Assessing the Variation in Rail Interoperability in 11 European Countries, and Barriers to its Improvement

Work conducted within REORIENT, a Sixth Framework project for the European Commission (EC), is described. One objective of REORIENT was to explain the status of transformation of the European railway sector into a functionally integrated, liberalized, interoperable system. The status of interoperability within and between eleven countries in a corridor stretching from Greece to the Nordic countries was assessed, and conditions in the countries that appear to be barriers to achieving the EC’s goals were identified. (Barriers were defined as shortcomings in conditions that would facilitate the implementation of requirements presumed by the EC to lead to seamless international freight transport (“implementation conditions”)). The primary data source for the analysis was a set of interviews with the major actors and stakeholders associated with each country’s rail freight system. The (qualitative) information from the interviews was translated into numeric scores, which were subjected to statistical analysis. The primary objective of the statistical analysis was to provide an assessment of the relationships between the requirements and the implementation conditions. The statistical analysis involved both the identification of relevant relationships and an assessment of the strength of these relationships. Overall, we found that there was considerable variation in interoperability status across the countries on practically all of the requirements. However, there was also considerable variation in the status of the implementation conditions across the countries. As a result, we found that most of the variability was able to be explained by relationships that were found to exist between the requirements and implementation conditions. A ‘Barrier Significance Score’ (BSS) was computed for each country and for each implementation condition. These scores were used to assess the relative importance of barriers across the countries, and to identify the most critical barriers to be removed in order to improve interoperability. Large differences in BSS’s were found among countries. In general there are fewer barriers in Nordic countries and more barriers in the south

A transport policy tool for reduction of CO2 emissions in Finland – Visions, scenarios and pathways using pluralistic backcasting method

The reduction of greenhouse gas emission was the basis of a Delphi study where expert opinions about future development were asked and used to form visions of the future, and further elaborated to scenarios using a pluralistic backcasting method. A new innovative approach on how to use and combine methods and data from various disciplines in scenario modelling, on transport policy packaging and determining pathways to reach the desired futures, is presented for two of the visions analysed in detail. This paper focuses on the diverse methods and data used while the scientific background of the backcasting method has already been published in Tuominen et al. (2014).</p

Evaluating the achievements and impacts of EC framework programme transport projects

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to present what kind of elements and evaluation methods should be included into a framework for evaluating the achievements and impacts of transport projects supported in EC Framework Programmes (FP). Further, the paper discusses the possibilities of such an evaluation framework in producing recommendations regarding future transport research and policy objectives as well as mutual learning for the basis of strategic long term planning. Methods: The paper describes the two-dimensional evaluation methodology developed in the course of the FP7 METRONOME project. The dimensions are: (1) achievement of project objectives and targets in different levels and (2) research project impacts according to four impact groups. The methodology uses four complementary approaches in evaluation, namely evaluation matrices, coordinator questionnaires, lead user interviews and workshops. Results: Based on the methodology testing, with a sample of FP5 and FP6 projects, the main results relating to the rationale, implementation and achievements of FP projects is presented. In general, achievement of objectives in both FPs was good. Strongest impacts were identified within the impact group of management and co-ordination. Also scientific and end-user impacts of the projects were adequate, but wider societal impacts quite modest. Conclusions: The paper concludes with a discussion both on the theoretical and practical implications of the proposed methodology and by presenting some relevant future research needs. Document type: Articl

Evaluating the achievements and impacts of EC framework programme transport projects

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to present what kind of elements and evaluation methods should be included into a framework for evaluating the achievements and impacts of transport projects supported in EC Framework Programmes (FP). Further, the paper discusses the possibilities of such an evaluation framework in producing recommendations regarding future transport research and policy objectives as well as mutual learning for the basis of strategic long term planning. Methods The paper describes the two-dimensional evaluation methodology developed in the course of the FP7 METRONOME project. The dimensions are: (1) achievement of project objectives and targets in different levels and (2) research project impacts according to four impact groups. The methodology uses four complementary approaches in evaluation, namely evaluation matrices, coordinator questionnaires, lead user interviews and workshops. Results Based on the methodology testing, with a sample of FP5 and FP6 projects, the main results relating to the rationale, implementation and achievements of FP projects is presented. In general, achievement of objectives in both FPs was good. Strongest impacts were identified within the impact group of management and co-ordination. Also scientific and end-user impacts of the projects were adequate, but wider societal impacts quite modest. The paper concludes with a discussion both on the theoretical and practical implications of the proposed methodology and by presenting some relevant future research needs

