The value of slow travel: An econometric method for valuing the user benefits of active transport infrastructure

Transport infrastructure investments are typically justified largely on the basis of their ability to increase travel speeds. However, new bicycle facilities, such as separated cycleways, may result in slower journeys. Economic appraisals of proposed bicycle facilities therefore tend to focus on the social benefits, in particular, improvements in public health resulting from increased physical activity. Yet, some welfare benefit must also accrue to the users of the new facilities, given they willingly choose to use them over faster alternatives. This thesis explores how discrete choice modelling can be used to analyse the trade-offs people make when choosing how they travel, and thereby (a) forecast changes in travel demand resulting from bicycle network improvements, and (b) quantify and monetise the resulting benefits to users. Despite the theory having been established in the 1970s, there have been few practical applications of this methodology, and it is yet to be used to value the user benefits of new bicycle facilities in a car-centric city. This thesis also assesses the short-term reliability of such assessments, by analysing changes in travel demand and preferences following an actual infrastructure intervention. It is found that bicycle network improvements offer substantial welfare benefits to users, in terms of improved accessibility, comfort, perceived safety, and transport choice – even though their journeys may end up being slower. Furthermore, these benefits amplify when links are connected into a network. By ignoring such benefits in project appraisal, bicycle facilities may be significantly undervalued, and transport investment decisions inadequately informed

Inferred Influence of Human Lateral Profile on Limb Load Asymmetry during a Quiet Standing Balance Test

Although the identification and characterisation of a participant's lateral profile during quiet standing have not received much research attention, they have the potential to greatly extend our understanding of upright stance stability control. This study further examines limb load asymmetries during quiet bipedal stance. During voluntary frontal-plane weight shifting for 2 min, 300 centre-of-pressure displacements on 14 blindfolded right-handed young adults were recorded. Four biomechanical indices were used to assess postural behaviour. These were the bias of time and the magnitude of the partial ground reaction forces from both legs, and the bias in the number and magnitude of microshifts influencing stability. Our study identifies a significant level of asymmetry in the quiet bipedal stance of right-handed people. This asymmetry is associated with the right-sided bias of the ground reaction force and the angle of inclination to the upright (vertical) centroidal line. We found that the initial lateralisation of the partial ground reaction forces from both feet, as well as the period of ground reaction force bias, are important elements in any clinical tests involving quiet bipedal stance.</p

On Autonomous Agents in a Cyber Defence Environment

Autonomous Cyber Defence is required to respond to high-tempo cyber-attacks. To facilitate the research in this challenging area, we explore the utility of the autonomous cyber operation environments presented as part of the Cyber Autonomy Gym for Experimentation (CAGE) Challenges, with a specific focus on CAGE Challenge 2. CAGE Challenge 2 required a defensive Blue agent to defend a network from an attacking Red agent. We provide a detailed description of the this challenge and describe the approaches taken by challenge participants. From the submitted agents, we identify four classes of algorithms, namely, Single- Agent Deep Reinforcement Learning (DRL), Hierarchical DRL, Ensembles, and Non-DRL approaches. Of these classes, we found that the hierarchical DRL approach was the most capable of learning an effective cyber defensive strategy. Our analysis of the agent policies identified that different algorithms within the same class produced diverse strategies and that the strategy used by the defensive Blue agent varied depending on the strategy used by the offensive Red agent. We conclude that DRL algorithms are a suitable candidate for autonomous cyber defence applications.Comment: Presented at the 2nd Internation Workshop on Adaptive Cyber Defence, 202

Working from home, health and wellbeing consequences of a pandemic

Drawing from a survey of 1,165 Sydney (Australia) workers conducted in late 2020, when restrictions from the first COVID-19 wave were easing across Australia, we explore the impact of the pandemic on perceived changes to working from home (WfH) and other travel behaviours. Based on this analysis, we identify three distinct segments of the population with differing physical activity (PA) and quality of life (QoL) outcomes: (1) ‘Active but Anxious’ (22%) – younger, higher income, largest increase in WfH, sitting most of the day, sufficient PA; (2) ‘Less Change, Less Worries’ (38%) – older and male, least change in WfH, sitting relatively less, largely sufficient PA; (3) ‘Stressed and Sedentary’ (40%) – average age, lower income, largest loss of paid work, highest levels of sedentary behaviour, lowest PA and QoL. In a probable future of greater opportunities for WfH, understanding these heterogenous outcomes has implications for individuals, employers and policy-makers

Mineral Resource Assessment. Big Bend RanchState Natural Area, Presidio and Brewster Counties, Texas - Final Report

