was developed in response to a 1995 congressional mandate that called for the use of prior carrier safety data to guide the selection of commercial vehicles and drivers for roadside inspections. The program was developed in part by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) of the U.S. Department of Transportation. As ISS has developed, FMCSA’s Performance and Registration Information Systems Management (PRISM) program has also been evolving. One objective of PRISM is to identify relatively unsafe carriers by assigning Safety Status Measurement System (SafeStat) scores and also encouraging those drivers to improve their safety performance or risk losing registration privileges. SafeStat was designed to prioritize carriers for monitoring and compliance reviews, but ISS was designed to prioritize carriers for roadside inspection. Both algorithms, however, use similar data to define a relatively unsafe carrier. It would be advantageous therefore to have a single uniform rating system for all FMCSA programs. This research briefly describes the PRISM and SafeStar algorithms; discusses the integration of the SafeStat algorithm into ISS; and presents conclusions on the initial testing of the resulting system, ISS-2. An analysis of over 213,000 roadside inspections reveals that ISS-2 is as effective as the original ISS in meeting the goals for which it was designed. It successfully identifies and prioritizes for roadside inspection the vehicles and drivers of carriers with poor prior safety performance, as well as those with few or no previous inspections. In addition, safety inspectors who have tested the system say they are pleased with the new algorithm and its added features.

scholarly journals Funding the New Biologics – CCOHTA Report on the Cost Effectiveness of Infliximab for Crohn’s Disease: Pearls and Pitfalls

2002 ◽  
Vol 16 (12) ◽  
pp. 877-879 ◽  
Author(s):  
John K Marshall
Keyword(s):  
Crohn’S Disease ◽  
Crohn's Disease ◽  
Economic Analysis ◽  
Safety Data ◽  
Cost Utility ◽  
Sensitivity Analyses ◽  
State Transitions ◽  
Health State ◽  
Life Years ◽  
The Cost

The Canadian Coordinating Office for Health Technology Assessment (CCOHTA) published an economic analysis, using a Markov model, of infliximab therapy for Crohn’s disease that is refractory to other treatments. This was the first fully published economic analysis that addresses this treatment option. Health state transitions were based on data from Olmsted County, Minnesota, health state resource profiles were created using expert opinion and a number of assumptions were made when designing the model. The analysis was rigorous, the best available efficacy and safety data were used, state-of-the art sensitivity analyses were undertaken and an ‘acceptability curve‘ was constructed. The model found that infliximab was effective in increasing quality-adjusted life years when offered in a variety of protocols, but it was associated with high incremental cost utility ratios compared with usual care. The results should be interpreted, however, in view of a number of limitations. The time horizon for the analysis was short (one year), because of a lack of longer-term efficacy data, and might have led to an underestimation of the benefits from averting surgery. Because the analysis was performed from the perspective of a Canadian provincial ministry of health, only direct medical costs were considered. Patients with active Crohn’s disease are likely to incur significant indirect costs, which could be mitigated by this medication. The analysis should be updated as new data become available. Moreover, small changes in the cost of the medication could make the treatment cost effective, according to this model. Economic analyses, such as the one undertaken by the CCOHTA, cannot by themselves solve dilemmas in the allocation of limited health care resources, and other considerations must be included when formulating policy. This is especially important for patients with severe Crohn’s disease, who have significant disability and for whom few therapeutic options exist.

Optimization of Multistage Machining Systems, Part 1: Mathematical Solution

1992 ◽  
Vol 114 (4) ◽  
pp. 524-531 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. S. Agapiou
Keyword(s):  
Optimization Problem ◽  
Cutting Parameters ◽  
Optimization Method ◽  
Idle Time ◽  
Optimization Techniques ◽  
Machining Parameters ◽  
Machining Time ◽  
Physical Constraints ◽  
Time Requirements ◽  
The Cost

