Japan and the UK : Emission predictions of electric and hydrogen rail to 2050

Acknowledgements This research was carried out under the UK Energy Research Centre (UKERC) as part of the ADdressing Valuation of Energy and Nature Together (ADVENT) funded project. Funding was received from the Natural Environment Research Council (NE/M019691/1), United Kingdom and the School of Biological Sciences, University of Aberdeen, United Kingdom. Funding was also received from the Postgraduate Research Grant from University of Aberdeen, United Kingdom. This work has also emanated from research supported in part by a research grant from Science Foundation Ireland (SFI) under the SFI Strategic Partnership Programme Grant number SFI/15/SPP/E3125. The authors would also like to thank Dr Christian Brand, University of Oxford, for giving them access and guidance regarding the Trans- port Energy and Air Pollution Model (TEAM‐UK).Peer reviewedPublisher PD

International connectivity and the location of multinational enterprises' knowledge‐intensive activities: Evidence from US metropolitan areas

International connectivity is a multidimensional construct that plays a pivotal role in attracting the activities of multinational enterprises (MNEs) by facilitating intra‐firm coordination and access to external resources. We conceptualize how the different dimensions of international connectivity determine the location of MNEs' knowledge‐intensive activities, with a focus on Research and Development (R&D) laboratories and Headquarter units (HQ). By analyzing 3,101 greenfield investments of MNEs in US Metropolitan Statistical Areas, we show that R&D activities are attracted toward areas connected to the rest of the world by international networks of inventors. Moreover, we find that infrastructures which ensure the mobility of people across borders, and greater connectivity through advanced producer services are key location factors for HQ activities. Managerial summary: The choice of where multinational enterprises (MNEs) locate their knowledge‐intensive activities is a crucial decision for managers, with important implications for policymakers. It has become increasingly clear that MNEs value the extent to which individual locations are connected globally. We study this international connectivity and highlight that it is a multidimensional construct spanning knowledge, infrastructure, and producer service networks. This study shows that not every dimension of international connectivity is equally important for MNEs in locating different knowledge‐intensive activities. Research and Development laboratories are attracted toward areas connected worldwide by international networks of inventors. Moreover, headquarter units are more likely to be established in locations featuring greater connectivity through the mobility of people and advanced producer services

Assessment of Community Planning for Mass Transit: Volume 8--San Francisco Case Study

One of nine studies done by the Office of Technology Assessment (OTA) assessing community planning for mass transit. The report identifies "the factors that help communities, facing critical technological choices, make wise decisions that are consistent with local and national goals for transit" (p. vii)

Koneoppimiseen perustuvat sään vaikutusennustukset

Defence is held on 2.11.2021 15:00 – 19:00 Remote connection link https://aalto.zoom.us/j/69735940472Natural disasters influenced over 4 billion people, required 1.23 million lives, and caused almost US$ 3 trillion economic losses between 2000 and 2019. The picture becomes even more deplorable when hazards, smaller-scale severe weather events not requiring casualties, are considered. For example, 78 percent of power outages in Finland were inflicted by extreme weather in 2017, and train delays, often caused by adverse weather, have been estimated to cost 1 billion pounds during 2006 and 2007 in the UK. To mitigate the effects of the adverse weather and increase the resilience of the societies, the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) raised the consciousness of impact-based warnings along with impact forecasts. Such warnings and predictions can be used in various domains to prepare, alleviate and recuperate from adverse weather conditions.  This thesis studies how to preprocess data and use machine learning to create valuable impact forecasts for power grid and rail traffic operators. The thesis introduces a novel object-oriented method to predict power outages caused by convective storms. The method combines state-of-the-art storm identification, tracking, and nowcasting algorithms with modern machine learning methods. The proposed object-oriented method is also adapted to predict power outages caused by large-scale extratropical storms days ahead. In addition, the thesis studies the task of predicting weather-inflicted train delays. The method presented in the thesis hinges weather parameters on train delays to anticipate the delays days ahead. The thesis shows that the object-oriented approach is a vindicable method to predict power outages caused by convective storms and that a similar approach is feasible also in the context of extratropical storms. The introduced methods provide power grid operators increasingly accurate outage predictions. The thesis also demonstrates that the train delays related to adverse weather can be predicted with good quality training data. Such predictions offer cardinal information for rail traffic operators in preparing the challenging conditions. Presumably, similar approaches can be applied to any other domain with quantitative impacts produced by identifiable weather events, if sufficient impact data are available. Several advanced machine learning methods were evaluated in the tasks. The results corroborate with existing research: random forests provided a robust performance in all tasks, but also gradient boosting trees, Gaussian processes, and support vector machines proved useful.Luonnonkatastrofit vaikuttivat yli 4 miljardiin henkeen, vaativat 1,23 miljoonaa kuolonuhria ja tuottivat lähes 3 biljoonan dollarin taloudelliset tappiot vuosina 2000 -- 2019. Kuva heikkenee entisestään, mikäli huomioidaan myös pienemmän luokan vakavat säätapahtumat. Esimerkiksi 78 prosenttia Suomen vuoden 2017 sähkökatkoista oli sään aiheuttamia. Toisaalta -- usein säähän liittyvät -- junien myöhästymiset tuottivat arviolta miljardin punnan tappiot vuosina 2006 -- 2007 Isossa-Britanniassa. Maailman ilmatieteiden järjestö (WMO) onkin tähdentänyt vaikutusperusteisen varoitusten ja vaikutusennusteiden tärkeyttä vaaralliseen säähän varautumisessa. Vaikutusperusteiset varoitukset ja ennustukset ovat tärkeä apuväline useilla yhteiskunnan osa-alueilla varautuessa ääreviin sääilmiöihin sekä lievittäessä niiden vaikutuksia ja toipuessa niistä.  Tämä väitöskirja tutkii kuinka esiprosessoida dataa ja hyödyntää koneoppmimista sähköverkko- ja junaliikenneoperaattoreille tuotetuissa vaikutusennusteissa. Väitöskirja esittelee uuden oliopohjaisen metodin konvektiivisten rajuilmojen aiheuttamien sähkökatkojen ennustamiseksi. Metodi yhdistää ajantasaiset myrskyn tunnistus-, seuraus- ja lähihetkiennustusalgoritmit moderneihin koneoppimismenetelmiin. Ehdotettu oliopohjainen metodi on myös muokattu ennustamaan laaja-alaisten matalapainemyrskyjen aiheuttamia sähköatkoja. Lisäksi, väitöskirja tutkii sään aiheuttamien junien myöhästymisten ennustamista. Väitöskirjassa esitetty methodi yhdistää sääparametrit junien myöhästymisdataan, jotta myöhästymisiä voidaan ennakoida päiviä etukäteen.  Väitöskirja osoittaa, että oliopohjainen lähestymistapa toimii hyvin konvektiivisten myrskyjen aiheuttamien sähkökatkojen ennustamisessa, ja että vastaavaa metodia voidaan soveltaa myös matalapainemyrskyjen tapauksessa. Väitöskirjassa esitetyt metodit tarjoavat sähköverkko-operaattoreille entistä tarkempia sähkökatkoennusteita. Väitöskirja osoittaa myös, että sään aiheuttamien junien myöhästymisiä voidaan ennustaa mikäli hyvälaatuista koulutusdataa on saatavilla. Tällaiset ennustukset ovat hyvin tärkeitä junaliikenneoperaattoreille haasteellisiin olosuhteisiin varauduttaessa. Oletettavasti samoja lähestymistapoja voidaan hyödyntää myös muilla aloilla, joilla vaikutuksia ovat numeerisesti mallinnettavia ja tunnistettavan säätapahtuman tuottamia sekä kunnollista vaikutusdataa on saatavilla. Väitöskirja vertailee useiden koneoppmismetodeiden soveltuvuutta käsiteltäviin tähtäviin. Tulokset ovat linjassa edellisten tutkimusten kanssa: erityisesti satunnaismetsät ('random forests') tarjosivat toimitavarmoja ennusteita kaikissa tehtävissä, mutta gradienttivahvisteiset puut ('gradient boosting trees'), Gaussiset prosessit ('Gaussian processes') ja tukiverkkokoneet ('support vector machines') toimivat tehtävissä

