Re-thinking households - using administrative data to count and classify households with some application

Households rather than individuals are being increasingly used for research and to target and evaluate public policy. As a result accurate and timely household level statistics have become an increasing necessity especially at local level. However, present sources of information on households are fragmented with significant gaps and inaccuracies that limit their usefulness. This paper reviews present statistical arrangements and then describes a new approach to data collection and household classification based on local administrative sources. The result is a more integrated and flexible system. The utility and advantages are demonstrated using recent examples from the six Olympic London Boroughs

Emotional Responses and Coping Strategies Associated with Cyber Victimization via Social Media

This study examined the impact of different forms of social media on the emotional and behavioral response to cyber victimization. Via Survey Monkey®, participants viewed a hypothetical post on either Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram. This post mimicked a cyberbullying scenario that targeted the victim’s weight. Participants were asked to consider a number of different responses to the cyber victimization including: severity of bullying, behavioral response (e.g. liking, sharing, blocking, etc.), emotional responses, and coping strategies. They also completed measures of empathy and cyber victimization experience. They were grouped into one of two cyber victimization groups: history of less victimization vs. more victimization. Results suggested that the Facebook post was perceived as more severe than posts on Twitter or Instagram. Individuals also reported that they would be significantly more likely to engage in behaviors that encourage the continuation of cyberbullying on Instagram than on Twitter. Those who had experienced cyber victimization more often reported feeling less empathy towards others. Finally, individuals who had been victimized less often reported likely use of maladaptive coping strategies in response to the hypothetical cyberbullying scenario

Advances in travel geometry and urban modelling

Urban travel geometry is a generalization of patterns of movement in cities and regions where route configuration and prevailing traffic speeds constrain or direct movement in distinctive and repeatable patterns. In this paper we use these properties to construct time surfaces on which distance equates to the time of travel in the urban plane. Such surfaces can be two- or three-dimensional and are useful in the study of urban structure, locational analysis, transport planning and traffic management. A particular niche addressed in this paper is non-conformal time surface transformations in which speed or the cost of travel is constrained according to co-ordinate directions. It is argued that such models may be more suited to gridded and orbital-radial cities than previously used conformal transformations. After explaining the rationale behind the approach, a mathematical basis is developed and several calibrated examples are provided based on regions in the UK. The paper concludes with some examples of potential applications, and an annex provides a detailed mathematical framework

Applications of Population Counts Based on Administrative Data at Local Level

The House of Commons Treasury Committee (2008) identified the three main purposes of population statistics as resource allocation, population ratios and local planning and intelligence, and described current population estimates as ‘unfit for purpose’. This paper considers the limitations of current population statistics in the context of these purposes and how using administrative data available at local authority level can overcome them. A sequel to a companion paper in this journal dealing with the population counting methodology, it considers how administrative data can be captured and organised at a local level for the benefit of local service providers and communities. A detailed example based on one London local authority shows the results of this approach in applications related to the three purposes given. A concluding section reflects on the wider applicability of the approach

Market area analysis under orbital-radial routing with applications to the study of airport location

The study of market areas provides one indication of the economic and strategic value of a facility or attraction and is a commonly used tool in geographical and economic analysis. In this paper, we study a class of models for use in stereotypical urban regions with an associated orbital–radial network. The aim of the paper is to provide the theoretical and analytical tools needed to understand the shapes, size and markets of an attraction as a function of both its location and the speeds of radial and orbital access to competing attractions. As a result, we need to identify several hitherto unrecognised constructs such as eclipsing in which, due to proximity to a fast orbital road, one attraction can eliminate the market of another. We outline a facility location methodology in a case study, based on London, concerning access to airports serving the metropolis. Among other things, we identify inner and outer eclipsing envelopes for a new airports, which substantially narrows the area of search for an optimum location

