Impact of New Mobility Solutions on Travel Behaviour and Its Incorporation into Travel Demand Models

Advancement in the fields of electrification, automation, and digitalisation and emerging social trends are fuelling the transformation of road transport resulting in the introduction of various innovative mobility solutions. Yet the reaction of people to many of the new solutions is still vastly unknown. This creates an unprecedented quandary for transport planners who are requested to design future transport systems and create the related investment plans without fully validated models to base the assessment upon. As some evidence on citizens’ behaviour concerning new mobility solutions starts to be progressively made available, first attempts to update the existing models begin to emerge. Nevertheless, a lot more is needed as some of the transpiring mobility solutions have not yet reached the market, making the corresponding behaviour changes imponderable. In this context, the main purpose of this paper is to provide a review on how travel behaviour changes linked to the deployment of new mobility solutions have been considered in travel demand models. The new mobility solutions studied include carsharing, dynamic ridesharing, micromobility sharing services, and personal and shared autonomous vehicles. An overview and comparison of relevant studies implementing activity or trip-based demand models and other methodologies are presented. The analysis shows that the results of the different studies heavily depend on the extent to which behavioural changes are considered. The results of the review thus point to the need for holistic demand models that carefully mimic the urban reality with everything it has to offer and account for the importance of individual traits in the decision-making processes. Such models need an in-depth understanding of the microscopic mechanisms leading to the travel behaviour shifts linked to the most innovative mobility solutions. To achieve this level of detail, mobility living labs and their real-life experiments and experience with citizens, which are flourishing in Europe, are suggested to play a crucial role in the years to come

2nd Symposium on Management of Future motorway and urban Traffic Systems (MFTS 2018): Booklet of abstracts: Ispra, 11-12 June 2018

The Symposium focuses on future traffic management systems, covering the subjects of traffic control, estimation, and modelling of motorway and urban networks, with particular emphasis on the presence of advanced vehicle communication and automation technologies. As connectivity and automation are being progressively introduced in our transport and mobility systems, there is indeed a growing need to understand the implications and opportunities for an enhanced traffic management as well as to identify innovative ways and tools to optimise traffic efficiency. In particular the debate on centralised versus decentralised traffic management in the presence of connected and automated vehicles has started attracting the attention of the research community. In this context, the Symposium provides a remarkable opportunity to share novel ideas and discuss future research directions.JRC.C.4-Sustainable Transpor

The r-evolution of driving: from Connected Vehicles to Coordinated Automated Road Transport (C-ART)

Connected and automated vehicles could revolutionise road transport. New traffic management approaches may become necessary, especially in light of a potential increase in travel demand. Coordinated Automated Road Transport (C-ART) is presented as a novel approach that stakeholders may consider for an eventual full realisation of a safe and efficient mobility system.JRC.C.4-Sustainable Transpor

Teenagers and Automated Vehicles: Are They Ready to Use Them?

ABSTRACT: Mobility needs, expectations, and concerns vary across age groups and are closely linked to users' views on the future of the road transport system. Automated vehicles are expected to have a significant impact on the future of the road transport system, and pilot deployments are increasingly being tested in Europe and beyond, which is also thanks to the evolving regulatory landscape. As a result, several studies have started to analyse citizens' attitudes towards this technology. However, very few studies have focused on teenagers' views on automated vehicles, although today's children and teenagers could be among the first users of such vehicles. Studying teenagers and the way they envisage automated vehicles in the future is of particular significance in defining transport planning strategies and supporting upcoming policy orientations. To cover this gap, the present study aims to explore teenagers' views about automated vehicles and whether and how they could fit into their future transport setting. A series of on-line and face-to-face focus groups, a demonstration of an automated vehicle prototype, supporting engagement activities, and a post-pre survey were used to collect their views on the topic. The results show that even though the teenagers acknowledged the potential advantages, they also expressed concerns in relation to the interactions with other road users, to automated driving systems' reliability, to safety, and to data privacy. In particular, these safety concerns revealed an unwillingness on the part of the teenagers to be among the first users of automated vehicles.This research has been funded by the European Commission Joint Research Centre Institutional Funds

An analysis of possible socio-economic effects of a Cooperative, Connected and Automated Mobility (CCAM) in Europe

