Road user charging and implications for transport policy: Findings from the CURACAO project

This paper reports on the outcomes of a European project, CURACAO, designed to support the implementation of urban road user charging (URUC) as a demand management tool in urban areas. The project did this through engagement with a User Group of cities interested in pursuing URUC to identify the barriers preventing them from doing so. The project reviewed the complete process of setting up a URUC scheme from the setting of objectives, through to scheme design, predicting impacts, achieving acceptability and the implementation process and presented its findings in a State of the Art Report and a Case Studies Report. The State of the Art Report provides evidence collated from research and practice to address a series of 14 themes identified by the User Group, including objectives; scheme design; technology; business systems; prediction; traffic, environmental, economic and equity impacts; appraisal; acceptability; transferability; implementation; and evaluation. The Case Study Report reviewed 16 proposed or implemented schemes in Europe, focusing on pricing objectives, scheme design, the implementation process and scheme results. On this basis, the CURACAO Consortium developed a list of policy recommendations aimed at cities and regional authorities, national governments, and the European Commission. The paper summarises the main findings of the State of the Art Report and the case studies. On this basis, it outlines the policy recommendations which were drawn, and identifies future research needs

Overcoming the barriers to implementing urban road user charging schemes

Urban road user charging offers the potential to achieve significant improvements in urban transport, but is notoriously difficult to implement. Cities need guidance on the range of factors to be considered in planning and implementing such schemes. This paper summarises the results of a 3 year programme which has collated evidence on the issues of most concern to cities. A state of the art report has provided evidence on 14 themes, ranging from objectives and design to implementation and evaluation. A set of 16 case studies has reviewed experience in design and implementation across Europe. The paper summarises their findings, provides references to more detailed information, presents the resulting policy recommendations to European, national and local government, and outlines the areas in which further research is needed

Health impacts of urban transport policy measures: A guidance note for practice

Background Urban transport related exposures and practices are associated with a significant burden of morbidity and premature mortality, which could be prevented by changing current practices. Cities now have access to an increasingly wide range of transport policy measures which continue to expand. However, the health impacts of these measures are not always explicitly defined or well understood and therefore may not be sufficiently considered when selecting policy measures. Aims The aim of this paper is to qualitatively review 64 different transport policy measures indexed in the Knowledgebase on Sustainable Urban Land use and Transport (KonSULT), and provide an indication of their potential health impacts, based on expert judgment. Results We report that key health impacts of transport occur via pathways of motor vehicle crashes, traffic-related air pollution, noise, heat islands, lack of green space, physical inactivity, climate change and social exclusion and community severance. We systematically describe the expected health impacts of transport policy measures sourced from KonSULT and find that many, but not all, can have a positive impact on health. The magnitude of both the positive and negative impacts remains largely unknown and warrants further research and synthesis. Conclusions Urban transport is responsible for a large mortality and morbidity burden and policy measures that are beneficial to health need to be implemented to reduce this burden. There are considerable differences between these policy measures in terms of potential health impacts and this should be considered in any transport planning. It is important to monitor the health impacts of all policy measures to provide further evidence on whether they work as expected or not, to ensure that the most cost-effective solutions, with the largest benefits and the smallest health risks, are being adopted

Stereocontrolled enantioselective total synthesis of the [2+2] quadrigemine alkaloids

Abstract A unified strategy for enantioselective total synthesis of all stereoisomers of the [2+2] family of quadrigemine alkaloids is reported. In this approach, two enantioselective intramolecular Heck reactions are carried out at the same time on precursors fashioned in four steps from either meso- or (+)-chimonanthine to form the two critical quaternary carbons of the peripheral cyclotryptamine rings of these products. Useful levels of catalyst control are realized in either desymmetrizing a meso precursor or controlling diastereoselectivity in elaborating C2-symmetric intermediates. None of the synthetic quadrigemines are identical with alkaloids isolated previously and referred to as quadrigemines A and E. In addition, we report improvements in our previous total syntheses of (+)- or (-)-quadrigemine C that shortened the synthetic sequence to 10 steps and provided these products in 2.2% overall yield from tryptamine

The integrated dynamic land use and transport model MARS

Cities worldwide face problems like congestion or outward migration of businesses. The involved transport and land use interactions require innovative tools. The dynamic Land Use and Transport Interaction model MARS (Metropolitan Activity Relocation Simulator) is part of a structured decision making process. Cities are seen as self organizing systems. MARS uses Causal Loop Diagrams from Systems Dynamics to explain cause and effect relations. MARS has been benchmarked against other published models. A user friendly interface has been developed to support decision makers. Its usefulness was tested through workshops in Asia. This paper describes the basis, capabilities and uses of MARS

Ternary Syndrome Decoding with Large Weight

The Syndrome Decoding problem is at the core of many code-based cryptosystems. In this paper, we study ternary Syndrome Decoding in large weight. This problem has been introduced in the Wave signature scheme but has never been thoroughly studied. We perform an algorithmic study of this problem which results in an update of the Wave parameters. On a more fundamental level, we show that ternary Syndrome Decoding with large weight is a really harder problem than the binary Syndrome Decoding problem, which could have several applications for the design of code-based cryptosystems