The optimization problem for multistage machining systems has been investigated. Due to uneven time requirements at different stages in manufacturing, there could be idle times at various stations. It may be advantageous to reduce the values of machining parameters in order to reduce the cost at stations that require less machining time. However, optimization techniques available through the literature do not effectively utilize the idle time for the different stations generated during the balancing of the system. Proposed in this paper is an optimization method which utilizes the idle time to the full extent at all machining stations, with the intention of improving tool life and thus achieving cost reduction. The mathematical analysis considers the optimization of the production cost with an equality constraint of zero idle time for the stations with idle time. Physical constraints regarding the cutting parameters, force, power, surface finish, etc., as they arise in different operations, are also considered. The aforementioned problem has been theoretically analyzed and a computational algorithm developed. The advantages and effectiveness of the proposed approach are finally established through an example.

scholarly journals SCHEDULING IN A SINGLE-SERVER QUEUE WITH STATE-DEPENDENT SERVICE RATES

2019 ◽  
Vol 34 (4) ◽  
pp. 507-521
Author(s):  
Urtzi Ayesta ◽  
Balakrishna Prabhu ◽  
Rhonda Righter
Keyword(s):  
Optimal Policy ◽  
Arrival Rate ◽  
Complete Characterization ◽  
Single Server ◽  
Holding Costs ◽  
Release Times ◽  
State Dependent ◽  
Service Rates ◽  
Transient System ◽  
The Cost

We consider single-server scheduling to minimize holding costs where the capacity, or rate of service, depends on the number of jobs in the system, and job sizes become known upon arrival. In general, this is a hard problem, and counter-intuitive behavior can occur. For example, even with linear holding costs the optimal policy may be something other than SRPT or LRPT, it may idle, and it may depend on the arrival rate. We first establish an equivalence between our problem of deciding which jobs to serve when completed jobs immediately leave, and a problem in which we have the option to hold on to completed jobs and can choose when to release them, and in which we always serve jobs according to SRPT. We thus reduce the problem to determining the release times of completed jobs. For the clearing, or transient system, where all jobs are present at time 0, we give a complete characterization of the optimal policy and show that it is fully determined by the cost-to-capacity ratio. With arrivals, the problem is much more complicated, and we can obtain only partial results.

Inter-hospital lateral transfer does not increase length of stay

2015 ◽  
Vol 39 (4) ◽  
pp. 400 ◽  
Author(s):  
Patrick Russell ◽  
Paul Hakendorf ◽  
Campbell Thompson
Keyword(s):  
Readmission Rate ◽  
Safety Data ◽  
Medical Problem ◽  
Lateral Transfer ◽  
General Medical Service ◽  
Hospital Transfer ◽  
Patient Stay ◽  
Bed Capacity ◽  
Transferred Patients ◽  
The Cost

Objective The aim of the present study was to assess the effect of an inter-hospital transfer on efficiency and quality of in-patient care. Methods A retrospective cohort study from 2010 to 2012 inclusive was conducted in two tertiary-referral urban hospitals within a single area healthcare network. The study included 14 571 acutely unwell patients admitted to a general medical service. The main outcome measures were length of in-patient stay, relative stay index, readmission rate within 7 and 28 days of discharge and in-hospital mortality rate. Results Compared with patients who were transferred to a long-stay ward within the original hospital (n = 3465), transferred patients (n = 1531) were older (71 vs 80 years, respectively; P < 0.001) but suffered less comorbidity (Charlson index 0.84 vs 1.22, respectively; P < 0.001). Transferred patients spent a shorter time in hospital (5.69 vs 6.25 days; P < 0.001) and were less likely to be re-admitted within 7 days (1.5% vs 4.0%; P < 0.001) or 28 days (6.3% vs 9.3%; P < 0.001) than patients who were not transferred. Mortality was lower in the transferred patients (1.1% vs 4.1%). Conclusion Appropriate patients for inter-hospital transfer can be selected within 24 h of arrival at an index hospital. The efficiency of their care at the receiving hospital appears not to be compromised. The present study provides support for inter-hospital transfer as a strategy to optimise regional bed capacity. What is known about the topic? Little has been written about lateral inter-hospital transfers; it was first labelled a ‘sideways transfer’ in a publication about hospital reimbursement published in the Medical Journal of Australia in 1998. What does this paper add? This paper adds quality and safety data to what little is known about lateral transfers. ‘Lateral transfer’ better describes the process than ‘sideways transfer’. What are the implications for practitioners? Our data helped us understand that a lateral transfer does not by itself increase the cost of the hospital stay, nor does it increase readmission rate or mortality. It also means that if a patient is hospitalised in a hospital with limited capacity and the patient’s acute medical problem has improved, but not resolved, that patient can be safely transferred to a hospital with available beds to continue receiving acute services.