Katukimppa : syvien poikittaisten vatsalihasten hallinta hiphop-tanssijoilla

Opinnäytetyömme tarkoituksena oli suunnitella syvien poikittaisten vatsalihasten hallinnan harjoitteista koostuva Katukimppa-harjoitusohjelma. Opinnäytetyössä tarkasteltiin millaisia käsityksiä hiphop-tanssijoilla on syvien poikittaisten vatsalihasten merkityksestä sekä miten tanssijat pystyvät tietoisesti hallitsemaan poikittaisia vatsalihaksia ennen harjoittelua ja harjoittelun jälkeen. Työssä käytettiin apuna reaaliaikaista ultraääntä ohjaamaan ja mittaamaan poikittaisen vatsalihaksen hallintaa. Alku- ja loppukyselylomakkeilla kartoitettiin harjoitusohjelman tuloksellisuutta ja tanssijoiden käsityksiä poikittaisten vatsalihasten hallinnan merkityksestä. Toteutukseen osallistui tanssikoulu Dance.fi:in aikuisten erikoiskoulutusryhmä. Tanssijat olivat iältään 17 - 26-vuotiaita aktiivisia hiphop-tanssin harrastajia. Harjoitusohjelmassa oli viisi yhteistä ohjattua harjoituskertaa, joista ensimmäinen oli keväällä 2009 ja viimeinen syksyllä 2009. Lisäksi tanssijat harjoittelivat nousujohteisen kolmiosaisen kotiharjoitusohjelman mukaan. Kaikilla mitatuilla poikittaisten vatsalihasten hallinta oli kehittynyt ja käsitykset tarkentuneet harjoittelun myötä. Tanssijoiden kanssa pidettiin yhteyttä ja harjoittelua seurattiin facebookin avulla. Tanssinharrastajille ei juurikaan ole kehitetty systemaattisia tukiharjoitusohjelmia. Tanssi kuormittaa eniten selkää ja alaraajoja. Poikittaisten vatsalihasten hyvä hallinta suojaa selkärankaa ja auttaa alaraajojen linjauksissa. Opinnäytetyöllämme olemme halunneet edistää tanssin harrastajien terveyttä. Katukimppa-harjoitusohjelma pohjautuu standardoituun FysioKimppa-tuntirakenteeseen. Katukimppa-harjoitusohjelmaan kuuluu poikittaisten vatsalihasten ja keskivartalon hallinnan harjoitteita. Katukimppa on suunnattu tukiharjoitteluohjelmaksi aktiivisille tanssinharrastajille. Harjoitusohjelmamme on tarkoitettu tanssijoiden, tanssinopettajien ja fysioterapeuttien käyttöön.Our study aims to design an exercise program called Katukimppa to practise transversus abdominis muscle control. This study examined how hiphop -dancers understand the meaning of deep transverse abdominal muscles and what is their capacity to consciously control the transverse abdominals before and after the practice program. The first part of the study is a review of literature concerning core control, dance and the theory of motor control. We used realtime ultrasound to guide and measure the control of the transversus abdominis muscle and used questionnaires to examine how the dancers understood the meaning of controlling the transversus abdominis muscle before and after the exercise program. The participants of the study were 17-26 -year-old amateur hiphop -dancers from Dance.fi Danceschool. The exercise program consisted of five meetings with guided exercises (wich were directed by the authors of the study). The dancers also participated in a progressive three-part home-exercise program. The communication with the dancers and their practising was controlled through Facebook on the internet. Katukimppa is based on a standardized structure of FysioKimppa. Katukimppa is composed of exercises for the transverse abdominals and controlling the core. It is planned as an exercise program to support the active amateur dancers. There are not many systematic supplementary exercise programmes for the amateur dancers. Dancing stresses mainly the back and the lower extremities. Good control of the transverse abdominals protects the spine and helps with the alignment of the lower extremities. With our study we wanted to progress the health of amateur dancers. Every dancer had better control of their transverse abdominals and their perceptions of the transversus abdominis muscle control were clearer after exercising. We managed to develop a versatile exercise program for the use of dancers, dance teachers and physiotherapists