Walking, Transit Use, and Urban Morphology in Walkable Urban Neighborhoods: An Examination of Behaviors and Attitudes in Seattle

Creating walkable and transit oriented cities is an important planning objective. Cities are actively promoting walkability and are investing billions of dollars in public transit in an effort to reduce automobile dependence. This dissertation investigates the relationship between transit use and walking in walkable urban neighborhoods – neighborhoods that are dense; have mixed land uses; connected street networks; numerous destinations; and high transit accessibility. This research examines the different purposes that walking and transit serve in different parts of the city. I focus on walkable urban neighborhoods to push walkability research beyond its current emphasis on identifying the characteristics of walkable environments compared to less walkable neighborhoods. I instead examine how walkability varies in highly walkable places that are outwardly more similar than not. I use a nested case study research design with mixed methods. Seattle and its urban core neighborhoods serve as my cases. Neighborhood mapping, pedestrian observations, a travel behavior survey, and interviews provide both quantitative and qualitative data to answer my research questions. The project emphasizes the role that different types of infrastructure play in facilitating walking and transit use: pedestrian-oriented infrastructure, transit infrastructure, and automobile infrastructure. The emphasis on infrastructure helps to bridge the gap between urban planning and urban design research and more accurately reflects the way that urban residents experience and talk about the urban environment. The urban core of Seattle is a predominantly pedestrian environment, and there is significant variation in the levels of walking between the seven neighborhoods studied. Neighborhoods with more pedestrian infrastructure and less automobile infrastructure have higher levels of walking. Similar patterns are evident at the block scale, where pedestrian infrastructure positively influences walking and more automobile infrastructure correlates to less walking. The availability of transit positively correlates with higher walking activity. Higher quality transit, such as light rail (rather than bus), encourages people to walk greater distances to use transit. Additionally, even though there is frequent and abundant transit in the urban core, a majority of people walk to destinations within the urban core because walking is often the most efficient mode of transportation available. Next to walking, driving is the second most common mode of transportation among residents in the urban core. These findings contradict mainstream planning conceptions of transportation and urban form. We would expect transit to be a heavily utilized mode of transportation in the urban core, but walking and driving are the most common. Outside the urban core, driving is most common, despite frequent transit service throughout Seattle. This is because the transit that exists primarily serves commuting to Downtown. The findings of this dissertation suggest that planners need a new approach to transportation planning that prioritizes walking and transit at different geographic scales throughout the city based on where they are the most efficient. The urban core neighborhoods need to prioritize walking. Instead, the city over-emphasizes transit and continues to accommodate the automobile in the urban core. Planners over-emphasize transit in both the urban core and in suburban and rural areas and not in the places where transit is most effective – in the area up to 12.5 miles away from the urban center. Planners can create sustainable and livable cities by rebuilding a vibrant pedestrian realm and by connecting neighborhoods with efficient and reliable transit, which meets the needs of all people.PHDUrban and Regional PlanningUniversity of Michigan, Horace H. Rackham School of Graduate Studieshttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/144077/1/dmcaslan_1.pd

Synthetic, structural and spectroscopic studies on some platinum group metal complexes