A Cooperative, Connected and Automated Mobility (CCAM) is likely to have significant impacts on our economy and society. It is expected that CCAM unveils new and unprecedented mobility opportunities that hold the potential to unlock a range of safety, environmental and efficiency benefits. At the same time, it is anticipated that it will bring deep changes in the labour market, progressively making some occupations and skills less relevant, while at the same time opening up new opportunities for different businesses and requiring new and more advanced skills. With Europe accounting for 23% of global motor vehicle production (Acea Statistics, 2016) and almost 72% of inland freight transported by road in Europe (European Commission, 2017a), the full deployment of Connected and Automated Vehicle (CAV) technologies is expected to have a substantial impact on the European economy. The economic impacts of CAVs will go far beyond the automotive industry, into sectors like insurance, maintenance and repair or health, among others. While it is clear that CAVs could offer unique opportunities for value creation, it is also essential to acknowledge that they might imply a substantial transformation of our industries and our social and living systems. The study is aimed at analysing the value at stake for both industry and society as a result of a transition towards a CCAM mobility in Europe. It aims at identifying the economic sectors that are most likely to be affected by CCAM as well as the influencing factors driving future changes in each sector. The ultimate goal is to estimate ranges of potential effects for the main affected sectors, with the support of a set of scenarios. The study also aims at analysing the potential effects of CCAM on the workforce and pursues the identification of skills that need to be addressed in the mobility transition. The focus of the study is exclusively paid on road transport and covers both passenger and freight transport.JRC.C.4-Sustainable Transpor

A escola que teño, a escola que quero. Un achegamento ás prácticas educativas e ás necesidades nos CRA de Ourense

O estudo presentado forma parte dun proxecto financiado nunha convocatoria competitiva froito dunha colaboración entre a Deputación de Ourense e a Universidade de Vigo. O seu obxectivo é coñecer as necesidades educativas dos centros rurais agrupados (CRA) ourensáns orixinadas a partir da súa particular organización, así como estudar as barreiras e as fortalezas do ensino no rural desde a perspectiva dos axentes educativos (alumnado, familias e profesorado). Para darlles voz, a metodoloxía empregada foi de corte cualitativo, co uso de instrumentos e de ferramentas combinadas como as asembleas temáticas, fotovoz, ou debuxo-conversación e as frases incompletas. O tratamento dos datos apoiouse no software ATLAS.ti 22 empregando categorías emerxentes para analizar o contido. Os resultados amosan o mantemento da matrícula e a itinerancia do profesorado como unha das maiores barreiras ás que se enfrontan estas institucións. Pola contra, o medio rural e as relacións de proximidade entre toda a comunidade, que se producen grazas en gran medida ás contornas nas que se sitúan as escolas, preséntanse como as grandes fortalezas. Deste estudo despréndese unha forte necesidade de crer na prosperidade da escola rural como un espazo no que é posible combinar innovación e tradición a prol dunha aprendizaxe válida e de calidade

Novel Machado-Joseph disease-modifying genes and pathways identified by whole-exome sequencing

Funding Information: This work was funded by FEDER - Fundo Europeu de Desenvolvimento Regional funds through the COMPETE 2020 - Operacional Programme for Competitiveness and Internationalisation (POCI), Portugal 2020 , and by Portuguese funds through FCT - Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia / Ministério da Ciência, Tecnologia e Ensino Superior in the framework of the project PTDC/DTP-PIC/2638/2017 ( POCI-01-0145-FEDER-016592 ); GenomePT ( POCI-01-0145-FEDER-022184 ); ICVS Scientific Microscopy Platform , member of the national infrastructure PPBI - Portuguese Platform of Bioimaging ( PPBI-POCI-01-0145-FEDER-022122 ; by National funds , through the Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) - project UIDB/50026/2020 and UIDP/50026/2020 ; and by the project NORTE-01-0145-FEDER-000013 , supported by Norte Portugal Regional Operational Programme (NORTE 2020), under the PORTUGAL 2020 Partnership Agreement, through the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) . MR is supported by FCT ( CEECIND/03018/2018 ). ARVM ( SFRH/BD/129547/2017 ) and AFF ( SFRH/BD/121101/2016 ) are supported by a PhD grant financed by FCT . CB is supported by the Multiple System Atrophy Trust and Alzheimer's Research UK . MDC received funding from National Ataxia Foundation (NAF) and from FCT ( SFRH/BPD/101925/2014 ); DV-C received a grant from FCT ( SFRH/BD/147826/2019 ). Publisher Copyright: © 2021Machado-Joseph disease (MJD/SCA3) is a neurodegenerative polyglutamine disorder exhibiting a wide spectrum of phenotypes. The abnormal size of the (CAG)n at ATXN3 explains ~55% of the age at onset variance, suggesting the involvement of other factors, namely genetic modifiers, whose identification remains limited. Our aim was to find novel genetic modifiers, analyse their epistatic effects and identify disease-modifying pathways contributing to MJD variable expressivity. We performed whole-exome sequencing in a discovery sample of four age at onset concordant and four discordant first-degree relative pairs of Azorean patients, to identify candidate variants which genotypes differed for each discordant pair but were shared in each concordant pair. Variants identified by this approach were then tested in an independent multi-origin cohort of 282 MJD patients. Whole-exome sequencing identified 233 candidate variants, from which 82 variants in 53 genes were prioritized for downstream analysis. Eighteen disease-modifying pathways were identified; two of the most enriched pathways were relevant for the nervous system, namely the neuregulin signaling and the agrin interactions at neuromuscular junction. Variants at PARD3, NFKB1, CHD5, ACTG1, CFAP57, DLGAP2, ITGB1, DIDO1 and CERS4 modulate age at onset in MJD, with those identified in CFAP57, ACTG1 and DIDO1 showing consistent effects across cohorts of different geographical origins. Network analyses of the nine novel MJD modifiers highlighted several important molecular interactions, including genes/proteins previously related with MJD pathogenesis, namely between ACTG1/APOE and VCP/ITGB1. We describe novel pathways, modifiers, and their interaction partners, providing a broad molecular portrait of age at onset modulation to be further exploited as new disease-modifying targets for MJD and related diseases.publishersversionpublishe

