Factors Influencing the Choice of Shared Bicycles and Electric Bicycles in Beijing -- A Stated Preference Approach

Public bicycle systems, also known as bikeshare systems, are growing rapidly throughout the world, but nowhere more so than in China. At the same time the country’s most rapidly growing mode of private transportation is the electric two wheeler, or e-bike. Despite the popularity of this mode and the similarity to conventional bicycles, there are currently no large scale public e-bike systems. To evaluate the adoption and use of an e-bikeshare system, this study employs a stated preference survey to investigate the factors influencing the choice to use a shared bike or e-bike system. An intercept survey queries 620 respondents in the four main urban districts of Beijing. The survey are entirely stated preference as opposed to the traditional revealed-stated preference hybrids that require estimation or measurement of unobserved factors and are subject to limited variation. The stated preference approach allowed surveyors to test a variety of environmental conditions that did not actually occur during the one month study period. The survey employs a main effects design to test environmental characteristics related to comfort, safety, and speed of travel. Survey data is used to build a multinomial logit choice model. The model indicates that the choice to use the shared bicycle is most sensitive to the respondent’s original mode as well as trip distance and environmental conditions. The choice to use the shared electric bicycle is most influenced by socio-demographic characteristics such as income, education, and gender. The shared e-bike’s insensitivity to distance can make it an attractive alternative to the shared bike. Concerning public transit, it is not clear what the relation with shared bikes will be, but it is clear the shared e-bike is attractive as a bus replacement mode. The study results suggest that a shared bike system in Beijing will mainly draw users from modes with low fuel consumption per passenger and from a variety of demographic groups. A shared e-bike system may be deployed in a focused manner by targeting specific user demographic groups and with specific transportation system goals such as relieving congested bus routes

Geology and drilling history of the Ashida #1 geothermal test, Opihikao prospect, Hawaii

Discussion of the drilling program and interpretation of downhole geology based on cuttings samples from the Barnwell Ashida #1 well.For Barnwell Industries, Inc., Honolulu, Hawaii

Geology and drilling history of Lanipuna #1/sidetrack, Tokyo lands prospect, Hawaii

Discussion of the drilling program and interpretation of downhole geology based on cuttings samples from the Barnwell Lanipuna #1 sidetrack well.For Barnwell Industries, Inc., New York, New York

Security and identity in United States foreign policy : a reading of the Carter administration

The analysis in this thesis derives its impetus from three ‘windows of opportunity' present in current academic debates. The first is the opening made possible by the wide-ranging and interdisciplinary debate over the nature of social and political inquiry. The second, both an instance of and response to the first, is the theoretical confusion that currently exists in the discipline of International Relations. The third is the confusion that exists in the literature of International Relations concerning the reasons behind the Carter administration's foreign policy ‘failure’. These three openings are brought together in an account that reconceptualizes foreign policy in light of the interdisciplinary debate over the nature of social and political inquiry, offers a reinterpretation of United States foreign policy in the postwar era, and then seeks to account for the Carter administration in these new terms. The argument in this thesis is about the problematizations which make possible our understanding of global life. It seeks to demonstrate the particular problematization that makes possible the modes of analysis in the discipline of International Relations, the particular problematization that makes possible United States foreign policy, and the particular problematization that makes possible the conventional interpretation of the Carter administration. In this context, the discussion of the Carter administration’s foreign policy is not about its policy per se. Rather, it is about how its 'foreign policy' was made possible via a discursive economy that gave value to representational practices associated with a particular problematization. It is argued that ‘foreign polic/ needs to be understood as a political practice which establishes the boundary between the ‘domestic’ and the ‘international’, and brings a particular manifestation of both domains into existence. Foreign policy plays an important role in the creation and maintenance of a society’s identity through the transference of the differences within society to differences between societies. This is achieved via an inscription of danger (in what becomes the external realm), whereby the problems, fears and dangers of ‘man’ in ‘domestic’ society are externalized and totalized. What is at stake in foreign policy, therefore, is the defense of a particular identity through the writing of a particular understanding of security. Security, in this sense, refers to the issues involved in the inscription of danger. The thesis then brings this reconceputalization of foreign policy to bear upon postwar United States foreign policy, followed by a more detailed consideration of the Carter administration

Red clover investigations : Thesis for Master of Agriculture

Objective: To collect comprehensive information on Red Clover and so be able to define the best type for selection

Refrigerated Stability of Diluted Cisatracurium, Rocuronium, and Vecuronium for skin testing after perioperative anaphylaxis

