The EVIDENCE project: Measure no.5 - Roadspace re-allocation

Key messages:• Schemes in which general traffic lanes are re-allocated to alternative uses can be expected to reduce traffic volumes, improve journey times for the modes given additional priority (e.g. bicycles or buses), increase the use of non-car modes and reduce casualty numbers.• However, little credible evidence was identified on the monetized costs and benefits of road space re-allocation schemes. This may be a result of such schemes often forming part of a wider package of measures which are then appraised as a whole.• Journey times for general traffic (cars, vans etc.) may increase, although in some cases road space reallocation has not led to the anticipated increases in congestion. Therefore, it is possible to remove road space and improve conditions for users of other modes and the public realm without worsening conditions for general traffic.• Accordingly, modelling exercises of road space reallocation under different scenarios indicate that benefit-cost ratios for road space re-allocation schemes are likely to be positive in cases where the benefits of increased perso

The EVIDENCE project: Measure no.16 - Traffic management and control

Key messages:• Urban Traffic Control systems (UTC) can be expected to improve network efficiency by reducing delays to vehicles. This can have additional benefits in reducing fuel use and emissions (although evidence here is limited).• Economic benefits are calculated mainly on the basis of time savings. These savings may be specifically for public transport users, cyclists, or for general traffic• Providing priority to public transport or bicycles through UTC can contribute to significant journey time savings without compromising journey times for other road users.• Automatic systems to monitor bus lanes and signalized junctions have been shown to improve journey times, reduce infringements and reduce collision rates at junctions.• Investment payback periods for bus priority measures are seen to range from 3 months to 2 years in the examples reviewed.• Variable Message Signs (VMS) can divert some traffic (although they are less likely to be effective in heavily congested networks).• VMS has the potential to contribute to time savings in public transport corridors, but evidence is currently limited here

The EVIDENCE project: Measure no.13 - New public transport systems and networks

Key messages:• Light rail (LRT) and Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) systems can increase passenger carrying capacity, increase use of public transport, and deliver land use strategies; e.g. regenerating former industrial areas, intensification around transport nodes or increased economic activity in central areas.• Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) can meet similar objectives to LRT, but at a much lower cost. It can also be delivered in a much shorter timescale.• Economic analysis is available for LRT and BRT schemes. For LRT they were more likely to be projections before scheme implementation, with positive Benefit-Cost-Ratios (BCRs) ranging from 2-3. However, no evidence was identified to validate these BCRs post-implementation so they must be treated with due caution.• Post implementation analysis of BRT schemes produced positive BCRs ranging from 1-3.• LRT and BRT have a positive effect on land values near stations, but can negatively affect values near routes.• Urban Demand Responsive Transport (DRT) systems can be an effective means of providing transport to the ‘mobility poor’ at a lower cost than alternatives (such as subsidised single ride taxis). They will normally require subsidy however

Water quality monitor (EMPAX instrument)

The impetus of the Viking Mission to Mars led to the first miniaturization of a X-ray Fluorescence Spectrometer (XRFS). Two units were flown on the Viking Mission and successfully operated for two years analyzing the elemental composition of the Martian soil. Under a Bureau of Mines/NASA Technology Utilization project, this XRFS design was utilized to produce a battery powered, portable unit for elemental analysis of geological samples. This paper will detail design improvements and additional sampling capabilities that were incorporated into a second generation portable XRFS that was funded by the EPA/NASA Technology Utilization project. The unit, Environment Monitoring with Portable Analysis by X-ray (EMPAX), was developed specifically for quantitative determination of the need of EPA and and any industry affected by environmental concerns, the EMPAX fulfills a critical need to provide on-site, real-time analysis of toxic metal contamination. A patent was issued on EMPAX, but a commercial manufacturer is still being sought