Novel Machado-Joseph disease-modifying genes and pathways identified by whole-exome sequencing

Machado-Joseph disease (MJD/SCA3) is a neurodegenerative polyglutamine disorder exhibiting a wide spectrum of phenotypes. The abnormal size of the (CAG)n at ATXN3 explains ~55% of the age at onset variance, suggesting the involvement of other factors, namely genetic modifiers, whose identification remains limited. Our aim was to find novel genetic modifiers, analyse their epistatic effects and identify disease-modifying pathways contributing to MJD variable expressivity. We performed whole-exome sequencing in a discovery sample of four age at onset concordant and four discordant first-degree relative pairs of Azorean patients, to identify candidate variants which genotypes differed for each discordant pair but were shared in each concordant pair. Variants identified by this approach were then tested in an independent multi-origin cohort of 282 MJD patients. Whole-exome sequencing identified 233 candidate variants, from which 82 variants in 53 genes were prioritized for downstream analysis. Eighteen disease-modifying pathways were identified; two of the most enriched pathways were relevant for the nervous system, namely the neuregulin signaling and the agrin interactions at neuromuscular junction. Variants at PARD3, NFKB1, CHD5, ACTG1, CFAP57, DLGAP2, ITGB1, DIDO1 and CERS4 modulate age at onset in MJD, with those identified in CFAP57, ACTG1 and DIDO1 showing consistent effects across cohorts of different geographical origins. Network analyses of the nine novel MJD modifiers highlighted several important molecular interactions, including genes/proteins previously related with MJD pathogenesis, namely between ACTG1/APOE and VCP/ITGB1. We describe novel pathways, modifiers, and their interaction partners, providing a broad molecular portrait of age at onset modulation to be further exploited as new disease-modifying targets for MJD and related diseases

Exosomes Communicate Protective Messages during Oxidative Stress; Possible Role of Exosomal Shuttle RNA

BACKGROUND: Exosomes are small extracellular nanovesicles of endocytic origin that mediate different signals between cells, by surface interactions and by shuttling functional RNA from one cell to another. Exosomes are released by many cells including mast cells, dendritic cells, macrophages, epithelial cells and tumour cells. Exosomes differ compared to their donor cells, not only in size, but also in their RNA, protein and lipid composition. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: In this study, we show that exosomes, released by mouse mast cells exposed to oxidative stress, differ in their mRNA content. Also, we show that these exosomes can influence the response of other cells to oxidative stress by providing recipient cells with a resistance against oxidative stress, observed as an attenuated loss of cell viability. Furthermore, Affymetrix microarray analysis revealed that the exosomal mRNA content not only differs between exosomes and donor cells, but also between exosomes derived from cells grown under different conditions; oxidative stress and normal conditions. Finally, we also show that exposure to UV-light affects the biological functions associated with exosomes released under oxidative stress. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: These results argue that the exosomal shuttle of RNA is involved in cell-to-cell communication, by influencing the response of recipient cells to an external stress stimulus