Rationale: The purpose of this study is to investigate the stored stability of dilutions of neuromuscular blocking agents (NMBAs), namely cisatracurium, rocuronium, and vecuronium, for skin prick/intradermal testing. Methods: Concentrations of NMBAs were monitored by liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) for a period of 14 days. Dilutions of NMBAs were prepared in saline by factors of 10x, 100x, 1,000x, 10,000x, and 100,000x as sensitivity of the assay allowed. Diluted drug products were stored in a laboratory refrigerator until sampling. On sampling days, aliquots of each dilution were removed and compared to a freshly prepared set of reference dilutions. Results: The results are measured as beyond use date (BUD) defined as recovery of drug versus the reference (90-110%). Based on the LC-MS/MS data, the BUD for cisatracurium diluted to 10x and 100x is 96 hours. Higher dilutions (1,000x to100,000x) should be used immediately following preparation (within less than 24 hours). Vecuronium at 10x and 100x, also has a BUD of 96 hours, and the 1,000x dilution is stable for 24 hours. The 10,000x dilution should be used immediately. Rocuronium at 10x to 1,000x has a BUD of 48 hours, yet higher dilutions (10,000x and 100,000x) should be used immediately. Conclusions: With increasing dilution factors, the stability of these drugs in saline decreases, increasing deviation between samples and references. The most stable dilutions for each of the drugs tested were 10x and 100x. Stability of these drugs is likely compromised by hydrolysis of the ester bonds in the drug molecules

Detection and identification of Criegee intermediates from the ozonolysis of biogenic and anthropogenic VOCs: comparison between experimental measurements and theoretical calculations

Ozonolysis of alkenes is a key reaction in the atmosphere, playing an important role in determining the oxidising capacity of the atmosphere and acting as a source of compounds that can contribute to local photochemical “smog”. The reaction products of the initial step of alkene-ozonolysis are Criegee intermediates (CIs), which have for many decades eluded direct experimental detection because of their very short lifetime. We use an innovative experimental technique, stabilisation of CIs with spin traps and analysis with proton transfer reaction mass spectrometry, to measure the gas phase concentration of a series of CIs formed from ozonolysis of a range of both biogenic and anthropogenic alkenes in flow tube experiments. Density functional theory (DFT) calculations were used to assess the stability of the CI-spin trap adducts and showed that the reaction of the investigated CIs with the spin trap occurs very rapidly except for the large β-pinene CI. Our measurement method was used successfully to measure all the expected CIs, emphasising that this new technique is applicable to a wide range of CIs with different molecular structures previously unidentified experimentally. In addition, for the first time it was possible to study CIs simultaneously in an even more complex reaction system consisting of more than one olefinic precursor. Comparison between our new experimental measurements, calculations of stability of the CI-spin trap adducts and results from numerical modelling, using the master chemical mechanism (MCM), showed that our new method can be used for quantification of CIs produced in situ in laboratory experiments.This work was funded by the European Research Council (ERC starting grant 279405) and NERC (NE/K008218/1). ATA thanks NERC for funding through NCAS

UNDERWATER COATINGS FOR CONTAMINATION CONTROL

The Idaho National Laboratory (INL) deactivated several aging nuclear fuel storage basins. Planners for this effort were greatly concerned that radioactive contamination present on the basin walls could become airborne as the sides of the basins became exposed during deactivation and allowed to dry after water removal. One way to control this airborne contamination was to fix the contamination in place while the pool walls were still submerged. There are many underwater coatings available on the market for marine, naval and other applications. A series of tests were run to determine whether the candidate underwater fixatives were easily applied and adhered well to the substrates (pool wall materials) found in INL fuel pools. Lab-scale experiments were conducted by applying fourteen different commercial underwater coatings to four substrate materials representative of the storage basin construction materials, and evaluating their performance. The coupons included bare concrete, epoxy painted concrete, epoxy painted carbon steel, and stainless steel. The evaluation criteria included ease of application, adherence to the four surfaces of interest, no change on water clarity or chemistry, non-hazardous in final applied form and be proven in underwater applications. A proprietary two-part, underwater epoxy owned by S. G. Pinney and Associates was selected from the underwater coatings tested for application to all four pools. Divers scrubbed loose contamination off the basin walls and floors using a ship hull scrubber and vacuumed up the sludge. The divers then applied the coating using a special powered roller with two separate heated hoses that allowed the epoxy to mix at the roller surface was used to eliminate pot time concerns. The walls were successfully coated and water was removed from the pools with no detectable airborne contamination releases

The Winter Camp of the Viking Great Army, AD 872–3, Torksey, Lincolnshire

This paper presents the results of a multidisciplinary project that has revealed the location, extent and character of the winter camp of the Viking Great Army at Torksey, Lincolnshire, of AD 872–3. The camp lay within a naturally defended area of higher ground, partially surrounded by marshes and bordered by the River Trent on its western side. It is considerably larger than the Viking camp of 873–4 previously excavated at Repton, Derbyshire, and lacks the earthwork defences identified there. Several thousand individuals overwintered in the camp, including warriors, craftworkers and merchants. An exceptionally large and rich metalwork assemblage was deposited during the Great Army’s overwintering, and metal processing and trading was undertaken. There is no evidence for a pre-existing Anglo-Saxon trading site here; the site appears to have been chosen for its strategic location and its access to resources. In the wake of the overwintering, Torksey developed as an important Anglo-Saxon borough with a major wheel-thrown pottery industry and multiple churches and cemeteries. The Torksey evidence allows for a radical reappraisal of the character of Viking winter camps, and the legacy of the Viking Great Army for Anglo-Saxon England