Why is it difficult to implement e-health initiatives? A qualitative study

<b>Background</b> The use of information and communication technologies in healthcare is seen as essential for high quality and cost-effective healthcare. However, implementation of e-health initiatives has often been problematic, with many failing to demonstrate predicted benefits. This study aimed to explore and understand the experiences of implementers - the senior managers and other staff charged with implementing e-health initiatives and their assessment of factors which promote or inhibit the successful implementation, embedding, and integration of e-health initiatives.<p></p> <b>Methods</b> We used a case study methodology, using semi-structured interviews with implementers for data collection. Case studies were selected to provide a range of healthcare contexts (primary, secondary, community care), e-health initiatives, and degrees of normalization. The initiatives studied were Picture Archiving and Communication System (PACS) in secondary care, a Community Nurse Information System (CNIS) in community care, and Choose and Book (C&B) across the primary-secondary care interface. Implementers were selected to provide a range of seniority, including chief executive officers, middle managers, and staff with 'on the ground' experience. Interview data were analyzed using a framework derived from Normalization Process Theory (NPT).<p></p> <b>Results</b> Twenty-three interviews were completed across the three case studies. There were wide differences in experiences of implementation and embedding across these case studies; these differences were well explained by collective action components of NPT. New technology was most likely to 'normalize' where implementers perceived that it had a positive impact on interactions between professionals and patients and between different professional groups, and fit well with the organisational goals and skill sets of existing staff. However, where implementers perceived problems in one or more of these areas, they also perceived a lower level of normalization.<p></p> <b>Conclusions</b> Implementers had rich understandings of barriers and facilitators to successful implementation of e-health initiatives, and their views should continue to be sought in future research. NPT can be used to explain observed variations in implementation processes, and may be useful in drawing planners' attention to potential problems with a view to addressing them during implementation planning

Coherent Moving States in Highway Traffic (Originally: Moving Like a Solid Block)

Recent advances in multiagent simulations have made possible the study of realistic traffic patterns and allow to test theories based on driver behaviour. Such simulations also display various empirical features of traffic flows, and are used to design traffic controls that maximise the throughput of vehicles in heavily transited highways. In addition to its intrinsic economic value, vehicular traffic is of interest because it may throw light on some social phenomena where diverse individuals competitively try to maximise their own utilities under certain constraints. In this paper, we present simulation results that point to the existence of cooperative, coherent states arising from competitive interactions that lead to a new phenomenon in heterogeneous highway traffic. As the density of vehicles increases, their interactions cause a transition into a highly correlated state in which all vehicles practically move with the same speed, analogous to the motion of a solid block. This state is associated with a reduced lane changing rate and a safe, high and stable flow. It disappears as the vehicle density exceeds a critical value. The effect is observed in recent evaluations of Dutch traffic data.Comment: Submitted on April 21, 1998. For related work see http://www.theo2.physik.uni-stuttgart.de/helbing.html and http://www.parc.xerox.com/dynamics

Managing affect in learners' questions in undergraduate science

This is the author's accepted manuscript. The final published article is available from the link below. Copyright @ 2012 Society for Research into Higher Education.This article aims to position students' classroom questioning within the literature surrounding affect and its impact on learning. The article consists of two main sections. First, the act of questioning is discussed in order to highlight how affect shapes the process of questioning, and a four-part genesis to question-asking that we call CARE is described: the construction, asking, reception and evaluation of a learner's question. This work is contextualised through studies in science education and through our work with university students in undergraduate chemistry, although conducted in the firm belief that it has more general application. The second section focuses on teaching strategies to encourage and manage learners' questions, based here upon the conviction that university students in this case learn through questioning, and that an inquiry-based environment promotes better learning than a simple ‘transmission’ setting. Seven teaching strategies developed from the authors' work are described, where university teachers ‘scaffold’ learning through supporting learners' questions, and working with these to structure and organise the content and the shape of their teaching. The article concludes with a summary of the main issues, highlighting the impact of the affective dimension of learning through questioning, and a discussion of the implications for future research

Characteristics associated with quality of life among people with drug-resistant epilepsy

Quality of Life (QoL) is the preferred outcome in non-pharmacological trials, but there is little UK population evidence of QoL in epilepsy. In advance of evaluating an epilepsy self-management course we aimed to describe, among UK participants, what clinical and psycho-social characteristics are associated with QoL. We recruited 404 adults attending specialist clinics, with at least two seizures in the prior year and measured their self-reported seizure frequency, co-morbidity, psychological distress, social characteristics, including self-mastery and stigma, and epilepsy-specific QoL (QOLIE-31-P). Mean age was 42 years, 54% were female, and 75% white. Median time since diagnosis was 18 years, and 69% experienced ≥10 seizures in the prior year. Nearly half (46%) reported additional medical or psychiatric conditions, 54% reported current anxiety and 28% reported current depression symptoms at borderline or case level, with 63% reporting felt stigma. While a maximum QOLIE-31-P score is 100, participants’ mean score was 66, with a wide range (25–99). In order of large to small magnitude: depression, low self-mastery, anxiety, felt stigma, a history of medical and psychiatric comorbidity, low self-reported medication adherence, and greater seizure frequency were associated with low QOLIE-31-P scores. Despite specialist care, UK people with epilepsy and persistent seizures experience low QoL. If QoL is the main outcome in epilepsy trials, developing and evaluating ways to reduce psychological and social disadvantage are likely to be of primary importance. Educational courses may not change QoL, but be one component supporting self-management for people with long-term conditions, like epilepsy