Effects of changing travel patterns on travel satisfaction: A focus on recently relocated residents

Previous studies indicate that travel satisfaction is affected by elements such as travel mode choice and trip duration. However, how people’s satisfaction levels with travel adapt after changing their travel behaviour has not yet been analysed thoroughly. In this study we analyse travel satisfaction of 1650 respondents who recently relocated to selected neighbourhoods in the city of Ghent (Belgium), and therefore changed their daily travel patterns (i.e., commute and leisure trips). Based on a two-step approach, i.e., a factor analysis followed by a cluster analysis, respondents are segmented into four clusters based on their changes in travel behaviour after they moved. Results indicate that especially clusters with respondents that decreased travel distance and duration, and increased the use of car alternatives have high levels of travel satisfaction, for both commute trips and leisure trips. Respondents from these clusters also indicated the highest levels of travel satisfaction improvements. This study provides additional motivation for policy makers and urban planners to convince more people to relocate to urban areas, or for densification and land use mixing of existing neighbourhoods, as this will not only result in more sustainable travel patterns, but also in more satisfying travel patterns

Dutch orthopedic thromboprophylaxis: a 5-year follow-up survey

Background and purpose Previous surveys in the Netherlands have revealed that guidelines regarding orthopedic thromboprophylaxis were not followed and that a wide variation in protocols exists. This survey was performed to assess the current use of thromboprophylactic modalities and to compare it with the results of a previous survey

Street view environments are associated with the walking duration of pedestrians: The case of Amsterdam, the Netherlands

Different aspects of the built and natural environment appear related to people's walking behavior. State-of-the-art transport studies typically incorporate built environmental measures (e.g., density, diversity, design). However, street view (SV) environments capturing how pedestrians perceived their surroundings on site are understudied. Therefore, this study examined possibly non-linear associations between multiple SV-derived environmental features and pedestrians’ walking duration in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. We used travel survey data (N = 1,886) between 2014 and 2017. SV-derived environmental measures (e.g., cars and people) were extracted from SV images through a fully convolutional neural network. Covariate-adjusted generalized additive mixed models were fitted to the data. Our results showed that walking-SV features associations differed between weekdays and weekends. On weekdays, pedestrians walked more in neighborhoods with fewer individual standing walls and lower address density. On weekends, pedestrians’ walking duration increased with more street greenery, fewer cars, higher address density, pronounced land-use diversity, and further distances to train stations. Non-linear associations were found only in the case of weekday SV-derived people, even after adjusting for other neighborhood characteristics (e.g., address density, land-use mix, and street connectivity). Our findings suggest that SV environmental features complement the typically used built environmental measures to explain pedestrians’ mobility. Policy-makers and urban planners are advised to incorporate characteristics of the street environments, also should not only rely on the conventional thinking “the more, the merrier”

Desperately constructing ethnic audiences: Anti-immigration discourses and minority audience research in the Netherlands

This article examines how minority ethnic audiences are measured, and thus constructed, in the Netherlands today. The analysis shows that this process is tightly woven into the dominant assimilationist and neoliberal discourse. This discourse portrays specific minority groups as deviant in relation to an essentialized notion of Dutchness. Furthermore, it presents social inclusion as an opportunity that is limited to well-adjusted, profitable consumers. Different attempts to represent minority audiences – including efforts to promote a more just minority representation in Dutch media – are compelled to accommodate to this dominant discourse. The article underscores the limited scope for contesting current hegemonic representations of minority groups and national belonging in the Netherlands

Changes in neighborhood physical and social environments matter for change in mental health: Longitudinal evidence from Dutch panel data

