Giro (Canada)

Even in a context of rapidly evolving transportation and information technologies, household travel surveys remain an essential source of information for transportation planning. Moreover, as planning authorities become increasingly concerned with reducing the use of the private car, travelers’ mode choice patterns should be reexamined. In this study, a machine learning algorithm (Random Forest) was employed to characterize the use of eight different travel modes observed in two consecutive household travel surveys undertaken in Montreal, Canada. The analysis incorporated roughly 160,000 observed trips. The Random Forest algorithm was trained on the 2008 survey data and applied to the 2013 survey. The usefulness of the algorithm was evaluated using two numerical representations: the confusion matrix and the importance matrix. The results of this evaluation showed that the Random Forest algorithm could generate a detailed and precise characterization of travel submarkets for four of the most commonly observed modes of travel (auto-drive, public transit, school bus, and walk) using 11 attributes of households, persons, and trips. However, the auto-passenger mode was difficult to characterize because of its dependence on unobserved intra-household interactions. The algorithm also had difficulty identifying users of rarely observed modes (park-and-ride, kiss-and-ride, bicycle), but performed better in this regard than a traditional mode choice model. Finally, traveler’s age and the spatial orientation of origin–destination pairs were found to be decisive factors in the use of the auto-drive mode. This finding, combined with the stability of mode choice patterns observed over 5 years, highlights the difficulty of significantly reducing automobile use.

We revisit the Two-Prover Bit Commitment Scheme of BenOr, Goldwasser, Kilian and Wigderson [BGKW88]. First, we introduce Two-Prover Bit Commitment Schemes similar to theirs and demonstrate that although they are classically secure using their proof technique, we also show that if the provers are allowed to share quantum entanglement, they are able to successfully break the binding condition. Secondly, we translate this result in a purely classical setting and investigate the possibility of using this Bit Commitment scheme in applications. We observe that the security claim of [BGKW88] based on the assumption that the provers cannot communicate is not a sufficient criteria to obtain soundness. We develop a set of conditions, called isolation, that must be satisfied by any third party interacting with the provers to guarantee the binding property of the Bit Commitment.

Varying service levels during the day and complex work rules make transit scheduling a difficult task. Over the last 10 years, a joint university-S.T.C.U.M.-private enterprise effort has produced HASTUS, a comprehensive set of computer tools that assists in building cost-effective schedules. The HASTUS-Macro decision support system uses linear programming methods to estimate the costs of changes in union contracts and service levels. HASTUS-Bus employs network-flow methods to generate optimal vehicle schedules. HASTUS-Micro generates operator assignments through a combination of specially-formulated heuristics and optimal matching algorithms. Annual savings in excess of $3,000,000 (three percent of operating costs) have been reported in manpower scheduling and $1,000,000 in vehicle scheduling. This success at the S.T.C.U.M. has led to installations in nearly 40 major cities worldwide.

Forfatterne, Carsten Borup, reservelaege, og Inge-Marie Petersen, 1. reservelage ved Set. hans Hospital i Roskilde, afdeling F, der har geronto-psykiatri som subspeciale og er ledet af overlaege dr. med. Sven Munch-Petersen, har med folgende artikel onsket at praesentere en mulig behandling af begyndende demens tilstande. Behandlingseffekten er ikke alene vurderet klinisk, men ogsa ved psykologiske undersogelser af chefpsykolog ved Set. Hans Hospital i Roskilde, Birgitte Brun.

Alfred Singer, Managing Director of National Giro, the Post Office's money transfer and banking service, explains how this new public sector bank has confounded many of its critics and established itself as a viable financial institution in only seven years. An important factor contributing to the upturn in Giro's fortunes has been its success in capturing the business of commercial organisations and public authorities, areas in which Giro cash collection services have made particularly spectacular growth. Mr. Singer explains what Giro offers corporate customers—and looks forward to providing a fuller range of commercial and personal account facilities now that many of the handicaps preventing the service from competing effectively with other banks are being removed.