International meta-analysis of stated preference studies of transportation noise nuisance

This paper reports the first meta-analysis and most extensive review of stated preference studies of transportation noise nuisance. The meta-analysis is based on a newly compiled data set of 258 values from 49 studies and 23 countries and spanning more than 40 years. Contrast this with the most extensive meta-analysis of the more conventional hedonic pricing approach which includes 53 noise valuations. Moreover, the sample compares favourably with the 444 observations from the very first meta-analysis of the value of travel time savings which is by far the most widely examined parameter in transport planning. A particularly significant finding of the study is that the intertemporal income elasticity is close to one, somewhat larger than the cross-sectional income elasticity typically obtained from individual studies. This demonstrates the importance of distinguishing the effects of 2 income variations that occur over time, which tend to drive policy, from variations across individuals at one point in time, and such findings are typical of those observed in other markets. Importantly, the values derived are transferable across countries and may be used to benchmark existing evidence and provide values in contexts where none exist. Other key results are that values for aircraft noise exceed those for other modes, whilst those exposed to higher noise levels and those who are highly annoyed also have higher values in line with expectations. A wide range of design effects were tested but few were significant and these included the consumer surplus measure, the representation of noise and the context

Patient Preferences for Pain Management in Advanced Cancer: Results from a Discrete Choice Experiment

Background: Pain from advanced cancer remains prevalent, severe and often under-treated. Aim: The aim of this study was to conduct a discrete choice experiment with patients to understand their preferences for pain management services and inform service development. Methods: Focus groups were used to develop the attributes and levels of the discrete choice experiment. The attributes were: waiting time, type of healthcare professional, out-of-pocket costs, side-effect control, quality of communication, quality of information and pain control. Patients completed the discrete choice experiment along with clinical and health-related quality of life questions. Conditional and mixed logit models were used to analyse the data. Results: Patients with cancer pain (n = 221) and within palliative care services completed the survey (45% were female, mean age 64.6 years; age range 21–92 years). The most important aspects of pain management were: good pain control, zero out-of-pocket costs and good side-effect control. Poor or moderate pain control and £30 costs drew the highest negative preferences. Respondents preferred control of side effects and provision of better information and communication, over access to certain healthcare professionals. Those with lower health-related quality of life were less willing to wait for treatment and willing to incur higher costs. The presence of a carer influenced preferences. Conclusions: Outcome attributes were more important than process attributes but the latter were still valued. Thus, supporting self-management, for example by providing better information on pain may be a worthwhile endeavour. However, service provision may need to account for individual characteristics given the heterogeneity in preferences

Values of travel time in Europe: Review and meta-analysis

This paper reports the most extensive meta-analysis of values of time yet conducted, covering 3109 monetary valuations assembled from 389 European studies conducted between 1963 and 2011. It aims to explain how valuations vary across studies, including over time and between countries. In addition to the customary coverage of in-vehicle time in review studies, this paper covers valuations of walk time, wait time, service headway, parking space search time, departure time switching, time in congested traffic, schedule delay early and late, mean lateness and the standard deviation of travel time. Valuations are found to vary with type of time, GDP, distance, journey purpose, mode, the monetary numeraire and a number of factors related to estimation. Model output values of time compare favourably with earnings data, replicate well official recommended values obtained from major national studies, and are transferable across countries. These implied monetary values serve as very useful benchmarks against which new evidence can be assessed and the meta-model provides parameters and values for countries and contexts where there is no other such evidence

Hyperthermophilic Aquifex aeolicus initiates primer synthesis on a limited set of trinucleotides comprised of cytosines and guanines

The placement of the extreme thermophile Aquifex aeolicus in the bacterial phylogenetic tree has evoked much controversy. We investigated whether adaptations for growth at high temperatures would alter a key functional component of the replication machinery, specifically DnaG primase. Although the structure of bacterial primases is conserved, the trinucleotide initiation specificity for A. aeolicus was hypothesized to differ from other microbes as an adaptation to a geothermal milieu. To determine the full range of A. aeolicus primase activity, two oligonucleotides were designed that comprised all potential trinucleotide initiation sequences. One of the screening templates supported primer synthesis and the lengths of the resulting primers were used to predict possible initiation trinucleotides. Use of trinucleotide-specific templates demonstrated that the preferred initiation trinucleotide sequence for A. aeolicus primase was 5′-d(CCC)-3′. Two other sequences, 5′-d(GCC)-3′ and d(CGC)-3′, were also capable of supporting initiation, but to a much lesser degree. None of these trinucleotides were known to be recognition sequences used by other microbial primases. These results suggest that the initiation specificity of A. aeolicus primase may represent an adaptation to a thermophilic environment

