Influences of the Built Environment on Rural School Children’s Travel Mode Choice: The Case of Chengdu

Since the reform and opening up of China, the rural built environment has changed dramatically. There is a need to understand how such changes have impacted rural children’s school travel mode choice to design the built environment and plan schools accordingly. This paper combines field measurement methods and questionnaires to obtain data on rural children’s school travel behavior and uses the multinomial logit (MNL) model to investigate the impacting factors. The results show the following insights: Age has a significant positive impact on children’s choice of bicycles and buses. The improvements in road layout and facility conditions are significantly and positively associated with children’s choice of electric bicycles for school. There is a significant positive correlation between a good and safe public environment and children’s choice of cycling. Furthermore, distance from home to school has a significant impact on the choice of children’s school travel mode: the greater the distance to school, the higher the probability that children will choose motorized modes of travel such as buses and private cars. This study provides empirical data and evidence in designing rural transport systems for school children based on their preferences concerning built environment factors.Design & Construction Managemen

Built Environment Impacts on Rural Residents’ Daily Travel Satisfaction

The rapid urbanization in China urges scholars to investigate the impacts of built environment on the level of travel satisfaction of rural residents to improve their quality of life and make planning exercises more human-centric. This study samples six villages out of the 25 top rural areas in Chengdu, Sichuan, China, as the research object and constructs a structural equation model to explore the direct and indirect impacts of the built environment on daily travel satisfaction of rural residents. The research finds that building density (0.609), road density (0.569), the number of accessible markets (0.314), and private car ownership (0.02) have significant positive impacts on travel satisfaction. Public transport (−0.063) has a direct negative impact on travel satisfaction. Consequently, in order to further improve travel satisfaction, construction departments and rural planners should improve the building and road densities of new rural areas and increase the number of accessible markets. The convenience of rural public transport services also needs improvement.Design & Construction Managemen

Comparative study of OROS-MPH and atomoxetine on executive function improvement in ADHD: a randomized controlled trial

This study aimed to compare the effects of osmotic release oral system-methylphenidate (OROS-MPH) and atomoxetine (ATX) on executive function in children and adolescents with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) by a randomized controlled trial. Subjects who met DSM-IV ADHD criteria were randomized to receive either OROS-MPH or ATX treatment. The doses were titrated to achieve optimal response and then maintained for 4-6 wk. A battery of executive function tests and the Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function (BRIEF) were administered to subjects who completed the dose titration (OROS-MPH, n = 85; ATX, n = 57) at the pre- and post-treatment periods. Forty-six children without ADHD were recruited as controls. Both OROS-MPH and ATX significantly improved scores in the Rey Complex Figure Test (RCFT), digit span, and Stroop color-word task. The scores in RCFT and the reverse digit span were not significantly different from the control group at post-treatment assessment (OROS-MPH = ATX = control, p > 0.05), whereas the word interference time of the Stroop test was still more than that of the control group (OROS-MPH = ATX > control, p > 0.05). OROS-MPH also significantly improved the total correct response in the verbal fluency test to normal level, and the shifting time in the trail-making test to subnormal level. The current findings suggest both OROS-MPH and ATX improved executive function generally in children and adolescents with ADHD, and could return working memory back to normative performance level