Chapter 1: A brief survey of the chemistry of some tertiary phosphine complexes of rhodium, iridium and ruthenium.Chapter 2: A study of the products obtained by the reaction of RhCl₃.3H₂O with various ratios of PEt₂ Ph is reported. Alternative high yield routes to the species [Rh₂Cl₆ (PR₃)₃] 1 (PR₃ = PMe₂Ph, PEt₂Ph and PPrⁿ₂Ph) are described. The synthesis and characterisation of the compounds [Rh₂Cl₅ (PR₃)₄]-BPh₄ are presented and possible mechanisms of formation are discussed. The isolation and characterisation, by physical and chemical methods together with an X-ray crystal structural analysis, of solvated monomer mer-[RhCl₃(PEt₂ Ph)₂ (H₂O)] are reported. The variable temperature ³¹P-{¹H} n.m.r. spectra of the various species are discussed. A scheme linking the various complexes is presented.Chapter 3: Attempts to prepare iridium analogues of the species discussed in chapter 2 are described. Instead of the desired products mer- [IrI₃ (PMe₂Ph)₂ - (NH₃)] was formed. The synthesis and characterisation by physical and chemical methods are reported together with an X-ray crystal structural analysis.Chapter 4: A brief survey of the various preparations used in the synthesis of complexes containing the [(R₂ PO)₂H⁻] and [(R₂PO)₃H₂]⁻ ligands is given.Chapter 5: The alternative routes resulting in the synthesis and characterisation of [RhCl (NO₃){(Ph₂PO)₃ H₂} ] are described. The synthesis and characterisation of the five-coordinated species [Rh(L₂){ (Ph₂PO)₃Na(OH₂)ₓ}] (x = 1,2) prepared by the reaction of [RhCl(N0₃){(Ph₂PO)₃H₂}] with various bidentate ligands L₂ [L₂-(S₂CNMe₂)⁻, (S₂ CNEt₂)⁻ (S(O)CPh)⁻, (O₂CPh)⁻ and (O₂C-C₆H₄-4-CH₃)⁻] are reported. The X-ray crystal structures of [RhCl{ (Ph₂PO)₃H₂}].Ph₂ P(O)H and [Rh(S₂CNEt₂) { (Ph₂PO)₃Na(OH₂) (μ-OH₂)}]₂.4CHCl₃ are presented.Chapter 6 : The reaction of cis-[Ru(S₂PMe₂)₂ (PPh₃)₂] with hydrolysed Ph₂PCl in MeOH/H₂O (7:1, v/v) is reinvestigated. Prolonged reaction generates trans-[RuCl₂ (Ph₂PH)₄] via [Ru(S₂PMe₂ ){ (Ph₂PO)₃H₂} ] and possible mechanisms of formation are discussed. The X-ray crystal structure of trans-[RuCl₂ (Ph₂PH)₄]. 2CHCl₃ is presented

International Standards for Personal Protective Equipment

International Standards for Mine Action are being revised by the United Nations. As part of the revision process, a working group on personal protective equipment (WGPPE) has been established to examine the subject of safety in mine clearance operations, and to make recommendations on standards and guidelines for PPE. This paper is based on the WGPPE\u27s report

Minimum parking requirements and car ownership: An analysis of Swedish municipalities

Transportation is a major contributor to anthropogenic climate change driven primarily by private automobility and for nearly a century, cities have used a suite of policies and regulations that reinforce high rates of car ownership. One such regulation is minimum parking requirements, enacted to ensure that private properties can accommodate the storage of private vehicles. In recent years, cities have begun to reevaluate these parking requirements, with some municipalities reducing them, others providing opportunities for flexible parking, and some even removing parking requirements in part or all of the city. This article explores the relationship between parking requirements and car ownership by analyzing a survey of 56 municipalities across Sweden. In this paper, we develop two methods for comparing different parking metrics that municipalities use (parking spaces per apartment and parking spaces per building area). Our analysis examines variation between different sizes and classifications of municipalities. We find that across all municipalities, there is a positive relationship between minimum parking requirements and car ownership, meaning that higher minimum parking requirements are associated with higher rates of car ownership. City size is an important factor in rates of car ownership, but our analysis shows that even among similarly sized municipalities, minimum parking requirements tend to be associated with higher rates of car ownership. These findings show that reducing parking minimums can be an effective policy to reduce car ownership, but it is important to consider that these changes only impact new development and repurposing parking areas in existing housing areas may be an equally effective policy to curb car ownership

A general method for the resummation of jet observables in e+e− annihilation : or On the weirdness of tiny things

This thesis introduces a novel technique for resummation of a wide class of observables to next-to-next-to-leading-logarithmic accuracy in e+e− annihilation, and potentially beyond. The method is applicable to observables that exhibit recursive infrared and collinear (rIRC) safety and continuous globalness. A systematic analysis of logarithmic counting in emission phase space reveals the contributions necessary to achieve NNLL-accurate results. A detailed description of the derivation and subsequent calculation of these effects is given. A framework of computer code (called ARES) has been developed to carry out automated numerical implementation of each of the NNLL contributions. ARES (Automated Resummer of Event Shapes) provides the user with an efficient determination of the resummed result for a desired observable. New results for several observables are presented, including the first NNLL resummation of the two-jet rate in the Durham and Cambridge algorithms which is crucial for determination of the strong coupling of Quantum Chromodynamics (QCD). This work as a whole presents an important addition to phenomenological precision calculations. Validation of the obtained predictions is performed, using both matching to NNLO fixed order calculations and comparison to data from the Large Electron-Positron collider at CERN

