Motives, perceptions and experiences of electric bicycle owners and implications for health, wellbeing and mobility

This is the final version of the article. It first appeared from Elsevier via http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jtrangeo.2016.04.006The sale of electrically assisted bicycles (‘e-bikes’) is growing at a rapid rate across Europe. Whereas market data is available describing sales trends, there is limited understanding of the experience of early adopters of e-bike technology. This paper investigates the motives for e-bike purchase, rider experience and perceived impact on mobility, health and wellbeing through in-depth interviews with e-bike owners in the Netherlands and the UK. Findings revealed that the motive for purchasing e-bikes was often to allow maintenance of cycling against a backdrop of changing individual or household circumstances. E-bikes also provided new opportunities for people who would not otherwise consider conventional cycling. Perceptions of travel behaviour change revealed that e-biking was replacing conventional cycling but was also replacing journeys that would have been made by car. There was also a perception that e-biking has increased, or at least allowed participants to maintain, some form of physical activity and had benefitted personal wellbeing. Technological, social and environmental barriers to e-biking were identified. These included weight of bicycle, battery life, purchase price, social stigma and limitations of cycle infrastructure provision. Additional research is necessary to quantify actual levels of mode substitution and new journey generation among new e-bike owners and the impact of e-biking on promoting physical health and mental wellbeing.This work was supported by The NetherlandsOrganization for Scientific Research (NWO) (434-11-010) as part of the Sustainable Accessibility of the Randstad programme. Lucas Harms undertook conceptualisation, fieldwork, analysis and writing whilst working at the Urban Cycling Institute of the University of Amsterdam. Eva Heinen undertook conceptualisation and fieldwork whilst at the Faculty of Spatial Sciences, University of Groningen (NL), and subsequent analysis and writing under the auspices of the Centre for Diet and Activity Research (CEDAR), a UK Public Health Research Centre of Excellence funded by the British Heart Foundation, Cancer Research UK, Economic and Social Research Council, Medical Research Council, the National Institute for Health Research, and the Wellcome Trust. She is now based at the Institute of Transport Studies at the University of Leeds. We would like to thank NWO, colleagues at the University of Amsterdam, University of Groningen and Oxford Brookes University - particularly Nick Beale for proof reading. Also, to all of our participants who willingly gave up their time to provide a rich insight into their ebiking

Psychometric properties of the Dutch Revised Sense of Coherence Scale in a Firefighter Sample

Background: Sense of coherence (SOC) has been associated with resilience to posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and seems to be a promising factor in primary prevention of PTSD in high risk populations. Objective: The present study evaluated the psychometric properties of the Dutch revised Sense of Coherence Scale (SOC-R) in a sample of N = 527 firefighters. Method: To investigate the internal structure of this 13-item scale, a Mokken scale analysis and an exploratory factor analysis were conducted (i.e., parallel analysis based on MRFA). Results: The combined results of these analyses suggested that a one-factor solution with 10 out of 13 items was most compelling for our firefighter sample. Reliability estimates for the 10-item version increased compared to the 13-item version (13-item: α = .82, λ2 = .83; 10-item: α = λ2 = .85). As expected, the Dutch version showed positive associations with resilience (convergent validity), and low correlations with neuroticism and extraversion (discriminant validity). Conclusions: The one-factor solution of the Dutch SOC-R with 10 items (excluding item 2, item 3, and item 6) is most convincing. The use of this scale might be specifically interesting regarding its potential to primary prevention of trauma-related psychopathology in high-risk samples

Macrosystems ecology: Understanding ecological patterns and processes at continental scales

Macrosystems ecology is the study of diverse ecological phenomena at the scale of regions to continents and their interactions with phenomena at other scales. This emerging subdiscipline addresses ecological questions and environmental problems at these broad scales. Here, we describe this new field, show how it relates to modern ecological study, and highlight opportunities that stem from taking a macrosystems perspective. We present a hierarchical framework for investigating macrosystems at any level of ecological organization and in relation to broader and finer scales. Building on well-established theory and concepts from other subdisciplines of ecology, we identify feedbacks, linkages among distant regions, and interactions that cross scales of space and time as the most likely sources of unexpected and novel behaviors in macrosystems. We present three examples that highlight the importance of this multiscaled systems perspective for understanding the ecology of regions to continents

