The motivation behind this research was to analyse the consequences of aircraft operations’ delays on cumulative noise levels produced upon the neighbouring communities and to estimate the relative ...change in the number of people annoyed by aircraft noise. Many studies showed that residents’ reactions to abrupt changes in noise exposure were more intense compared to the anticipated ones. Aircraft delays may cause such abrupt changes in noise exposure by increasing the traffic in some periods compared to the scheduled traffic. The methodology applied includes noise contour development for two different scenarios for intervals where aircraft delays occur. Only delays connected with the Total Airport Management (TAM) were analysed, since such delays can be influenced by airports. The first scenario considered the influence of aircraft operations on population noise exposure without TAM delays, whereas the second one included all delayed flights (actual traffic). The proposed method was tested through case studies of three southeast European airports. The results showed that the highest potential of decrease in the number of people annoyed by the noise was recorded at Niš Airport (59%), followed by Zadar Airport (49%) and Sarajevo Airport (25%). Similar results were obtained in the context of highly annoyed people.
Airports are often the centers driving the economic development of the local community in which they are located and have a significant impact on national economies. Therefore, infrastructural ...airport development is of great importance. New airport infrastructure has an impact on the improvement of the customer experience, but with the assumption that certain physical and operational conditions are met. Using interviews and statistical methods, airport customers’ satisfaction was numerically expressed. The special value of this research lies in real data collected via two independent organizations, which were responsible for data collecting during the three-year period which included activities at the old passenger terminal at the Franjo Tuđman Airport, activities during the transition period from the old to the new passenger terminal, and the period after opening the new and closing the old passenger terminal. The research found that, in addition to the facilities that are part of the passenger operations, passengers pay significant attention to the commercial facilities, as well as the design and ambiance of the passenger terminal. It can be concluded that with the development of new airport infrastructure, such as a passenger terminal, a wow effect can be achieved for the customers. However, only the right design of ambiance, simplified passenger flows, and organization of commercial areas with diverse offerings and acceptable prices will ensure long-term customer satisfaction and that the experience gap remains positive and sustainable.
Establishing the desired quality of service (QoS) of the airport passenger terminal in order to improve operational performance is a challenge for every airport. Recent international research ...indicates a gradual recovery in air transport and, accordingly, the need to develop additional transport infrastructure. If the passenger terminal design in terms of infrastructure and operational capacity is not approached correctly, the level of service provided to passengers may decline. This research will focus on how the IATA Level of Service (LoS), which is provided to airport users can contribute to the optimisation of the level of service of the passenger terminal. Additionally, the impact of level of service on passenger terminal capacity assessment in relation to the diversity of air carrier business model will be analysed. Since there is no common link to uniformly describe and solve this problem, this paper will review the relevant literature in the field of passenger terminal capacity research and will analyse different approaches to solving this problem with the aim to develop a new unified concept in observing and optimising the capacity of the airport passenger terminal taking into account the types of air carrier business models.
In the territory of the Republic of Croatia, not a single airport is connected to the railway infrastructure, which is a limiting factor for the further development of air cargo transport. The ...traffic network within the catchment area of Franjo Tudman Airport in Zagreb is not sufficiently interconnected, and therefore the implementation of the rules of the single market within the transport sectors is uneven. This paper aims to investigate the factors of intermodality of air transport and other modes of transport, focusing on cases of infrastructure integration in order to improve transport connectivity. The research analysed several airports where increase in cargo traffic was influenced by the expanding capacities and connectivity at the airport. By calculating the coefficient of utilisation of the intermodal surfaces of the reference airports, it was determined that the increase of these capacities does not necessarily lead to a significant increase in air cargo transport. However, due to estimates of the global growth of air cargo transport, an adequate and modernised infrastructure gives an advantage of better positioning in the transport market compared to those airports that do not have such resources. Based on the obtained results and increased investment to improve rail speeds and intermodal accessibility, the modular approach of expanding the infrastructure, through monitoring of cargo transport utilisation coefficient, is considered sustainable.
Extensive reorganization of infected cells and the formation of large structures known as the nuclear replication compartment (RC) and cytoplasmic assembly compartment (AC) is a hallmark of ...beta-herpesvirus infection. These restructurings rely on extensive compartmentalization of the processes that make up the virus manufacturing chain. Compartmentalization of the nuclear processes during murine cytomegalovirus (MCMV) infection is not well described. In this study, we visualized five viral proteins (pIE1, pE1, pM25, pm48.2, and pM57) and replicated viral DNA to reveal the nuclear events during MCMV infection. As expected, these events can be matched with those described for other beta and alpha herpesviruses and contribute to the overall picture of herpesvirus assembly. Imaging showed that four viral proteins (pE1, pM25, pm48.2, and pM57) and replicated viral DNA condense in the nucleus into membraneless assemblies (MLAs) that undergo a maturation sequence to form the RC. One of these proteins (pM25), which is also expressed in a cytoplasmic form (pM25l), showed similar MLAs in the AC. Bioinformatics tools for predicting biomolecular condensates showed that four of the five proteins had a high propensity for liquid-liquid phase separation (LLPS), suggesting that LLPS may be a mechanism for compartmentalization within RC and AC. Examination of the physical properties of MLAs formed during the early phase of infection by 1,6-hexanediol treatment in vivo revealed liquid-like properties of pE1 MLAs and more solid-like properties of pM25 MLAs, indicating heterogeneity of mechanisms in the formation of virus-induced MLAs. Analysis of the five viral proteins and replicated viral DNA shows that the maturation sequence of RC and AC is not completed in many cells, suggesting that virus production and release is carried out by a rather limited number of cells. This study thus lays the groundwork for further investigation of the replication cycle of beta-herpesviruses, and the results should be incorporated into plans for high-throughput and single-cell analytic approaches.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, aviation at the global level is currently facing one of the biggest challenges in its sustainability. The entire philosophy related to airport operations and passenger ...processing changes due to the fast-spreading nature of this disease. The “new normal” in the aviation sector, primarily at the airport, will provide the passenger a different quality level of service in comparison to what we used to have until now. Following World Health Organization measures, especially those related to social distances, the future focus will be on the implementation of fully automated self-service passenger traffic flows that will change the airport passenger traffic flows’ processing structure. This paper shows current technologies and processes and how this “new normal” will change philosophy related to Industry 4.0 at the airport passenger operations, functionality, and human resource (HR) planning and optimizations.
