Adding to complexity: How a revived use of psychological theory can benefit attempts to stimulate change in patterns of personal travel

This paper seeks to broaden the view of psychological theory in research in behavioral change in transport as a way of responding to climate change. In recent years the use of psychological theory has been increasingly criticized for supporting individualizing, atomized and simplistic perspectives on change (Watson, 2012; Geels, 2012; Chatterton & Wilson, 2014; Schwanen, Banister & Anable, 2011). While welcoming this important and justified critique this article seeks to capture and defend the fundamental insights that these models have contributed to. The aim is to separate the baby from the bathwater and point to how theories of individual behavior and aggregate perspectives such as theories of practice can inform each other and result in enhanced methods. First the use of psychological theory in journal articles on behavioral change in transport is reviewed. A comprehensive theoretical review is used to point to strengths and weaknesses in current approaches. Lastly an informed eclectic approach is advocated by proposing an operational framework that draws on established theories of attitude and behavioral choice as well as cultivating a better understanding of practices involved in personal travel

Adding to complexity: How a revived use of psychological theory can benefit attempts to stimulate change in patterns of personal travel

This paper seeks to broaden the view of psychological theory in research in behavioral change in transport as a way of responding to climate change. In recent years the use of psychological theory has been increasingly criticized for supporting individualizing, atomized and simplistic perspectives on change (Watson, 2012; Geels, 2012; Chatterton & Wilson, 2014; Schwanen, Banister & Anable, 2011). While welcoming this important and justified critique this article seeks to capture and defend the fundamental insights that these models have contributed to. The aim is to separate the baby from the bathwater and point to how theories of individual behavior and aggregate perspectives such as theories of practice can inform each other and result in enhanced methods. First the use of psychological theory in journal articles on behavioral change in transport is reviewed. A comprehensive theoretical review is used to point to strengths and weaknesses in current approaches. Lastly an informed eclectic approach is advocated by proposing an operational framework that draws on established theories of attitude and behavioral choice as well as cultivating a better understanding of practices involved in personal travel

Potentialer og risici ved selvkørende køretøjer: implikationer for regulering, planlægning og forskning - Et litteraturstudie

Introduktionen af køretøjer, som kan navigere rundt i trafikken uden en chauffør, udgør et fundamentalt brud med den måde vejtransport historisk har fungeret. Den videnskabelige viden, som findes om hvad implementering af selvkørende transport reelt vil betyde for transportsystemet, for trafikanter og for passagerer, har det gennemgående kendetegn, at den bygger på estimater og kvalificerede gæt i en kontekst med mange usikkerheder. I denne artikel gennemgår 45 centrale forskningsbaserede publikationer, som fokuserer på potentialer og konsekvenser. Teksten er intenderet for planlæggere, beslutningstagere og andre, som har interesse for implementering af selvkørende køretøjer og søger et samlet overblik over den eksisterende forskning og tænkning på området. Da de første erfaringer med selvkørende køretøjer på de danske veje forventes at være fokusereret omkring selvkørende minibusser og kollektiv transport, er effekter af selvkørende teknologi på forholdet mellem privatejet mobilitet og kollektiv transport givet særlig plads.The introduction of vehicles that can navigate road traffic without a driver constitutes a fundamental break with the way road transport has historically worked. The scientific understanding of the likely effects of the implementation of autonomous road transport on the transport system, on road users and on passengers, has the pervasive characteristic that it is based on estimates and qualified guesses in a context defined by many uncertainties. This paper reviews 45 key scientific publications all of which focus on potentials and consequences. The paper is intended for professionals and decisionmakers with interest in the implementation of autonomous vehicles who seek an overview of existing research and thinking in the field. As the first experiences with self-driving vehicles in a Danish context are expected to be focused around self-driving minibuses in public transport, the effects of autonomous technology on the relationship between privately owned mobility and public transport are discussed