7 Tesla MRI of Balo's concentric sclerosis versus multiple sclerosis lesions

Background: Baló’s concentric sclerosis (BCS) is a rare condition characterized by concentrically layered white matter lesions. While its pathogenesis is unknown, hypoxia-induced tissue injury and chemotactic stimuli have been proposed as potential causes of BCS lesion formation. BCS has been suggested to be a variant of multiple sclerosis (MS). Here, we aimed to elucidate similarities and differences between BCS and MS by describing lesion morphology and localization in high-resolution 7 Tesla (7 T) magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans. Methods: Ten patients with Baló-type lesions underwent 7 T MRI, and 10 relapsing remitting MS patients served as controls. The 7 T MR imaging protocol included 3D T1-weighted (T1w) magnetization-prepared rapid gradient echo, 2D high spatial resolution T2*-weighted (T2*w) fast low-angle shot and susceptibility-weighted imaging. Results: Intralesional veins were visible in the center of all but one Baló-type lesion. Four Baló-type lesions displayed inhomogeneous intralesional T2*w signal intensities, which are suggestive of microhemorrhages or small ectatic venules. Eight of 10 BCS patients presented with 97 additional lesions, 36 of which (37%) had a central vein. Lesions involving the cortical gray matter and the U-fibers were not detected in BCS patients. Conclusion: Our findings support the hypothesis that BCS and MS share common pathogenetic mechanisms but patients present with different lesion phenotypes

New evidence for a massive black hole at the centre of the quiescent galaxy M32

Massive black holes are thought to reside at the centres of many galaxies, where they power quasars and active galactic nuclei. But most galaxies are quiescent, indicating that any central massive black hole present will be starved of fuel and therefore detectable only through its gravitational influence on the motions of the surrounding stars. M32 is a nearby, quiescent elliptical galaxy in which the presence of a black hole has been suspected; however, the limited resolution of the observational data and the restricted classes of models used to interpret this data have made it difficult to rule out alternative explanations, such as models with an anisotropic stellar velocity distribution and no dark mass or models with a central concentration of dark objects (for example, stellar remnants or brown dwarfs). Here we present high-resolution optical HST spectra of M32, which show that the stellar velocities near the centre of this galaxy exceed those inferred from previous ground-based observations. We use a range of general dynamical models to determine a central dark mass concentration of (3.4 +/- 1.6) x 10^6 solar masses, contained within a region only 0.3 pc across. This leaves a massive black hole as the most plausible explanation of the data, thereby strengthening the view that such black holes exist even in quiescent galaxies.Comment: 8 pages, LaTeX, 3 figures; mpeg animation of the stellar motions in M32 available at http://oposite.stsci.edu/pubinfo/Anim.htm

Zur Zikadenfauna des Landschaftsschutzgebiets „Königswald mit Havelseen und Seeburger Agrarlandschaft“ bei Seeburg (Brandenburg): (Hemiptera: Auchenorrhyncha)

Im Rahmen der 20. Mitteleuropäischen Zikadentagung in Berlin (Deutschland) wurde eine Exkursion in das Gebiet bei Seeburg (Landkreis Havelland, Brandenburg) organisiert. Hier werden die Ergebnisse der Aufsammlungen von 9 Teilneh-mer(inne)n präsentiert, die insgesamt 56 Zikadenarten nachwiesen. Mit Ausnahme von einer Art (Edwardsiana stehliki) waren alle nachgewiesenen Arten bereits für die Region Berlin bekannt. Die 56 Arten machen etwa 17% der Zikadenfauna von Berlin und Umgebung aus.Contribution to the Auchenorrhyncha fauna of the landscape reservate „Königswald mit Havelseen und Seeburger Agrarlandschaft“ near Seeburg (Brandenburg) (Hemiptera: Auchenorrhyncha). – On the occasion of the 20th Central European Auchenorrhychna mee-ting in Berlin (Germany) a field excursion to an area near Seeburg (Berlin-Staaken) was organized. The results of 9 collectors are presented with a total of 56 reported Auchenorrhyncha species. Apart from one species (Edwardsiana stehliki) all recorded species are already reported for the region of Berlin. This represents about 17 % of the so far listed Auchenorrhyncha species of Berlin and surroundings

