Waiting Tolerance: Ramp Delay vs. Freeway Congestion

Waiting tolerance at ramp meters and travel time on the freewaywere measured using a computer administered stated preference (CASP) survey and a virtual experience stated preference (VESP) methodemploying a driving simulator.The selections varied in the number of minutes waiting at a ramp meter with vehicle speed once on the freeway. The subjects ranked the selections in order of preference. The results were statistically analyzed using a binary logit model controlling for demographics, socioeconomic characteristics, daily travel time, and personality scores.The results by the CASP method displayed a preference for freeway congestion to ramp delay, but opposite results were obtained by the VESP method. A number of reasons are posited to explain the difference, but the results indicate that method of stated preference data collection can significantly affect conclusions drawn.Ramp meters; Personality; Stated preference; Driving simulator; Travel time

Weighting Waiting: Evaluating the Perception of In-Vehicle Travel Time Under Moving and Stopped Conditions

This paper describes experiments comparing traditional computer administered stated preference with virtual experience stated preference to ascertain how people value stopped delay compared with stop-and- go or freeflow traffic. The virtual experience stated preference experiments were conducted using a wrap around driving simulator. The two methods produced two different results, with the traditional computer assisted stated preference suggesting that ramp delay is 1.6 Ð 1.7 times more onerous than freeway time, while the driving simulator based virtual experience stated preference suggested that freeway delay is more onerous than ramp delay. Several reasons are hypothesized to explain the differences, including recency, simultaneous versus sequential comparison, awareness of public opinion, the intensity of the stop-and-go traffic, and the fact that driving in the real-world is a goal directed activity. However without further research, which, if any, of these will eventually prove to be the reason is unclear. What is clear is that a comparison of the computer administered stated preference with virtual experience stated preference produces different results, even though both procedures strive to find the same answers in nominally identical sets of conditions. Because people experience the world subjectively, and make decisions based on those subjective experiences, future research should be aimed at better understanding the differences between these subjective methodologies.transportation, travel behavior, driving simulator, ramp meters

The traffic and behavioral effects of the I-35W Mississippi River bridge collapse

The collapse, on August 1, 2007, of the I-35W bridge over the Mississippi River in Minneapolis, abruptly interrupted the usual route of about 140,000 daily vehicle trips and substantially disturbed the ßow pattern on the network. It took several weeks for the network to re-equilibrate, during which period, travelers continued to learn and adjust their travel decisions. A good understanding of this process is crucial for traffic management and designing mitigation schemes. A survey collected behavioral responses to the bridge collapse. Traffic data were also collected to understand the traffic conditions experienced by road users. Data from both resources are analyzed and compared. Findings of behavioral effects of capacity changes could have significant implications for travel demand modeling, especially of day-to-day travel demandMinnesota, Minneapolis, I-35W bridge collapse, travel behavior, travel survey

Institute of Medicine Advancing Human Health and Wellbeing in Maine and Beyond

Emergence of a transformative and coordinated community of collaborating researchers and educators, who in partnership with health care providers and other stakeholders are dedicated to the advancement of human health and wellbeing in the state of Maine and beyond, through discovery and learning in health and life sciences, from basic and translational research, to clinical practices and healthcare workforce development

Datenbasierte Weiterentwicklung des Kundenerlebnisses in der Möbelbranche

Das Konsumentenverhalten beim Kauf von Möbeln ist komplex. Konsequente Kundenorientierung entlang des Kaufentscheidungsprozesses findet nur statt, wenn kaufrelevante Informationen kundenzentriert bereitgestellt werden. Die vorliegende Studie untersucht entsprechende Erfolgsfaktoren im Schweizer Möbelhandel. Im Kaufprozess lag der Fokus auf den Schritten Informationssuche und Bewertung von Alternativen. Mit qualitativen Interviews wurde untersucht, wie Kunden vorgehen, welche Kanäle sie dabei nutzen und welchen Herausforderungen sie dabei begegnen (Customer Journey). Der 1. Schritt ist oft, dass sich Kunden zuerst online zu einem Möbelstück informieren, danach jedoch aufgrund fehlender, kaufrelevanter Information den stationären Handel besuchen. Es gilt ein Fällen des Kaufentscheides online zu erleichtern, Kanalwechsel motivierender zu gestalten und den Anschluss an Onlinerecherchen nahtlos zu gewährleisten. Im Zuge der voranschreitenden Digitalisierung, vor allem in den Bereichen Virtual Reality und Maschinenlernen, wird die Bedeutung dieser Faktoren weiter zunehmen

The Role of Astrocytes in Tumor Growth and Progression

Current research is continually implicating the importance of astrocytes as active participants in neurological injury, disease, and tumor progression. This chapter will discuss some of these emerging concepts, especially as they relate to tumor biology. Astrocytes themselves can become tumorigenic, such as the case in gliomas, which often have aberrant signaling in key regulating genes of astrocyte development. Astrocytes secrete factors that maintain the tight junctions of the blood brain barrier (BBB), which in turn regulates the success or failure of metastatic cells extravasating into the brain. This astrocytic association with the brain vasculature also promotes brain tumor stem cell characteristics, which are known to be necessary for tumor initiation. Tumor cells within the brain make direct contacts with astrocytes through gap junctions, which subsequently lead to increased chemoresistance of the tumor cells. Astrocytes have also been shown to effect tumors cells via secretion of degradative enzymes, cytokines, chemokines, and growth factors, all of which have been shown to promote tumor cell proliferation, survival, and invasion. Thus, research in astrocyte biology and the role of astrocytes in the tumor microenvironment has and will likely continue to reveal novel targets for cancer intervention

Value of Travel-Time Reliability: Commuters’ Route-Choice Behavior in the Twin Cities

Travel-time variability is a noteworthy factor in network performance. It measures the temporal uncertainty experienced by users in their movement between any two nodes in a network. The importance of the time variance depends on the penalties incurred by the users. In road networks, travelers consider the existence of this journey uncertainty in their selection of routes. This choice process takes into account travel-time variability and other characteristics of the travelers and the road network. In this complex behavioral response, a feasible decision is spawned based on not only the amalgamation of attributes, but also on the experience travelers incurred from previous situations. Over the past several years, the analysis of these behavioral responses (travelers’ route choices) to fluctuations in travel-time variability has become a central topic in transportation research. These have generally been based on theoretical approaches built upon Wardropian equilibrium, or empirical formulations using Random Utility Theory. This report focuses on the travel behavior of commuters using Interstate 394 (I-394) and the swapping (bridge) choice behavior of commuters crossing the Mississippi River in Minneapolis. The inferences of this report are based on collected Global Positioning System (GPS) tracking data and accompanying surveys. Furthermore, it also employs two distinct approaches (estimation of Value of Reliability [VOR] and econometric modeling with travelers’ intrapersonal data) in order to analyze the behavioral responses of two distinct sets of subjects in the Minneapolis-Saint Paul (Twin Cities) area