ITS effektivisering af offentlig kørsel

Denne artikel beskriver resultatet af den største danske analyse af koordineringspotentialet for omkring 17.000 konkrete personkørsler (offentlige lukkede kørsler) i en repræsentativ 14 dages periode i 2012. Data er indsamlet fra fem større danske kommunernes faktiske kørsel i denne periode. Analysen er udført som en delanalyse i projektet ”Analyse af de lukkede kørselsordninger for fem kommuner...”, udført af konsulentfirmaet COWI som hovedentreprenør på projektet med Finn Frogne A/S som delleverandør af praktiske analyser.Ved hjælp af Frognes intelligente simuleringsværktøjer til kørselskoordinering og optimering, er data på de faktiske kørsler med servicekrav, start- og slutadresser samt kørselsordningsreferencer blevet udsat for elektronisk planlægningssimulering. I simuleringerne er kørslerne koordineret med forskellige udvalgte opsætninger på tværs af kørselsordninger, kommuner, ændringer i servicekrav osv.Målet med simuleringerne var at kunne vurdere den reelle effekt af forskellige koordineringstiltag, hvilket vil sige, at optimere antallet af personer, som transporteres per køretøj under forskellige opsætninger. Det være sig variationer i ventetider og køretøjstyper samt effekten ved at tilrettelæge kørsel på tværs af kørselsordninger og på tværs af kommunegrænserne. At benytte konkrete kørselsdata fra kommunerne og udsætte dem for en kørselsplanlægningssimulering, inddrages normalt ikke i forbindelse med projekter af denne karakter. Det er derfor en ny måde at anskue besparelses-potentialet i kommunerne på, ved at fremvise potentielle tal for koordineringsgrader og max antal personer per tur ud fra dokumenteret data. Tilmed tilvejebringer resultaterne potentielle besparelser i kommunernes CO2 udledning på den offentlige lukkede kørsel ved at optimere anvendelse af køretøjer, hvilket giver en ekstra miljødimension til analysen. Resultat:Analysens resultater udviser en potentiel koordineringsgrad, det vil sige, hvor mange passagerer der i gennemsnit sidder i køretøjet samtidig, på over 2. Det maksimale totale antal passagerer i køretøjet (max. antal personer per tur) er over 3.Det har ikke været muligt at få koordineringsgrader fra trafikselskaber eller transportører, som udfører persontransporterne i dag for kommunerne. FlexDanmark oplyser dog tal på såvel samlet antal ture som samlet antal kørsler i 2011 i høringsudgaven af Flextrafikplan for Nordjylland, hvoraf kan udledes værdien for max antal personer per bil til mellem 1,05 og 1,10 i perioden. På baggrund af de beregnede koordineringsgrader viser analysen tydeligt, at uden at reducere serviceniveauet for borgerne i kommunerne, vil en opnået koordineringsgrad på 2 resultere i en reduktion i nettoudgifterne på kommunernes lukkede kørsel med 15%, svarende til mellem 1,2 og 2,0 mio. kr. pr. kommune pr. år eller en samlet besparelse på 9,7 mio. kr for de fem kommuner. Opnåelse af en koordineringsgrad på 2 forudsætter en elektronisk kørselskoordinering på tværs af kommunegrænser og på tværs af kørselsordninger, men må ikke forveksles med trafikselskabernes tilbud. COWIs samlede resultat i ”Analyse af de lukkede kørselsordninger for fem kommuner...” viser, at det største enkeltstående besparelses-potentiale af alle løsningsforslag i analysen, opnås ved koordinering af kørsel på tværs af kommunegrænserne ved hjælp af et intelligent kørselskoordineringsværktøj, uden samtidig at ændre servicekravene

Context-Aware Sensing and Implicit Ground Truth Collection: Building a Foundation for Event Triggered Surveys on Autonomous Shuttles: Artikel

The LINC project aims to study interactions between passengers and autonomous vehicles in natural settings at the campus of Technical University of Denmark. To leverage the potential of IoT components in smartphone-based surveying, a system to identify specific spatial, temporal and occupancy contexts relevant for passengers’ experience was proposed as a central data collection strategy in the LINC project. Based on predefined contextual triggers specific questionnaires can be distributed to affected passengers. This work focuses on the data-based discrimination between two fundamental contexts for LINC passengers: be-in and be-out (BIBO) of the vehicle. We present empirical evidence that Bluetooth-low-energy beacons (BLE) have the potential for BIBO independent classification. We compare BLE with other smartphone onboard sensors, such as the global positioning system (GPS) and the accelerometer through: (i) random-forest (RF); (ii) multi-layer perceptron (MLP); and (iii) smartphone native off-the-shelve classifiers. We also perform a sensitivity analysis regarding the impact that faulty BIBO ground-truth has on the performance of the supervised classifiers (i) and (ii). Results show that BLE and GPS could allow reciprocal validation for BIBO passengers’ status. This potential might lift passengers from providing any further validation. We describe the smartphone-sensing platform deployed to gather the dataset used in this work, which involves passengers and autonomous vehicles in a realistic setting

Mapping the cellular and molecular heterogeneity of normal and malignant breast tissues and cultured cell lines