Toll optimisation on river crossings serving large cities

There is renewed interest in the private sector financing and operation of major transportation projects, in which a significant financial contribution comes from toll revenues. Tolling is ideally suited to river crossings, where the tolls are relatively easy to administer and collect. Because of their span, bridges over river estuaries are particularly expensive to build and maintain and so need to be put on a firm financial footing. Toll revenue is therefore a key consideration if such projects are to be financially viable and risk is to be minimised. There may be other issues to do with who benefits from the bridge and whether differential tolls should apply to local residents and non-resident bridge users. In addition, such bridges may be linked to wider economic objectives, such as local development and regeneration. This paper describes a model for estimating optimum bridge tolls, from both a financial and a welfare perspective and provides a case study that illustrates a range of scenarios that are of general interest

Optimizing the benefits of urban road user charging

Traffic congestion is a feature of most modern cities but attempts to control it or limit its effects have met with only modest success. There is significant and continuing interest in the concept of charging city vehicle users, although apart from the use of parking charges actual operational schemes are few and far between. In this paper we compare three alternative charging policies using a simplified model of travel demand and supply, which we combine with cost benefit techniques. The charging policies are area-based charging in which users pay to locate in or enter an area, terminal-charging based on supplementary parking fees in residential and non-residential locations and distance-based charging which is a charge related to how far users travel. The model allows for behavioural effects resulting from trip diversion and demand suppression, as well as capacity restraint (speed-flow feedback effects based on limited route capacity). In the case study we parameterize the model using data and geographical dimensions based on London. We show that area based charging delivers the least benefits whilst a hybrid policy based on terminal and distance based charges delivers the most. Because it is of topical interest we compare our results and predictions with the Mayor’s strategy for London, which is an area-based scheme. We conclude that the revenue generated using a hybrid policy would be as great as for an area based scheme whilst at the same time delivering substantially greater benefits to road users in terms of travel time and other savings

A Selected Ion Flow Tube Study of the Reactions of Several Cations with the Group 6B Hexafluorides SF6, SeF6, and TeF6

The first investigation of the ion chemistry of SeF$_6$ and TeF$_6$ is presented. Using a selected ion flow tube, the thermal rate coefficients and ion product distributions have been determined at 300 K for the reactions of fourteen atomic and molecular cations, namely H$_3$O$^+$, CF$_3^+$, CF$^+$, CF$_2^+$, H$_2$O$^+$, N$_2$O$^+$, O$^+$, CO$_2^+$, CO$^+$, N$^+$, N$_2^+$, Ar$^+$, F$^+$ and Ne$^+$ (in order of increasing recombination energy), with SeF$_6$ and TeF$_6$. The results are compared with those from the reactions of these ions with SF$_6$, for which the reactions with CF$^+$, CF$_2^+$, N$_2$O$^+$ and F$^+$ are reported for the first time. Several distinct processes are observed amongst the large number of reactions studied, including dissociative charge transfer, and F$^-$, F, F$_2^-$ and F$_2$ abstraction from the neutral reactant molecule to the reagent ion. The dissociative charge transfer channels are discussed in relation to vacuum ultraviolet photoelectron and threshold photoelectron-photoion coincidence spectra of XF$_6$ (X = S, Se, and Te). For reagent ions whose recombination energies lie between the first dissociative ionisation limit, XF$_6$ $\rightarrow$ XF$_5^+$ + F + e$^-$, and the onset of ionisation of the XF$_6$ molecule, the results suggest that if dissociative charge transfer occurs, it proceeds via an intimate encounter. For those reagent ions whose recombination energies are greater than the onset of ionisation, long-range electron transfer may occur depending on whether certain physical factors apply, for example non-zero Franck-Condon overlap. From the reaction kinetics, limits for the heats of formation of SeF$_4$, SeF$_5$, TeF$_4$ and TeF$_5$ at 298 K have been obtained; $\Delta_f$H$^o$(SeF$_4$) < -369 kJ mol$^{-1}$, $\Delta_f$H$^o$(SeF$_5$) < -621 kJ mol$^{-1}$, $\Delta_f$H$^o$(TeF$_4$) > -570 kJ mol$^{-1}$, and $\Delta_f$H$^o$(TeF$_5$) < -822 kJ mol$^{-1}$