Aircraft Turbine Engine Emissions and the Possibilities for Control

1972 ◽  
Author(s):  
Charles Gray ◽  
G. D. Kittredge
Keyword(s):  
Air Quality ◽  
Environmental Protection Agency ◽  
Cost Effective ◽  
Technology Study ◽  
Aircraft Emissions ◽  
Engine Emissions ◽  
Turbine Engine ◽  
Time Requirements ◽  
The Cost ◽  
The Impact

The Environmental Protection Agency has completed a study of the impact of aircraft emissions on air quality and a study of the technological feasibility of controlling aircraft emissions including an analysis of the cost and time requirements of the various control approaches. The air quality study has determined the need for aircraft emission standards, and the control technology study has determined that control is feasible and cost effective given adequate development time.

GETTING THE MOST OUT OF DAIRY EQUIPMENT*1

1954 ◽  
Vol 17 (6) ◽  
pp. 190-193
Author(s):  
Carl W. Hall
Keyword(s):  
Production Costs ◽  
Labor Costs ◽  
Major Field ◽  
Economical Analysis ◽  
Time Requirements ◽  
Plant Equipment ◽  
Dairy Equipment ◽  
The Cost ◽  
Work Method

To hold the cost of products sold at a competitive level in face of rising prices, it is necessary that production costs be held to a minimum. The first major field of reduction of production costs is in labor costs. In order to get the most out of dairy equipment labor must be properly used. When the time requirements of a job are reduced by improving the method, the worker must be gainfully employed at some other assignment. There are beneficial changes which provide leisure, add to the comfort of the worker, and reduce the hazards of his work. Changes in plant equipment arrangement may be made even though they are not justified on a purely economical analysis. The paper presents principles, with applications, which can be followed in each plant to improve the work method and decrease time requirements.

scholarly journals The Similarity of Motor Carriers’ and Shippers’ Perceptions of the Carrier Choice Decision Improve

2011 ◽  
Vol 48 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Shane R. Premeaux
Keyword(s):  
Electronic Data Interchange ◽  
Electronic Data ◽  
Motor Carrier ◽  
Motor Carriers ◽  
Carrier Selection ◽  
Data Interchange ◽  
Perceived Importance ◽  
Choice Decision

This study re-examines the perceived importance of 36 carrier selection variables to both motor carriers and shippers. The ranking discrepancies identified indicate that shippers and carriers classify most, but not all motor carrier selection variables similarly. Fortunately, motor carrier perceptions have improved since the original 2007 study. To enhance shipper satisfaction, carriers must emphasize the more important selection variables. Carriers now realize the importance of providing information and services through a comprehensive, Web-enhanced electronic data interchange (EDI). Currently carriers need to key on offering more flexible rates and respond effectively to emergency or unexpected situations.

scholarly journals Basing rate adjustments for motor carriers on statistical evidence

2004 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-13
Author(s):  
L. Douglas Smith ◽  
James F Campbell ◽  
Ray Mundy
Keyword(s):  
Dynamic Process ◽  
Statistical Models ◽  
Business Performance ◽  
Database Systems ◽  
Statistical Evidence ◽  
Customer Relationships ◽  
Motor Carrier ◽  
Motor Carriers ◽  
User Friendly ◽  
Corrective Intervention

Pricing services of motor carriers is a dynamic process, with continuous pressure from customers to offer competitive rates and discounts. This can lead to a profusion of special arrangements with rates that poorly reflect the services rendered. This article shows how standard database systems and statistical models can be used to extract useful information from bills of lading to assist in the pricing of freight services. Summaries of business performance are produced according to terminal facility, shipping origin, shipping destination, individual shipping lane and individual customer. User-friendly statistical models are constructed to produce benchmarks for rates and revenues considering the services rendered. Differences between actual and benchmark levels of performance help to identify situations that may call for managerial reinforcement or corrective intervention. With illustrations from a major motor carrier, the authors discuss how even small motor carriers can develop such models and use them for planning their rate adjustments and managing customer relationships.

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