Two-jet rate in e+e- at next-to-next-to-leading logarithmic order

We present the first next-to-next-to-leading logarithmic resummation for the two-jet rate in e+e− annihilation in the Durham and Cambridge algorithms. The results are obtained by extending the ARES method to observables involving any global, recursively infrared and collinear safe jet algorithm in e+e− collisions. As opposed to other methods, this approach does not require a factorization theorem for the observables. We present predictions matched to next-to-next-to-leading order, and a comparison to LEP data

Fine-grained RNN with Transfer Learning for Energy Consumption Estimation on EVs

This work is supported by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council, under PETRAS SRF grant MAGIC (EP/S035362/1) and the University of Glasgow Impact Acceleration Account.Peer reviewedPostprin

Pilot project purgatory? Assessing automated vehicle pilot projects in U.S. cities

Pilot projects have emerged in cities globally as a way to experiment with the utilization of a suite of smart mobility and emerging transportation technologies. Automated vehicles (AVs) have become central tools for such projects as city governments and industry explore the use and impact of this emerging technology. This paper presents a large-scale assessment of AV pilot projects in U.S. cities to understand how pilot projects are being used to examine the risks and benefits of AVs, how cities integrate these potentially transformative technologies into conventional policy and planning, and how and what they are learning about this technology and its future opportunities and risks. Through interviews with planning practitioners and document analysis, we demonstrate that the approaches cities take for AVs differ significantly, and often lack coherent policy goals. Key findings from this research include: (1) a disconnect between the goals of the pilot projects and a city’s transportation goals; (2) cities generally lack a long-term vision for how AVs fit into future mobility systems and how they might help address transportation goals; (3) an overemphasis of non-transportation benefits of AV pilots projects; (4) AV pilot projects exhibit a lack of policy learning and iteration; and (5) cities are not leveraging pilot projects for public benefits. Overall, urban and transportation planners and decision makers show a clear interest to discover how AVs can be used to address transportation challenges in their communities, but our research shows that while AV pilot projects purport to do this, while having numerous outcomes, they have limited value for informing transportation policy and planning questions around AVs. We also find that AV pilot projects, as presently structured, may constrain planners’ ability to re-think transportation systems within the context of rapid technological change

Pilot project purgatory? Assessing automated vehicle pilot projects in US cities

Pilot projects have emerged in cities globally as a way to experiment with the utilization of a suite of smart mobility and emerging transportation technologies. Automated vehicles (AVs) have become central tools for such projects as city governments and industry explore the use and impact of this emerging technology. This paper presents a large-scale assessment of AV pilot projects in U.S. cities to understand how pilot projects are being used to examine the risks and benefits of AVs, how cities integrate these potentially transformative technologies into conventional policy and planning, and how and what they are learning about this technology and its future opportunities and risks. Through interviews with planning practitioners and document analysis, we demonstrate that the approaches cities take for AVs differ significantly, and often lack coherent policy goals. Key findings from this research include: (1) a disconnect between the goals of the pilot projects and a city\u27s transportation goals; (2) cities generally lack a long-term vision for how AVs fit into future mobility systems and how they might help address transportation goals; (3) an overemphasis of non-transportation benefits of AV pilots projects; (4) AV pilot projects exhibit a lack of policy learning and iteration; and (5) cities are not leveraging pilot projects for public benefits. Overall, urban and transportation planners and decision makers show a clear interest to discover how AVs can be used to address transportation challenges in their communities, but our research shows that while AV pilot projects purport to do this, while having numerous outcomes, they have limited value for informing transportation policy and planning questions around AVs. We also find that AV pilot projects, as presently structured, may constrain planners\u27 ability to re-think transportation systems within the context of rapid technological change