International meta-analysis of stated preference studies of transportation noise nuisance

The final publication is available at Springer via http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11116-014-9527-4This paper reports the first meta-analysis and most extensive review of stated preference studies of transportation noise nuisance. The meta-analysis is based on a newly compiled data set of 258 values from 49 studies and 23 countries and spanning more than 40 years. Contrast this with the most extensive meta-analysis of the more conventional hedonic pricing approach which includes 53 noise valuations. Moreover, the sample compares favourably with the 444 observations from the very first meta-analysis of the value of travel time savings which is by far the most widely examined parameter in transport planning. A particularly significant finding of the study is that the intertemporal income elasticity is close to one, somewhat larger than the cross-sectional income elasticity typically obtained from individual studies. This demonstrates the importance of distinguishing the effects of 2 income variations that occur over time, which tend to drive policy, from variations across individuals at one point in time, and such findings are typical of those observed in other markets. Importantly, the values derived are transferable across countries and may be used to benchmark existing evidence and provide values in contexts where none exist. Other key results are that values for aircraft noise exceed those for other modes, whilst those exposed to higher noise levels and those who are highly annoyed also have higher values in line with expectations. A wide range of design effects were tested but few were significant and these included the consumer surplus measure, the representation of noise and the context

Public acceptability of personal carbon trading and carbon tax

Climate change is one of the greatest challenges confronting the international community requiring action to achieve deep cuts in carbon emissions. The implementation of potentially uncomfortable but necessary policy measures is, though, critically dependent upon public acceptability. This paper reports a novel application of stated preference techniques to explore the influence of key design attributes on the acceptability of a personal carbon trading scheme in isolation and when compared to a carbon tax. Illustrative forecasts from the models developed indicate the importance of design attributes, especially the basis of the initial permit allocation for personal carbon trading and the use to which revenues are put for carbon tax. Results indicate that the “best” scheme designs could be acceptable to a majority of respondents

Towards reducing taxicab cruising time using spatio-temporal profitability maps

Abstract. Taxicab service plays a vital role in public transportation by offering passengers quick personalized destination service in a semiprivate and secure manner. Taxicabs cruise the road network looking for a fare at designated taxi stands or alongside the streets. However, this service is often inefficient due to a low ratio of live miles (miles with a fare) to cruising miles (miles without a fare). The unpredictable nature of passengers and destinations make efficient systematic routing a challenge. With higher fuel costs and decreasing budgets, pressure mounts on taxicab drivers who directly derive their income from fares and spend anywhere from 35-60 percent of their time cruising the road network for these fares. Therefore, the goal of this paper is to reduce the number of cruising miles while increasing the number of live miles, thus increasing profitability, without systematic routing. This paper presents a simple yet practical method for reducing cruising miles by suggesting profitable locations to taxicab drivers. The concept uses the same principle that a taxicab driver uses: follow your experience. In our approach, historical data serves as experience and a derived Spatio-Temporal Profitability (STP) map guides cruising taxicabs. We claim that the STP map is useful in guiding for better profitability and validate this by showing a positive correlation between the cruising profitability score based on the STP map and the actual profitability of the taxicab drivers. Experiments using a large Shanghai taxi GPS data set demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method

DNA recognition by Escherichia coli CbpA protein requires a conserved arginine-minor-groove interaction

Curved DNA binding protein A (CbpA) is a co-chaperone and nucleoid associated DNA binding protein conserved in most ?-proteobacteria. Best studied in Escherichia coli, CbpA accumulates to >2500 copies per cell during periods of starvation and forms aggregates with DNA. However, the molecular basis for DNA binding is unknown; CbpA lacks motifs found in other bacterial DNA binding proteins. Here, we have used a combination of genetics and biochemistry to elucidate the mechanism of DNA recognition by CbpA. We show that CbpA interacts with the DNA minor groove. This interaction requires a highly conserved arginine side chain. Substitution of this residue, R116, with alanine, specifically disrupts DNA binding by CbpA, and its homologues from other bacteria, whilst not affecting other CbpA activities. The intracellular distribution of CbpA alters dramatically when DNA binding is negated. Hence, we provide a direct link between DNA binding and the behaviour of CbpA in cells.BN/BionanoscienceApplied Science