Introduction: Normal and neoplastic breast tissues are comprised of heterogeneous populations of epithelial cells exhibiting various degrees of maturation and differentiation. While cultured cell lines have been derived from both normal and malignant tissues, it remains unclear to what extent they retain similar levels of differentiation and heterogeneity as that found within breast tissues. Methods: We used 12 reduction mammoplasty tissues, 15 primary breast cancer tissues, and 20 human breast epithelial cell lines (16 cancer lines, 4 normal lines) to perform flow cytometry for CD44, CD24, epithelial cell adhesion molecule (EpCAM), and CD49f expression, as well as immunohistochemistry, and in vivo tumor xenograft formation studies to extensively analyze the molecular and cellular characteristics of breast epithelial cell lineages. Results: Human breast tissues contain four distinguishable epithelial differentiation states (two luminal phenotypes and two basal phenotypes) that differ on the basis of CD24, EpCAM and CD49f expression. Primary human breast cancer tissues also contain these four cellular states, but in altered proportions compared to normal tissues. In contrast, cultured cancer cell lines are enriched for rare basal and mesenchymal epithelial phenotypes, which are normally present in small numbers within human tissues. Similarly, cultured normal human mammary epithelial cell lines are enriched for rare basal and mesenchymal phenotypes that represent a minor fraction of cells within reduction mammoplasty tissues. Furthermore, although normal human mammary epithelial cell lines exhibit features of bi-potent progenitor cells they are unable to differentiate into mature luminal breast epithelial cells under standard culture conditions. Conclusions: As a group breast cancer cell lines represent the heterogeneity of human breast tumors, but individually they exhibit increased lineage-restricted profiles that fall short of truly representing the intratumoral heterogeneity of individual breast tumors. Additionally, normal human mammary epithelial cell lines fail to retain much of the cellular diversity found in human breast tissues and are enriched for differentiation states that are a minority in breast tissues, although they do exhibit features of bi-potent basal progenitor cells. These findings suggest that collections of cell lines representing multiple cell types can be used to model the cellular heterogeneity of tissues

Effect of remote ischaemic conditioning on clinical outcomes in patients with acute myocardial infarction (CONDI-2/ERIC-PPCI): a single-blind randomised controlled trial.

BACKGROUND: Remote ischaemic conditioning with transient ischaemia and reperfusion applied to the arm has been shown to reduce myocardial infarct size in patients with ST-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) undergoing primary percutaneous coronary intervention (PPCI). We investigated whether remote ischaemic conditioning could reduce the incidence of cardiac death and hospitalisation for heart failure at 12 months. METHODS: We did an international investigator-initiated, prospective, single-blind, randomised controlled trial (CONDI-2/ERIC-PPCI) at 33 centres across the UK, Denmark, Spain, and Serbia. Patients (age >18 years) with suspected STEMI and who were eligible for PPCI were randomly allocated (1:1, stratified by centre with a permuted block method) to receive standard treatment (including a sham simulated remote ischaemic conditioning intervention at UK sites only) or remote ischaemic conditioning treatment (intermittent ischaemia and reperfusion applied to the arm through four cycles of 5-min inflation and 5-min deflation of an automated cuff device) before PPCI. Investigators responsible for data collection and outcome assessment were masked to treatment allocation. The primary combined endpoint was cardiac death or hospitalisation for heart failure at 12 months in the intention-to-treat population. This trial is registered with ClinicalTrials.gov (NCT02342522) and is completed. FINDINGS: Between Nov 6, 2013, and March 31, 2018, 5401 patients were randomly allocated to either the control group (n=2701) or the remote ischaemic conditioning group (n=2700). After exclusion of patients upon hospital arrival or loss to follow-up, 2569 patients in the control group and 2546 in the intervention group were included in the intention-to-treat analysis. At 12 months post-PPCI, the Kaplan-Meier-estimated frequencies of cardiac death or hospitalisation for heart failure (the primary endpoint) were 220 (8·6%) patients in the control group and 239 (9·4%) in the remote ischaemic conditioning group (hazard ratio 1·10 [95% CI 0·91-1·32], p=0·32 for intervention versus control). No important unexpected adverse events or side effects of remote ischaemic conditioning were observed. INTERPRETATION: Remote ischaemic conditioning does not improve clinical outcomes (cardiac death or hospitalisation for heart failure) at 12 months in patients with STEMI undergoing PPCI. FUNDING: British Heart Foundation, University College London Hospitals/University College London Biomedical Research Centre, Danish Innovation Foundation, Novo Nordisk Foundation, TrygFonden