The Contribution of Benefit-in-Kind Taxation Policy in Britain to the 'Peak Car' Phenomenon

Car use per person has historically grown year-on-year in Great Britain since the 1950s, with minor exceptions during fuel crises and times of economic recession. The 'Peak Car' hypothesis proposes that this historical trend no longer applies. The British National Travel Survey provides evidence of such an aggregate levelling off in car mileage per person since the mid-1990s, but further analysis shows that this is the result of counter trends netting out: in particular, a reduction in per capita male driving mileage being offset by a corresponding increase in female car driving mileage. A major contributory factor to the decline in male car use has been a sharp reduction in average company car mileage per person. This paper investigates this aspect in more detail. Use of company cars fell sharply in Britain from the 1990s up to the 2008 recession. Over the same period, taxation policy towards company cars became more onerous, with increasing levels of taxation on the benefit-in-kind value of the ownership of a company car and on the provision of free fuel for private use. The paper sets out the changes in taxation policy affecting company cars in the UK, and looks at the associated reductions in company car ownership (including free fuel) and patterns of use. It goes on to look in more detail at which groups of the population have kept company cars and in which parts of the country they have been most used, and how these patterns have changed over time. A preliminary investigation is also made of possible substitution effects between company car and personal car driving and between company car use and rail travel. Clearly, the role of the company car is only one of many factors that are contributing to aggregate changes in levels of car use in Great Britain, alongside demographic changes and a wide range of policy initiatives. But, company car use cannot fall below zero, so the effect of declining year-on-year company car mileage suppressing overall car traffic levels cannot continue indefinitely. © 2013 Copyright Taylor and Francis Group, LLC

Vehicle automation and freeway 'pipeline' capacity in the context of legal standards of care

The study evaluates, in the context of freeway segments, the interaction between automated cars’ kinematic capabilities and the standard legal requirement for the operator of an automobile to not strike items that are in its path (known as the ‘Assured Clear Distance Ahead’ criterion). The objective is to characterize the impacts of ACDA-compliant driving behavior on the system-level indicator of roadway-network capacity. We assess the barriers to automated cars operating non-ACDA-compliant driving strategies, develop a straightforward ACDA-compliant automated-driving model to analytically estimate freeway ‘pipeline’ capacity, compare this behavior to human drivers, and interpret quantitative findings which are based on a range of rationally-specified parameter values and explicitly account for kinematic uncertainty. We demonstrate that automated cars pursuing ACDA-compliant driving strategies would have distinctive “fundamental diagrams” (relationships between speed and flow). Our results suggest that such automated-driving strategies (under a baseline set of assumptions) would sustain higher flow rates at free-flow speeds than human drivers, however at higher traffic volumes the rate of degradation in speed due to congestion would be steeper. ACDA-compliant automated cars also would have a higher level of maximum-achievable throughput, though the impact on maximum throughput at free-flow speed depends on the specific interpretation of ACDA. We also present a novel quantification of the tradeoff between freeway-capacity and various degrees of safety (one failure in 100,000 events, one failure in 1,000,000, etc.) that explicitly accounts for the irreducible uncertainty in emergency braking performance, by drawing on empirical distributions of braking distance testing. Finally, we assess the vulnerability of ACDA-compliant automated cars to lateral ‘cut-ins’ by vehicles making lane changes. The paper concludes with a brief discussion of policy questions and research needs

The Status Of Nuisance Wildlife Damage Control In The States

State fish and wildlife agencies and nuisance wildlife control operators must work together whether or not they actively choose to. In this paper, their relationship is likened to a marriage between two (not so likely) partners. In an attempt to assess the status of this relationship the International Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies, The Wildlife Society\u27s Wildlife Damage Management Working Group, and the National Animal Damage Control Association developed a survey that addressed the level of state agencies\u27 oversight of nuisance wildlife control operators (NWCOs). Responses were received from 47 states, 1 territory, and 17 ADC state offices. This report concentrates on the responses from the U.S. states and territories. Currently 77% of states perform nuisance wildlife control activities. Private agents may euthanize nuisance animals for property owners in 95% of the states, and are allowed to relocate nuisance wildlife in 91 % of the states. Most states do not require NWCO\u27s to carry general liability insurance. Some states do not have a well-defined method for monitoring compliance with laws and regulations dealing with nuisance wildlife control activities. There appears to be a great deal of gray area in the relationship between NWCOs and the state agencies. National guidelines for the nuisance wildlife control industry may help clarify the responsibilities of the states and NWCOs with respect to each other and the private landowner

Identifying the domains of context important to implementation science: a study protocol

There is growing recognition that "context" can and does modify the effects of implementation interventions aimed at increasing healthcare professionals' use of research evidence in clinical practice. However, conceptual clarity about what exactly comprises "context" is lacking. The purpose of this research program is to develop, refine, and validate a framework that identifies the key domains of context (and their features) that can facilitate or hinder (1) healthcare professionals' use of evidence in clinical practice and (2) the effectiveness of implementation interventions

Testing and Modeling Ethernet Switches and Networks for Use in ATLAS High-level Triggers

