How does Internet usage influence young travellers' choices?

New technologies have significant effects on travel behavior, attitudes, habits and potentially future travel demand. Effects may be more prominent for Millennials. Little empirical research has investigated these relationships, mainly due to data limitations. This study focuses on the potential influence of using the Internet while traveling on Millennials’ plans for car ownership. We examine two questions: Does using the Internet while traveling influence trip frequencies? and Does it affect Millennials’ intention to purchase a car? Results suggest that Internet use while traveling is positively associated with travel demand and the intention to purchase a car in the near future

Detecting Stops from GPS Trajectories: A Comparison of Different GPS Indicators for Raster Sampling Methods

With the increasing prevalence of GPS tracking capabilities on smartphones, GPS trajectories have proven to be useful for an extensive range of research topics. Stop detection, which estimates activity locations, is fundamental for organizing GPS trajectories into semantically meaningful journeys. With previous methods overwhelmingly dependent on thresholds, contextual information or a pre-understanding of the GPS records, this paper addresses the challenge by contributing a ‘top-down’ raster sampling method which samples pre-calculated GPS indicators and clusters the raster cells with significantly different values as stops. We report a comparison of a set of precalculated GPS indicators with two baseline methods. By referencing a ground truth travel dairy, the raster sampling method demonstrates good and reliable capabilities on producing high accuracy, low redundancy and close proximity to the ground truth in three distinct travel use cases. This further indicates a good generic stop detection method

Linking Smartphone GPS Data with Transport Planning: A Framework of Data Aggregation and Anonymization for a Journey Planning App

With the proliferation of GPS tracking data provided by smartphone apps, it is desirable to develop a data processing and anonymizing framework to transform raw GPS data into a suitable format for transport planning models. The paper aims to describe the effort to address such issues by map matching and aggregating the GPS information derived from a journey planning app. The effectiveness and flexibility of such a framework is demonstrated by an analysis of speeding and waiting time patterns in England and Wales by tracking 120 users for a year

An agent-based computational approach to explaining persistent spatial unemployment disparities

This paper explores possible reasons for persistent spatial unemployment disparities using agent-based computational methods. The method relies on observing the actions of thousands of individuals within an artificial society. The paper models the effect of unemployment insurance, wage disparities, region specific amenities and innate residential preferences on regional labour market interactions, accounting for both migration and commuting. An empirical example of Rogaland county in south-west Norway is given, where unemployment disparities have proved remarkably persistent for decades. The model provides non-trivial insight into the nature of spatial unemployment disparities as well as making a valuable contribution to the policy debate.Unemployment insurance; wage disparities; region specific amenities; innate residential preferences; regional labour market interactions

Staged implementation of an agent based advanced gas-cooled reactor condition monitoring system

This paper introduces iMAPS, the intelligent monitoring assessment panel system used by nuclear electricity generator British Energy in the UK. A multi-agent system design was chosen for this system and the paper describes why this technique was chosen and shows how this will allow the project to meet the short-term goals of the sponsor whilst providing a foundation for a plant-wide analysis system. Experience of building the initial stage of this system is also included, along with observations on the agent-based approach. The system was developed by the Institute for Energy and Environment at the University of Strathclyde and is in use by British Energy Generation

The role of young users in determining long term care expenditure in Norway

<i>Aims</i>: In Norway, it is the responsibility of the country's 429 municipalities to provide long term care (LTC) services to their residents. Recent years have seen a sharp rise in the number of LTC users under the age of 65. This paper aims to explore the effect of this rise on LTC expenditure. <i>Methods</i>: Panel data models are used on data from municipalities from 1986 to 2011. An instrumental variable approach is also utilised to account for possible endogeneity related to the number of young users. <i>Results</i>: The number of young users appears to have a strong effect on LTC expenditure. There is also evidence of municipalities exercising discretion in defining eligibility criteria for young users in order to limit expenditure. Conclusions: The rise in the number of young LTC users presents a long-term challenge to the sustainability of LTC financing. The current budgeting system does not appear to fully compensate municipalities for expenditure on young LTC users. This may put strain on the financing of services for older users

Modelling intra-regional geographic mobility in a rural setting

Large-scale models are often used in the urban planning context to model the effects of, for instance, a change in land-use policies or transportation infrastructure. This class of models accounts for factors such as the spatial distribution of jobs and workers, commuting flows, housing markets, modal choice and so on. One criticism of such models is their complexity, computational demands and data requirements. In this paper, we develop a model which shares certain features with large-scale models, but which is appropriate for studying development at the intra-regional level in a rural setting. The rural setting means that not all of the traditional features of a large-scale model are relevant, and these can therefore be omitted. This allows us to create a simple model which still captures the most relevant effects of large-scale models.

Congested Interregional Infrastructure, Road Pricing and Regional Labour Markets

Traffic congestion and the policies to combat it have been studied extensively. However, most studies neglect the labour market impacts of congestion. Many also fail to account for the simultaneity between commuting and migration. This paper models impacts such as unemployment disparities, changes in commuting flows and changes in the flow of migrants by adopting an agent based simulation approach. This approach has the strength that it allows the simultaneous consideration of commuting, migration and labour force participation decisions. The results obtained have important theoretical and policy implications and show how an "optimal" charge may, in fact, be sub-optimal.Congestion; Road pricing; Agent-based approach; Spatial interaction; Infrastructure investment

Thomas Denton’s Perambulation : two counties, three kingdoms, and four nations history?

This research was part-funded by Culture Vannin and a Marshall Cubbon Student Bursary from Isle of Man Natural History and Antiquarian Society.This article uses a late seventeenth-century county survey as a key to understand conceptions of county, national, and international identity. Previous historians of ‘Britain’ and its composite nations have insufficiently attended to the interaction between these elements. Thomas Denton’s Perambulation of Cumberland, with additions on Westmorland, the Isle of Man, and Ireland, contains a wealth of evidence as to how a Cumbrian, English, and British subject integrated these elements in this period. In addition to showing the assimilation of subjects within and across these boundaries, it equally reveals their differentiation and exclusion. Denton impugns English political and religious opponents, deals uneasily with Scottish and Manx otherness, and firmly scorns the Irish. National distinctions are, ultimately, less assured than negotiable. It is argued that intensive focus of this kind alerts us to exchanges of ideas and identities within an individual, rather than seeing identity groups as necessarily in opposed camps.PostprintPublisher PDFPeer reviewe

The Tourism Satellite Account: Possibilities and Potential Benefits for the Eastern Caribbean Islands Tourism Development

The Tourism Satellite Account (TSA) is a method for estimation of the role of tourism in the economy based on the collection and processing of large numbers of statistic data. TSA can be created on a national or regional levels and reflect aggregates which connect with the planning and development of tourism. This approach can improve the overall quality and consistency of the system of national accounts of a country.  The Caribbean region, quite like other areas of the world, have had some challenges in creating the TSA. The main aim of this paper is to examine the concept of the Tourism Satellite Account and its potential benefits for the Eastern Caribbean Islands