Production economics of a vertically separated railway – The case of the British train operating companies.

This paper focuses on the production economics issuessurrounding the vertical separation of infrastructurefrom rail services with regard to passenger operations. Acase study of the British passenger railway privatisationis used. The British approach to rail reform is unique in three aspects. Firstly, the extent of horizontal separation of the former state owned railway, with the former monolithic state enterprise being divided into 104 individual autonomous units. Secondly, with only five years between the government white paper and full implementation of the revised structure, the time-frame over which these structural changes were implemented was very short. Thirdly, the extent of the involvement of the private enterprise in these reforms, with 96 of the autonomous units highlighted above transferred to theprivate sector.The most significant finding is that the size of train operating companies matter. In any vertical separation of the railway therefore, consideration needs to be given to the size (and hence number) of the train service provider(s). Furthermore, it was suggested that all British TOCs were operating on the downward part of the average cost curve i.e. all were too small in terms of trainkilometre production. Therefore, one of the key areas forproductivity gains for TOCs would be in the area of scaleeconomies. Finally, based upon estimates of the price elasticity of infrastructure, it would appear that in the British example the regulator has been reasonably successful in controlling the market power of the monopoly operator, Railtrack

From the Ground Up: Designerly Knowledge in Human-Drone Interaction

There are flying robots out there — you may have seen and heard them, droning over your head. Drones have expanded our human capacities, lifting our sight to the skies, but not without generating intricate experiences. How are these machines being designed and researched? What design methods, approaches, and philosophies are relevant to the study of the development (or decline) of drones in society? In this thesis, I argue that we must re-frame how drones are studied, from the ground up, through a design stance. I invite you to take a journey with me, with changing lenses from the work of others to my own intimate relationship with this technology. My work relies on exploring the fringes of design research: understudied groups such as children, alternative design approaches such as soma design, and peripheral methods such as autoethnography.This thesis includes four articles discussing perspectives on designerly knowledge, composing a frame surrounding the notion that we may be missing out on some of the aspects of the wicked nature of human-drone interaction (HDI) design. The methods are poised on phenomenology and narratives, and supported by the assumption that any subject of study is a sociotechnical assemblage. Starting through a first-person perspective, I offer a contribution to the gap in research through a longitudinal autoethnographic study conducted with my children. The second paper comes in the form of a pictorial expressing a first-person experience during a design research workshop, and what that meant for my relationship with drones as a research material. The third paper leaps into a Research through Design project, challenging the solutionist drone and offering instead the first steps in a concept-driven design of the unlikely pairing of drones and breathing. The fourth paper returns to the pictorial form, suggesting a method for visual conversations between researchers through the tangible qualities of sketches and illustrations. Central to this thesis, is the argument for designerly approaches in HDI and championing the need for alternative forms of publication and research. To that end, I include two publications in the form of pictorials: a publication format relying on visual knowledge and with growing interest in the HCI community