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| June 2008 |
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The "Mason Connection" is Mason’s electronic newsletter, designed to keep you informed of the latest developments at the university. The newsletter is sent monthly when the General Assembly is in session and every other month when it is not in session. |
Mason Researchers Propose 30 Percent Solution to Improve U.S. Air TransportationLast year, American passengers waited a total of 284.5 million hours—approximately 32,477 years—in flight delays. How did America’s airports become so congested, and what can be done to alleviate the backups? Researchers at Mason’s Center for Air Transportation Systems Research have been analyzing this problem. In the new book Terminal Chaos: Why U.S. Air Travel Is Broken and How to Fix It, coauthors George Donohue, director of the center, and Russell Shaver, a visiting research fellow, state the most serious problem is overscheduling flights at key airports. One short-term solution is something Donohue calls the “30 percent solution,” which he says could put the broken system on the path to recovery. Donohue proposes airlines reduce their schedules by 30 percent and use aircraft that are 30 percent larger at the 10 busiest airports. Under this solution, takeoff and landing slots at the busiest airports would be auctioned to the airlines at a fair-market value. Under this arrangement, the frequency of flights would be reduced slightly, but the use of larger aircraft would actually provide consumers with cheaper flights.
Did You Know?
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In The NewsTuesday, June 3, National Geographic Giant Tornadoes Seen Erupting from the Sun “The sun produces giant tornado-like jets that stretch thousands of miles into space, new satellite data shows. The solar tornadoes typically last about 10 minutes and occur near the sun’s poles. ‘These solar tornadoes are almost a thousand times faster than a terrestrial tornado and are very big,’ said Spiros Patsourakos, a researcher at George Mason University.” Monday, June 2, Washington Post Outdated Radios Fail Capitol Police “The U.S. Capitol Police guard one of the nation’s biggest terrorist targets. But their radios conk out in ‘dead spots’ around congressional buildings and have limited connections to local police in the Washington area, officials say. Jerry Brito, a fellow with the Regulatory Studies Program at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University, said only a national system can provide the efficiency and seamless communication emergency responders need.” Tuesday, May 27, Associated Press No. Va. County Sees Signs of Change amid Crackdown
“Many say Prince William’s new crackdown on illegal immigrants has created an environment so unfriendly that Hispanic people are leaving the county of more than 350,000, which according to the U.S. Census Bureau was nearly 15 percent Hispanic in 2006. . . . Stephen Fuller, director for the Center for Regional Analysis at George Mason University in Fairfax, Va., said the policy could end up tainting the county’s image and scaring off investors. ‘I think this will affect the county for several years even if they reverse the policy tonight,’ Fuller said.” |
Polyak’s theory called nonlinear rescaling (NR) is used to solve constrained optimization problems. Optimization, as the name implies, involves making something as effective as possible. Now, two German researchers Rembert Reemtsen and Markus Alber are using the theory to improve the efficiency of radiation treatment of cancerous tumors. Optimization is used to determine angle, intensity, and duration of radiation beams to most effectively destroy cancerous tumors without damaging nearby healthy tissue. Software based on NR has since been built into the radiotherapy systems used in some hospitals.