The ATLAS second level trigger will use a multi-layered LAN network to transfer 5 Gbyte/s detector data from ~1500 buffers to a few hundred processors. A model of the network has been constructed to evaluate its performance. A key component of the network model is a model of an individual switch, reproducing the behavior measured in real devices. A small number of measurable parameters are used to model a variety of commercial Ethernet switches. Using parameters measured on real devices, the impact on the overall network performance is modeled. In the Atlas context, both 100 Mbit and Gigabit Ethernet links are required. A system is described which is capable of characterizing the behavior of commercial switches with the required number of nodes under traffic conditions resembling those to be encountered in the Atlas experiment. Fast Ethernet traffic is provided by a high density, custom built tester based on FPGAs, programmed in Handel-C and VHDL, while the Gigabit Ethernet traffic is generated using Alteon NICs with custom firmware. The system is currently being deployed with 32 100Mbit ports and 16 Gigabit ports, and will be expanded to ~256 nodes of 100 Mbit and ~50 GBE nodes

The UK market for energy service contracts in 2014–2015

This paper provides an overview of the UK market for energy service contracts in 2014 and highlights the growing role of intermediaries. Using information from secondary literature and interviews, it identifies the businesses offering energy service contracts, the sectors and organisations that are purchasing those contracts, the types of contract that are available, the areas of market growth and the reasons for that growth. The paper finds that the UK market is relatively large, highly diverse, concentrated in particular sectors and types of site and overwhelmingly focused upon established technologies with high rates of return. A major driver is the emergence of procurement frameworks for energy service contracts in the public sector. These act as intermediaries between clients and contractors, thereby lowering transaction costs and facilitating learning. The market is struggling to become established in commercial offices, largely as a result of split incentives, and is unlikely to develop further in this sector without different business models, tenancy arrangements and policy initiatives. Overall, the paper concludes that energy service contracts can play an important role in the transition to a low-carbon economy, especially when supported by intermediaries, but their potential is still limited by high transaction costs

Preclinical Evaluation of Novel All-in-one Formulations of 5-Fluorouracil and Folinic Acid with Reduced Toxicity Profiles - Supplementary Data

Objectives: 5-Fluorouracil (5-FU) in combination with its synergistic biomodulator folinic acid maintains a pivotal position in cancer chemotherapy. However, clinical limitations persist with the administration of these drugs in combination including phlebitis and catheter blockages, which are associated with reduced efficacy and/or quality of life for patients. We have previously reported novel all-in-one, pH neutral, parenteral 5-FU and folinic acid formulations (termed Fluorodex) incorporating beta-cyclodextrins. Fluorodex maintains potency while overcoming the accepted incompatibility of 5-FU and folinic acid.Methods: We performed toxicological, pharmacokinetic and biodistribution, and efficacy evaluations of Fluorodex compared to 5-FU:folinic acid using several administration routes and schedules in two rodent models. These were compared to dose-matched sequential administration of 5-FU:folinic acid.Results: Fluorodex showed bioequivalence to 5-FU:folinic acid as assessed by tissue distribution and pharmacokinetics of 5-FU, but was generally better tolerated as determined by weight loss, hematological and other clinical parameters. Compared to 5-FU:folinic acid, Fluorodex was also associated with reduced phlebitis using a rabbit ear vein model. Furthermore, equivalent to enhanced efficacy of Fluorodex compared to 5-FU:folinic acid against human carcinoma tumour models in mice was observed.Conclusions: These novel all-in-one formulations represent a superior injectable form of 5- FU that allows co-delivery of folinic acid. This should translate to improved patient tolerability with potential for enhanced efficacy

Indium joints for cryogenic gravitational wave detectors

A viable technique for the preparation of highly thermal conductive joints between sapphire components in gravitational wave detectors is presented. The mechanical loss of such a joint was determined to be as low as 2 × 10−3 at 20 K and 2 × 10−2 at 300 K. The thermal noise performance of a typical joint is compared to the requirements of the Japanese gravitational wave detector, KAGRA. It is shown that using such an indium joint in the suspension system allows it to operate with low thermal noise. Additionally, results on the maximum amount of heat which can be extracted via indium joints are presented. It is found that sapphire parts, joined by means of indium, are able to remove the residual heat load in the mirrors of KAGRA

Progress in Interferometry for LISA at JPL

Recent advances at JPL in experimentation and design for LISA interferometry include the demonstration of Time Delay Interferometry using electronically separated end stations, a new arm-locking design with improved gain and stability, and progress in flight readiness of digital and analog electronics for phase measurements.Comment: 11 pages, 9 figures, LISA 8 Symposium, Stanford University, 201

Aquarius: The Instrument and Initial Results

Aquarius was launched on June 10, 2011 aboard the Aquarius/SAC-D observatory and the instrument has been operating continuously since the initial turned-on was completed on August 25. The initial observed antenna temperatures were close to predicted and the first salinity map was released in September. In order to map the ocean salinity field, Aquarius includes several special features such as the inclusion of a scatterometer to provide a roughness correction, measurement of the third Stokes parameter to correct for Faraday rotation, and fast sampling to mitigate the effects of RFI. This paper provides an overview of the instrument and an example of initial results. Details are covered in subsequent papers in the session on Aquariu