Drivers' Perspectives of Car Dependence

The concept of car dependence includes both travel to destinations for which other modes than the car are not practical and preference for car travel even when other modes are available. While the concept has been a focus for transport analysts for some time, car ownership and use have continued to grow. This reflects the utility of the car for travel on roads where drivers do not experience excessive congestion and where there is parking at both ends of the journey. Local public transport and active travel only become generally attractive alternatives to the car in dense city centres where road space for car use is limited. Reduced car dependence is facilitated by city planning that encourages increased density, opportunities for which are constrained by the stability of the built environment. As well as utility for travel to achieve access to desired destinations, car ownership is also attractive on account of positive feelings, including pride, reflecting both self-esteem and social status. The positive feelings of the population at large towards car ownership are not consistent with the critical view of many analysts, a divergence in point of view that contrasts with the general acceptance of the need to respond to climate change, for which the purchase of electric vehicles is seen as an appropriate action. Rather than advocating measures explicitly aimed at reducing car dependence, a more effective policy approach would be to increase the availability of alternative modes while mitigating the detriments of car use

The impact of digital navigation on travel behaviour

Digital navigation – the combined use of satellite positioning, digital mapping and route guidance – is in wide use for road travel yet its impact is little understood. Evidence is emerging of significant changes in use of the road network, including diversion of local trips to take advantage of new capacity on strategic roads, and increased use of minor roads. These have problematic implications for investment decisions and for the management of the network. However, the ability of digital navigation to predict estimated time of arrival under expected traffic conditions is a welcome means of mitigating journey time uncertainty, which is one of the undesirable consequences of road traffic congestion. There is very little available information about the impact of digital navigation on travel behaviour, a situation that needs to be remedied to enhance the efficiency of road network operation

Towards micro electrical impedance tomography on chip

This work presents initial design and testing of a miniaturized electrical impedance tomography platform. Electrical impedance tomography (EIT) provides a low-cost, non-invasive, radiation-free type of imaging and can be relatively easily implemented on other miniaturized systems like microfluidics. Herein, we describe a miniaturized EIT on chip, along with its measurement setup and image reconstruction pipeline. First imaging results demonstrating a well-functioning setup are presented and form the basis for further investigations

Allostatic load and preterm birth

Preterm birth is a universal health problem that is one of the largest unmet medical needs contributing to the global burden of disease. Adding to its complexity is that there are no means to predict who is at risk when pregnancy begins or when women will actually deliver. Until these problems are addressed, there will be no interventions to reduce the risk because those who should be treated will not be known. Considerable evidence now exists that chronic life, generational or accumulated stress is a risk factor for preterm delivery in animal models and in women. This wear and tear on the body and mind is called allostatic load. This review explores the evidence that chronic stress contributes to preterm birth and other adverse pregnancy outcomes in animal and human studies. It explores how allostatic load can be used to, firstly, model stress and preterm birth in animal models and, secondly, how it can be used to develop a predictive model to assess relative risk among women in early pregnancy. Once care providers know who is in the highest risk group, interventions can be developed and applied to mitigate their risk

Replacing the LIBOR with a Transparent and Reliable Index of Interbank Borrowing: Comments on the Wheatley Review of LIBOR Initial Discussion Paper

We propose an alternative to the LIBOR based on three pillars. 1) Banks that participate in the rate setting process would have to submit bid and ask quotes for interbank lending and commit that they would conduct transactions within that range. If they traded outside of those ranges they would have to justify and face a penalty. This leads to the CLIBOR—for committed LIBOR. (2) All large banks would have to submit interbank transactions including rates to a data-clearing house. The data-clearing house would use the actual transactions to verify the commitment of the banks to the submitted rates. It would also report aggregate transaction data, keeping the actual identities of the trading parties anonymous, with a necessary time delay. (3) A governing body would be established from the CLIBOR participating banks, representatives of CLIBOR users, and other independent parties such as academics. That governing body would enter into a long-term contract, based on competitive solicitation, with a private sector entity to supervise the CLIBOR, operate the data-clearing house, and disseminate information

Mobility, access, and choice: A new source of evidence

JTLU vol. 6, no. 2, pp. 1-4The availability of a large national data set of accessibility indicators allows investigation of the relationship between mobility and access to, and choice of, key destinations for the population of England. The destinations considered are primary and secondary schools, further education colleges, family doctors, hospitals, food stores, and places of employment. For the populations of 353 local authorities, the average extent of choice of these destinations is estimated as a function of travel time and mode. It is concluded that high levels of access and choice are available to the large part of the population that has available a car or good public transport. This finding is consistent with the suggestion that the demand for daily travel has saturated

EO-based Smart City Decision Support Services for Integrated Urban Governance: the DECUMANUS project

Urbanization is a fundamental force of change and in Europe has underpinned the flourishing of civilization for millennia. However, the 21st-century is also witnessing the impact of other societal challenges, including climate change adaptation, and mitigation, as well as the need to secure the efficient utilisation of finite resources. These societal challenges are impacting not only the social fabric of urban life, and the economy of cities, but also the civil quality of urban environments throughout Europe. It is clear that if properly governed cities can become a major part of the solutions to the growing threat of these urban challenges, and so can become economically vital, culturally vibrant, and healthy environments delivering first-class quality of life for hundreds of millions of city dwellers throughout Europe. Nonetheless, the challenge of urban governance is immense, and must address the complex and interconnected reality of urban systems to secure a proper balance between the socio-economic and environmental dynamics of urban areas. The key to effective governance of cities is the generation of the necessary intelligence to inform decision-making by city administrations and politicians, to guide urban policy making and implementation, and to inform and engage all citizens in the delivery of sustainable urban development. DECUMANUS (DEvelopment and Consolidation of geo-spatial sUstainability services for adaptation and environmental and cliMAte chaNge Urban impactS) underpins this understanding that the delivery of more sustainable cities requires the application of enhanced intelligence in urban management, to produce an effective basis for assessment of urban complexity and decision-making. The enhanced services proposed by DECUMANUS offer the potential to provide urban planners with the tools and intelligence that allow city managers to deploy geo-spatial products in the development and implementation of their climate change strategies, and more generally in meeting the diverse challenges of sustainable urban development

3-D Isotropic Tactile Microprobe Based on a Silicon Parallelogram Kinematic: From Concept to Fabrication

This work reports on a unique tactile microprobe based on a parallelogram kinematic made from monocrystalline silicon. This kinematic, made out of an orthogonal cascade assembly of three identical parallelograms, provides an isotropic behavior to the microprobe. Each parallelogram deflects in only one direction thanks to thin elastic silicon membrane hinges and their displacements are recognized using piezoresistors integrated into these hinges. Wide deflection ranges, isotropic behavior and low mechanical stiffness of the new microprobe, as predicted by simulations, could be verified in experiments. The fabrication, the assembly and the contacting of the first microprobe prototype was optimized to allow very compact integration into a Ø11 mm housing. This make it suitable for metrology research laboratories as well as industries equipped with conventional coordinate measurement machines and even for a variety of other 3D force/displacement measurements