The dynamics of social activation and suspiciousness in individuals at ultra-high risk for psychosis

INTRODUCTION: Social functioning is often impaired during the ultra-high risk (UHR) phase for psychosis, but group-level studies regarding the role of social functioning in transition to psychosis are inconsistent. Exploring the inter-individual differences which underlie the association between social functioning and psychotic symptoms in this phase could yield new insights.OBJECTIVE: To examine the idiographic and dynamic association between social activation and suspiciousness in individuals at UHR for psychosis using time-series analysis.METHODS: Twenty individuals at UHR for psychosis completed a diary application every evening for 90 days. Two items on social activation (quantity: 'time spent alone' and quality: 'feeling supported') and two items on suspiciousness ('feeling suspicious' and 'feeling disliked') were used. Time series (T = 90) of each individual were analyzed using vector auto regression analysis (VAR), to estimate the lagged (over 1 day) effect of social activation on suspiciousness, and vice versa, as well as their contemporaneous associations.RESULTS: Heterogeneous person-specific associations between social activation and suspiciousness were found in terms of strength, direction and temporal aspects.CONCLUSIONS: The association between social activation and suspiciousness differs amongst individuals who are at UHR for psychosis. These findings underline the importance of tailoring psychosocial interventions to the individual. Future studies may examine whether using results of single-subject studies in clinical practice to personalize treatment goals leads to better treatment outcomes.</p

Science with the Einstein Telescope: a comparison of different designs

The Einstein Telescope (ET), the European project for a third-generation gravitational-wave detector, has a reference configuration based on a triangular shape consisting of three nested detectors with 10 km arms, where in each arm there is a `xylophone' configuration made of an interferometer tuned toward high frequencies, and an interferometer tuned toward low frequencies and working at cryogenic temperature. Here, we examine the scientific perspectives under possible variations of this reference design. We perform a detailed evaluation of the science case for a single triangular geometry observatory, and we compare it with the results obtained for a network of two L-shaped detectors (either parallel or misaligned) located in Europe, considering different choices of arm-length for both the triangle and the 2L geometries. We also study how the science output changes in the absence of the low-frequency instrument, both for the triangle and the 2L configurations. We examine a broad class of simple `metrics' that quantify the science output, related to compact binary coalescences, multi-messenger astronomy and stochastic backgrounds, and we then examine the impact of different detector designs on a more specific set of scientific objectives.Comment: 197 pages, 72 figure

Genome-wide Analyses Identify KIF5A as a Novel ALS Gene

To identify novel genes associated with ALS, we undertook two lines of investigation. We carried out a genome-wide association study comparing 20,806 ALS cases and 59,804 controls. Independently, we performed a rare variant burden analysis comparing 1,138 index familial ALS cases and 19,494 controls. Through both approaches, we identified kinesin family member 5A (KIF5A) as a novel gene associated with ALS. Interestingly, mutations predominantly in the N-terminal motor domain of KIF5A are causative for two neurodegenerative diseases: hereditary spastic paraplegia (SPG10) and Charcot-Marie-Tooth type 2 (CMT2). In contrast, ALS-associated mutations are primarily located at the C-terminal cargo-binding tail domain and patients harboring loss-of-function mutations displayed an extended survival relative to typical ALS cases. Taken together, these results broaden the phenotype spectrum resulting from mutations in KIF5A and strengthen the role of cytoskeletal defects in the pathogenesis of ALS.Peer reviewe