The Big Bend Ranch State Natural Area has a diverse geology reflecting nearly 600 million years of geologic evolution. Major geologic events include (1) deposition of elastic sedimentary rocks during the Paleozoic and their deformation (folding and faulting) at the end of the Paleozoic; (2) deposition of limestone and elastic rocks during the Cretaceous and their deformation during the early Tertiary; (3) intense extrusive and intrusive igneous activity during the middle Tertiary; and (4) major normal faulting during the late Tertiary. Almost all mineral potential of the area is associated with mid-Tertiary igneous activity. The only significant mineral production within the Ranch area was from the Fresno Mine in the western part of the Terlingua mercury district, one of the largest mining districts in Texas. This mine produced approximately 3500 flasks of mercury, mostly during World War II. Other production was minor and included some additional mercury from localities near the Fresno Mine, as well as silver-lead ore containing minor gold from a small mine in the Solitario.Bureau of Economic Geolog

Development of an online diary for longitudinal travel / activity surveys

Motivated by the continued search for methods to reduce participant burden and non-response, and improve the quality of travel data, this paper details the development of a new online travel/activity diary to support a major longitudinal investigation of travel in Sydney, Australia. The diary employs several innovative features designed to simplify the process of data entry, and improve participant recall and completeness of travel, including auto-fills, prompts, trip editing capabilities, favourite trips and a dragand- drop technique for capturing travel mode. An additional innovation is the ability to view a GPS-based Google map of daily travel while completing the diary to assist with recall. The diary is tested on 37 participants, with a range of diagnostics provided to assess their comprehension and interaction with the diary, reaction and burden, and completeness of data provided. Overall, 89% of participants complete all seven days of the diary with 75% indicating no issues once they become accustomed to how it works. Trip entry times average around two minutes/trip with three-quarters of trips entered within 24 hours of being made and 96% of trips provided with complete details. In terms of the GPS component, while the data itself is of variable quality and the optional viewing of trips is lower than anticipated, those carrying a GPS report more trips/day and segments/day, fewer missing days, and provide more complete trip data

Symptoms into words: how medical patients talk about fatigue

Fatigue, which is the central symptom of CFS/ME, is notoriously difficult to define. We describe an investigation in which we raise two questions. First, does the way people use fatigue-related language reflect distinctive patterns? Second, is there a particular pattern characteristic of CFS/ME? These questions can be asked with various theories of language and meaning in mind, as we discuss. Our orientation is towards the intersubjective realities revealed by language, rather than towards the neurological substrate of fatigue. We created a questionnaire including 105 items connected with the experience of fatigue. We then compared responses in samples of adults fulfilling clinical criteria for three conditions in which fatigue is described: CFS/ME, Parkinson ’s disease, and multiple sclerosis. Principal components factor analysis of the three groups together did suggest patterns that we think reflect different intersubjective realities connected with fatigue-related language. In the CFS/ME group, cluster analysis showed that the pattern of responses differed significantly from the other two diagnostic groups. Cluster analysis does not reveal the nature of differences but the CFS/ME respondents marked a higher number of questionnaire items as ‘exactly how I feel ’. We suggest that the language used by people diagnosed with CFS/ME represents less localised experiences than in the other two diagnoses. In the interpretation of symptoms it is helpful to make a distinction between a generalised feeling and an experience that is more readily localised in time and space

The Pracademic Classroom in Criminal Justice: Learning for life

Delegates were invited to join us for a panel discussion of neophyte, established, and expert by experience criminal justice pracademics involved in teaching in the Community and Criminal Justice Division located in the School of Applied Social Sciences at DMU. The session was chaired by the criminal justice pracademic network lead at DMU. The pracademic criminal justice panel initially explored who and what ‘counts’ as a pracademic in criminal justice, before moving on to discuss what benefits pracademics can bring to Higher Education Institutions in terms of enhancing teaching, learning and scholarship including for example, best practice for student lifelong learning in criminal justice. The panel illustrated the added value of the pracademic classroom by sharing real world examples of disruptive pedagogical teaching practices utilised on both traditional taught undergraduate campus-based, and professional (blended and distance learning) based programmes of study in Criminology and Criminal Justice at DMU. There was an opportunity to ask questions on a myriad of areas of pedagogical interest and to share ideas from delegates own disciplines. A key aim of the session was to develop pracademic networking opportunities across disciplines at DMU. Delegates also left the session with some take away hints, tips and tricks to add to their personal teaching and learning toolkits