Numerous neighborhood environments have been recognized to affect mental health, but only a few longitudinal studies investigated these associations jointly and whether different population groups are affected differently. We used three-wave panel data of 2699 adults between 2010 and 2016 in the Netherlands to assess the associations between changes in neighborhood physical and social environments and mental health changes. Further, we assessed possible effect modification of gender and income. Mental health was measured using the Mental Health Inventory. Time-varying exposure to green space, blue space, population density, air pollution, socioeconomic deprivation, and social fragmentation were assigned based on individuals' neighborhood histories. Fixed-effect regressions were conducted to assess within-person associations between single and multiple exposures on mental health for the entire sample and stratified by gender and income. Our single-exposure models showed that increases in blue space were significantly associated with mental health improvements, while increases in fine particulate matter (PM2.5) resulted in declines in mental health. These associations were not attenuated in the multi-exposure model. We observed no significant associations for the remaining environments. Stratification analyses showed that females’ mental health further declined as PM2.5 concentrations increased compared to males. Increasing levels of socioeconomic deprivation were associated with further declines in mental health among the less well-off compared with higher-income earners. Our longitudinal findings suggested that neighborhood physical and social environment changes were associated with mental health changes. Future research is required to establish the underlying pathways

Longitudinal associations between the neighborhood social, natural, and built environment and mental health: A systematic review with meta-analyses

This review aimed to assess the longitudinal associations between neighborhood social, natural, and built environments, and multiple mental health outcomes (i.e., depression, anxiety, common mental disorder, and pooled mental disorders). Of 6,785 records retrieved, 30 studies fulfilled the inclusion criteria. Meta-analytical results primarily obtained from developed country studies showed that composite neighborhood socioeconomic status was negatively associated with depression (p = 0.007) and pooled mental disorders (p = 0.002), while neighborhood urbanicity was positively associated with depression (p = 0.012) and pooled mental disorders (p = 0.005). Future longitudinal studies with similar designs and standardized exposure assessments are warranted

Activities of National Hellenic Documentation Centre and the National Network of Scientific and Technological Libraries

Περιέχει το πλήρες κείμενοThe mission of National (Hellenic) Documentation Centre (NDC)is to ensure the flow of the scientific and technological information to the Hellenic scientific community. This is achieved by establishing online access to 17 international hosts and 1.300 databases, acting as the major information intermediary in the country offering bibliographic references to 10.000 scientst per year, producing 8 national databases and hosting 40 databases produced by other national or international organisations. Concerning libraries NDC supports them by developing and disseminating ABEKT, the most popular library automation software in the country numbering more than 700 copies installed, developing, in close collaboration with 206 libraries, the Union Catalogue of Periodicals including 22.790 unique journal titles, creating and coordinating the National Network of Hellenic Scientific Libraries with 107 libraries supporting interlibrary loan through the online document ordering system provided by the host computer of NDC, developing its own digital library having access to more than 230 electronic journals via internet and about 1.000 installed locally, organising seminars, workshops and information days focusing on the electronic information services and technologies

On the recent elevation changes at the Flade Isblink Ice Cap, northern Greenland

This is the final version of the article. Available from AGU via the DOI in this record.We have used Radar Altimeter 2 (RA-2) onboard ESA's EnviSAT and Geosciences Laser Altimeter System (GLAS) onboard NASA's ICESat to map the elevation change of the Flade Isblink Ice Cap (FIIC) in northern Greenland. Based on RA-2 data we show that the mean surface elevation change of the FIIC has been near zero (0.03±0.03 m/a) between fall 2002 and fall 2009. We present the elevation change rate maps and assess the elevation change rates of areas above the late summer snow line (0.09±0.04 m/a) and below it (-0.16±0.05 m/a). The GLAS elevation change rate maps show that some outlet glaciers, previously reported to have been in a surge state, are thickening rapidly. Using the RA-2 measured average elevation change rates for different parts of the ice cap we present a mass change rate estimate of 0.0±0.5 Gt/a for the FIIC. We compare the annual elevation changes with surface mass balance (SMB) estimates from a regional atmospheric climate model RACMO2. We find a strong correlation between the two (R = 0.94 and P < 0.002), suggesting that the surface elevation changes of the FIIC are mainly driven by net SMB. The correlation of modeled net SMB and measured elevation change is strong in the southern areas of the FIIC (R = 0.97 and P < 0.0005), but insignificant in the northern areas (R = 0.38 and P = 0.40). This is likely due to higher variability of glacier flow in the north relative to the south. Copyright 2011 by the American Geophysical Union