Experiencing Urban Air Mobility: How Passengers evaluate a simulated flight with an Air Taxi

For the successful development and implementation of novel concepts and technology, the acceptance of potential users is crucial. Therefore, within the project HorizonUAM, we investigated passengers' acceptance of air taxis. One challenge is that not many people have real experiences with urban air mobility (UAM) at the moment and thus requirements formulated by potential users refer to rather abstract concepts. To allow participants to gain realistic impressions of UAM concepts, a Mixed Reality Air Taxi Simulator was set up. It allows participants to experience an inner-city business shuttle flight. A study with 30 participants assessed the information needs and the influence of another person on board on wellbeing in nominal situations (experiment 1) as well as one non-nominal situation (experiment 2). For the latter, participants experienced a re-routing of the flight due to an unavailability of landing sites at the vertidrome. During and after the flights, participants answered questionnaires and extensive interviews were conducted. The study produced first empirical data on relevant factors regarding interaction, information needs and comfort within an air taxi. The findings show that passengers want to be informed about intentions of the vehicle. The presence of a steward on board is not necessary but can increase wellbeing especially during non-nominal situations.Comment: 16 pages, 12 figures, 8 table

The Association between Serum Heme Oxygenase-1 Levels and Coronary SYNTAX Score

Aim: The relationship between heme oxygenase-1 (HO-1) levels and atherosclerosis was investigated in multiple studies. The aim of this study was to establish the relationship between HO-1 levels and coronary SYNergy between percutaneous coronary intervention with TAXus and Cardiac Surgery (SYNTAX) score in patients with stable coronary artery disease (CAD). Methods: Patients who had been planned to undergo invasive coronary angiography due to a suspected CAD, between the dates of September and December 2019, were included in the study. Serum HO-1 levels were measured from peripheral venous blood. The SYNTAX score was calculated using standard coronary angiography images. Regression analysis was performed to establish the relationship between HO-1 levels and the SYNTAX score. Results: In total, 137 patients were included. The median age was 63 years (IQR: 15), and most of the patients were male (75.2%). The median HO-1 level was 1.44 (IQR: 0.88) ng/mL, and the median SYNTAX score was 6 (IQR: 13). Regression analysis showed that HO-1 is the single most important variable associated with the SYNTAX score (HO-1 levels from 1.01 to 1.87 ng/mL, OR: 6.77, 95% confidence interval 5.18-8.36, p < 0.0001). Conclusion: In this study, serum HO-1 levels were significantly associated with the coronary SYNTAX score

EXPERIENCING URBAN AIR MOBILITY: HOW PASSENGERS EVALUATE A SIMULATED FLIGHT WITH AN AIR TAXI

For the successful development and implementation of novel concepts and technology, the acceptance of potential users is crucial. Therefore, within the project HorizonUAM, we investigated passengers’ acceptance of air taxis. One challenge is that not many people have real experiences with urban air mobility (UAM) at the moment and thus requirements formulated by potential users refer to rather abstract concepts. To allow participants to gain realistic impressions of UAM concepts, a Mixed Reality Air Taxi Simulator was set up. It allows participants to experience an inner-city business shuttle flight. A study with 30 participants assessed the information needs and the influence of another person on board on wellbeing in nominal situations (experiment 1) as well as one non-nominal situation (experiment 2). For the latter, participants experienced a re-routing of the flight due to an unavailability of landing sites at the vertidrome. During and after the flights, participants answered questionnaires and extensive interviews were conducted. The study produced first empirical data on relevant factors regarding interaction, information needs and comfort within an air taxi. The findings show that passengers want to be informed about intentions of the vehicle. The presence of a steward on board is not necessary but can increase wellbeing especially during non-nominal situations