Individual and Community in Paul's Letter to the Romans

The aim of this thesis is to determine the relationship between the individual and the community in Pauline theology, focusing the investigation specifically on these motifs in Romans. Previous Pauline scholarship has for most of the twentieth- and twenty-first centuries failed to recognize the integral connection between these two dimensions of Paul’s thought, wrongly pitting either the individual or the community against the other. This investigation will present a typology of individuals in Romans in order to highlight the diversity of ways in which Paul thinks of individuals, as well as the necessarily communal location of these individuals. Chapter one surveys recent Pauline scholarship on the question of individuals and community, noting that the dominant tone of this research is anti-individual in its fundamental orientation. This chapter concludes with an outline of the entire dissertation. Chapter two provides a detailed analysis of the debate that developed between Rudolf Bultmann and Ernst Käsemann over the role of the individual in Paul’s letters. This debate set the agenda for the scholarship surveyed in Chapter one, and thus warrants a thorough treatment. Chapter three brings the Stoic philosopher Epictetus into the conversation in order to provide a contemporary example of a thinker who, like Paul, attempted to do justice to both individual and communal/societal themes in his philosophical output. While Epictetus’ way of relating the individual and the community is different from Paul’s, it shows clearly that this is not an anachronistic question in antiquity, contrary to the claims of much Pauline scholarship. The comparison between Epictetus and Paul illuminates our understanding of Paul’s theology even (perhaps especially) when it shows the different ways in which the two thinkers answered the same basic question, that of how to relate individuals and community/society. Chapter four is the first half of the typology of individuals in Romans. It looks at four different types of individuals as they are found in Romans 2, 3 and 4: characteristic, generic, binary and exemplary individuals. Definitions of each type are offered as they are discussed. Chapter five presents the second half of the typology of individuals in Romans, looking at four other types of individuals in Romans 5, 7, 12 and 16: representative, negative exemplary, somatic and particular individuals. While the communal nature of Pauline theology is evident in Chapter four, it becomes especially clear in Chapter five. Finally, Chapter six summarizes the findings of the entire investigation, while also pointing to other Pauline texts that could be used to fill out the typology of individuals. Two main conclusions are enumerated. First, that both Paul and Epictetus place great emphasis on the individual and the individual’s place within community or society, although Epictetus’ concern for emotional invulnerability (seen in his prioritizing of individual, cognitive action) is in marked tension with Paul’s more foundationally communal way of thinking. Second, filling out the second part of the point just mentioned, it is maintained that although Paul’s theology must be understood as retaining a vital place for individuals, these are necessarily individuals-within-community, and that the prevalent scholarly antitheses between these two categories (on either side of the debate) are fundamentally misleading

Two-dimensional direction-of-arrival estimation with time-modulated arrays

Two-dimensional direction-of-arrival estimation with time-modulated array

Understanding how household car ownership changes over time

The PhD study presented in this thesis sets out to address the question: How and why does household car ownership change over time? This question is justified on the basis that the study of car ownership has traditionally been dominated by cross-sectional, quantitative analyses. It is argued that complementary qualitative, longitudinal methods have the potential to generate explanatory insights into the underlying process through which household car ownership states arise and change over time.Accordingly, the study employed a novel flexible two stage research design. Stage one involved 15 in-depth retrospective biographical interviews with members of zero, one and two car owning households. An inductive thematic analysis led to the development of a new dynamic framework for understanding the general process of household car ownership change. Car ownership changes are triggered by life events which alter roles/relationships, spatial contexts and lifestyle preferences. Life events lead to travel behaviour adaptation and consideration of whether the current car ownership state is satisfactory. This can create a latent propensity to change car ownership state. Given the ‘costs’ and effort involved in taking action, households tend to resist changes to their car ownership state. In some cases, action may be prompted by another external stimulus such as the receipt of a maintenance bill, or the opportunity to acquire a car from a trusted friend or family member. The dynamic framework was tested in a neighbourhood survey involving a self-completion questionnaire and follow-up telephone call to establish a wider set of accounts of car ownership level changes. The life event driven nature of car ownership level changes is confirmed and it is found that car ownership level changes are also strongly dependent on life stage. Younger households have a tendency to increase car ownership level from zero to one or more cars as they move towards middle age. Vehicle relinquishments are more likely to occur in older age following retirement in association with health and income constraints. Over 70 percent of car ownership level changes recorded by the survey were associated with either a change in working circumstances, cohabitation, an adult joining or leaving the household, residential relocation, child birth or offspring reaching driving age. The thesis provides specific insights into the circumstances when such events are associated with a change in car ownership level