Transport behaviour and diffusion of telematics: a conceptual framework and empirical application

The potential impacts that may be expected from new information and telecommunicationsystems applied to transport are considerable. However, as is the case with anynew technological innovation, at the basis of success of transport telematics lies theacceptance by potential users, which suggests that there is a clear need to investigatethe user side of these technologies. Given this need to explore the interactionbetween human behaviour and transport telematics, the aim of this paper is toinvestigate behavioral factors and their interrelationships in the use and diffusion ofnew telematics technologies. We will focus our attention on those systems whichprovide information to various categories of users, viz. public transport users andprivate car users.A conceptual framework is presented that covers all variables of interest for theinvestigation of user responses to these technologies. An important explanatoryvariable for acceptance of new telematics technologies is user segmentation; it has tobe recognized that the effects of respective technological innovations will varybetween various groups of transport users. In analyzing in more detail the dynamics o

The relevance and use of information and telecommunication networks as strategic tools in the transport sector: a Dutch case study

New information and telecommunication technologies in the transport sector, often named `Advanced Transport Telematics' (ATT), play a key role in thenew European network economy, as they have the potential to offer new solutions to the emerging transport problems in Europe. However, the successfulexploitation of ATT in European transport markets depends on the technology being implemented in a way which meets the distinct needs of the differentroad user groups in order to achieve social acceptance and thereby political approval.It is therefore vitally important that decision makers (i.e. those influencing theadoption of ATT) have sufficient information on the needs of (commercial) road users and on the way they perceive ATT options in addressing those needs. The ATT market comprises a large number of actors from both the public and the private sector. At the demand side, some major potential market sectorscan be identified. In addition to private users, there are intermediate or collective users (e.g., road authorities) and commercial users (e.g., thefreight sector). In the latter case ATT may play a strategic role by facing the need of the freight sector to orient itself towards the opportunitiesoffered by theEuropean internal market, which has far-reaching impacts not only on organisations operating in intemational networks, but also on those operatingnationally.The aim of the underlying study is to investigate the potential ATT market among these main user and interest groups, where the range of telematicsapplications will be restricted to those applied to inter-urban road transport. The focus will be on collective users (road managers) and commercialusers (road freight operators). Surveys and in-depth interviews have been used to gather relevant information on the views, attitudes and expectation

Cosmic rays studied with a hybrid high school detector array

The LORUN/NAHSA system is a pathfinder for hybrid cosmic ray research combined with education and outreach in the field of astro-particle physics. Particle detectors and radio antennae were mainly setup by students and placed on public buildings. After fully digital data acquisition, coincidence detections were selected. Three candidate events confirmed a working prototype, which can be multiplied to extend further particle detector arrays on high schools.Comment: 10 pages, 6 figures. Nigl, A., Timmermans, C., Schellart, P., Kuijpers, J., Falcke, H., Horneffer, A., de Vos, C. M., Koopman, Y., Pepping, H. J., Schoonderbeek, G., Cosmic rays studied with a hybrid high school detector array, Europhysics News (EPN), Vol. 38, No. 5, accepted on 22/08/200

Fachkonzeptionelle Spezifikation von Virtuellen Rathäusern: Ein Konzept zur Unterstützung der Implementierung

Kommunalverwaltungen bedienen sich des Mediums Internet, um Bürgern und Wirtschaft zu jeder Zeit und an jedem Ort die Möglichkeit zu bieten, Informations-, Kommunikations- und Transaktionsdienstleistungen der Verwaltung in Anspruch nehmen zu können. Bevor Verwaltungsdienstleistungen vollständig digital und medienbruchfrei sowohl bei der externen Inanspruchnahme als auch bei der internen Bearbeitung durchgeführt werden können, sollte den Anspruchsgruppen zunächst in adäquater Weise qualitativ hochwertige Informationen und Kommunikationsmöglichkeiten zu den Verwaltungsdienstleistungen zur Verfügung gestellt werden. Das 'Virtuelle Rathaus' ist probates Mittel zur Erreichung dieser Zielsetzung. Die Studie 'Virtuelles Rathaus Münsterland 2004' hat gezeigt, dass bei den derzeitigen Realisierungen im Münsterland einige Leistungslücken erkennbar sind. So fehlt es z. B. an einheitlichen und intuitiv verständlichen Navigationskonzepten, an strukturierten und einheitlichen Dienstleistungsbeschreibungen und an einem umfangreicheren Angebot. Weiterhin wurde festegestellt, dass gerade kleine und mittlere Verwaltungen keinerlei Konzepte und informationstechnische Unterstützung für die Realisierung des Virtuellen Rathauses besitzen. Dieser Status quo motivierte umfangreiche E-Government Projekttätigkeit im Münsterland. Das Projektseminar 'ProService', des Lehrstuhls für Wirtschaftsinformatik und Informationsmanagement der Westfälischen Wilhelms-Universität Münster, hat in Zusammenarbeit mit dem Kreis Warendorf und dem Kommunalrechenzentrum citeq, eine umfassende Anforderungsanalyse in Bezug auf das Virtuelle Rathaus durchgeführt. Basierend auf den ermittelten Anforderungen wird in diesem Dokument ein produktunabhängiges Fachkonzept vorgestellt

Radio emission of highly inclined cosmic ray air showers measured with LOPES

LOPES-10 (the first phase of LOPES, consisting of 10 antennas) detected a significant number of cosmic ray air showers with a zenith angle larger than 50$^{\circ}$, and many of these have very high radio field strengths. The most inclined event that has been detected with LOPES-10 has a zenith angle of almost 80$^{\circ}$. This is proof that the new technique is also applicable for cosmic ray air showers with high inclinations, which in the case that they are initiated close to the ground, can be a signature of neutrino events.Our results indicate that arrays of simple radio antennas can be used for the detection of highly inclined air showers, which might be triggered by neutrinos. In addition, we found that the radio pulse height (normalized with the muon number) for highly inclined events increases with the geomagnetic angle, which confirms the geomagnetic origin of radio emission in cosmic ray air showers.Comment: A&A accepte

Results from the KASCADE, KASCADE-Grande, and LOPES experiments

The origin of high-energy cosmic rays in the energy range from 10^14 to 10^18 eV is explored with the KASCADE and KASCADE-Grande experiments. Radio signals from air showers are measured with the LOPES experiment. An overview on results is given.Comment: Talk at The ninth International Conference on Topics in Astroparticle and Underground Physics, TAUP 2005, Zaragoza, September 10-14, 200