In addition to passenger traffic, air cargo business is an important business for a global air transport industry. This means that Air Cargo Handling Process (ACHP) is important for any airport or ...cargo handling agent who provides cargo handling services. To qualitatively manage the ACHP, certain prerequisites must be met, such as competent cargo staff, procedures, cargo information system, infrastructure with enough capacity, and process management. The objective of research presented in this paper is ACHP and its complex structure but in the context of safety and sustainability. Using of several scientific methods of cognition, the authors research the structure of ACHP and safety, and ecological aspects of the process, too. The result of this research is the safety and environmental aspects of the process which are of significant importance for process functionality as well as for the quality level of service that meets customer requirements and to the sustainability of process. Results show that there is a significant impact of the environmental and safety aspects specific to particular activities in ACHP and that they affect the reliability and functionality of the whole process, its profitability, and competitiveness. This points to the need for ACHP to be viewed in context and to understand ACHP sustainability matters and sustainability components.
This paper analyses the impact of airline business models on airport infrastructure and operational capacity and answers the question how to optimize capacity in order to achieve maximum efficiency ...and profitability as well as how to maintain an adequate level of service quality. As part of the research, a new model was created as an integral part of the Airport Management Strategy Software (AMSS) application. The purpose of the application is to enable the airport management to review and optimize operations in terms of maximum technical and technological capacity utilization. In addition, the application can be used to fill the available slots according to the specifics of the airline’s business model without compromising the security, flexibility, and profitability of airport operations. The validation of the application was conducted at Zagreb Airport, which generated traffic of 3.4 million passengers in 2019. The result of the research is a model which, based on the calculation of the existing capacity of the airport infrastructure and ground handling equipment, enables the simulation of new airline business models and aircraft type implementation. Furthermore, the model also analyses their impact on the utilization of the airport infrastructure and equipment. The research demonstrated the interdependence between airport capacity optimization and optimal slot allocation, and the specifics of airline business models and aircraft types in their fleets. By adopting this model, airport managers can prevent mistakes that arise during negotiations with airlines, which can result in the under capacity of the infrastructure, equipment, and human resources as well as cause lower levels of security, numerous delays, reduced quality of service and, ultimately, negative financial effects.
Cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection initiates massive rearrangement of cytoplasmic organelles to generate assembly compartment (AC). The earliest events, the establishment of the preAC, are initiated in ...the early phase as an extensive reorganization of early endosomes (EEs), endosomal recycling compartment (ERC), trans-Golgi network (TGN), and the Golgi. Here, we demonstrate that dynamin inhibitors (Dynasore, Dyngo-4a, MiTMAB, and Dynole-34-2) block the establishment of the preAC in murine CMV (MCMV) infected cells. In this study, we extensively analyzed the effect of Dynasore on the Golgi reorganization sequence into the outer preAC. We also monitored the development of the inner preAC using a set of markers that define EEs (Rab5, Vps34, EEA1, and Hrs), the EE-ERC interface (Rab10), the ERC (Rab11, Arf6), three layers of the Golgi (GRASP65, GM130, Golgin97), and late endosomes (Lamp1). Dynasore inhibited the pericentriolar accumulation of all markers that display EE-ERC-TGN interface in the inner preAC and prevented Golgi unlinking and dislocation to the outer preAC. Furthermore, in pulse-chase experiments, we demonstrated that the presence of dynasore only during the early phase of MCMV infection (4–14 hpi) is sufficient to prevent not only AC formation but also the synthesis of late-phase proteins and virion production. Therefore, our results indicate that dynamin-2 acts as a part of the machinery required for AC generation and rearrangement of EE/ERC/Golgi membranes in the early phase of CMV infection.
In the past, it was enough for the airport to have a runway and a modest terminal. The development of air traffic has also increased customer requirements (passengers, airlines, etc.), which has ...affected the need for airport infrastructure development. Throughout the world, passenger terminals have been built, many of which, according to architectural solutions, represent works of art. The design and functionality are tailored in such a way as to enable longer stay and meet the requirements of passengers and other users. Content and concept offer solutions that airport operators provide for additional revenue. One part of the content and service is offered in passenger terminal buildings, while the other part is provided outside them, whether in or outside the airport. Part of this content is offered by Airport City (AC). AC phenomenon represents the integration of infrastructure, superstructures, information and operations. It represents a part of the Supply Chain (SC) and usually includes facilities such as: passenger terminals, runways and other airport activities such as: ground handling, logistics, office space, shops, hotels, etc. In this paper, authors use a method of systems theory, a modeling method and a comparative method as a general and some specific scientific methods of cognition, to researching the problem to which different AC models and their structure can contribute to the optimal SC flow as its essential part and bring the results of the AC phenomenon as a part of the SC.
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