Surrogate Measures of Safety with a Focus on Vulnerable Road Users : An exploration of theory, practice, exposure, and validity

Surrogate measures of safety (SMoS) are meant to function as tools to investigate traffic safety. The term surrogate indicates that these measures do not rely on crash data; instead, they focus on identifying safety critical events (or near-crashes) in traffic, which can be used as an alternative to crash records. The overall aim of this thesis is to explore which SMoS are suitable when analysing the safety of vulnerable road users (pedestrians and cyclists). The thesis attempts to answer this question using two different approaches: 1) a literature review focusing on existing surrogate measures and how well they consider vulnerable road users from a theoretical perspective, and 2) four observational studies which focus on the validity of SMoS and their relation to exposure.The literature review focuses on identifying existing SMoS, and on two main aspects when evaluating their suitability for analysing the safety of vulnerable road users. Firstly, if the indicators theoretically are able to measure both the risk of collision and the potential for injury should a collision occur, and secondly, to what extent vulnerable road users were included in previous validation studies. The findings from the literature review are that the most commonly used indicators (Time to Collision Minimum and Post Encroachment Time) are also the most validated, but that they have several theoretical limitations, mainly that they to do not measure injury potential and that they measure the severity of an event based on the outcome rather than the initial conditions or potential/observed evasive actions. There are also several indicators which theoretically are more suitable but instead lack validation studies.The observational studies, which make up the second part of this thesis, consist of an attempt at a large-scale validation study, followed by several studies which focus on the shortcomings discovered in the first attempt. The large-scale study is based on three weeks of video recordings made at 26 signalized intersections in seven European countries. The analysis of these videos resulted in three major findings. Firstly, the lack of comparable crash records made any large-scale validation attempts impossible. Secondly, the lack of comparability between the critical events identified by human observers and those identified by computer calculations made it infeasible to perform a long-term analysis. Thirdly, there is a significant relationship between meetings and critical events identified using Time to Collision Minimum and Post Encroachment Time, which suggests that some of the benefit of using those (and other indicators) might originate from their inherent connection to simple meetings between road users (i.e. exposure). Following these results, the thesis presents a limited validation study based solely on the Scandinavian intersections followed by a suggestion for how a relative approach to validity might offer a potentially easier way of evaluating SMoS in the future. The results from these studies indicate that Time to Collision Minimum can measure safety to at least some extent, while Post Encroachment Time measures it to a lesser extent. Due to the strong connection between critical events and meetings, the thesis also explores how a meeting between road users can be defined and how understanding what constitutes an opportunity for a crash might help to explain the so-called safety-in-numbers effect, as well as how future SMoS studies should consider meetings

Exploring Space Syntax Integration at Public Transport Hubs and Public Squares Using Drone Footage

Space Syntax theory is a methodological framework for describing and analysing the relationships between spaces and buildings. The fundamental building blocks of Space Syntax are called axial lines, which represent lines of sight from a specific point in space. These lines can then be used to quantitatively analyse the integration (or attractiveness) of an area. However, many public squares and transport hubs are crossed by roads which prove a hinderance when walking although not impairing the sightlines of pedestrians. The aim of this paper is to test how this limitation affects the concept and whether Space Syntax is still useful to understand how people move in such areas. Seven public squares and transport hubs in Malmö (Sweden) were selected and their Space Syntax integration was calculated. These values were compared with pedestrian detections from the same areas based on video recordings from a drone. When aggregating the areas into several levels based on their integration value, the result shows a clear link between Space Syntax integration and the number of pedestrian detections made at each location, demonstrating how this measure could be useful for understanding micromobility usage on a small scale

Teaching Manufacturing Operations and Strategies in Higher Education

Students at higher technical educations e.g., bachelors and masters, are traditionally taught in software programming and factory automation. Students at higher economical and management schools are exposed to different strategies and their economical impacts. However, in many education programs, the larger perspective, of how to combine the technical and the economical aspects is not highlighted. Technology Management is a unique program at Lund University Sweden, where a selected number of students from the school of economics and management and from the engineering faculty are taught together during their last year of study. Their views on problems and challenges in todays industry often complement each other. The course Technology, Strategies and Structures includes e.g. projects done in collaboration with industries. This paper includes a discussion about how knowledge about Manufacturing Operations and Strategies, can be incorporated in higher technical and economical studies, and it describes some industry projects done by students

Mixing Engineering, Business and Design Students in an International Cross-Disciplinary Course on Innovation

International Market Driven engineering (iMDE) is an international course on innovation where Swedish and Chinese engineering students are mixed with business and design students. The course is run on a yearly basis, it is six weeks long and takes place in China. Both the development and the execution of the course is made as a joint project between the Swedish and Chinese instructors. The course contains lectures, coaching sessions, company visits and an innovation-project performed in teams. The course aim is to expose students to the innovation process and international collaborations, and to open their eyes for entrepreneurship. Pertex analysis reveals that the students highly valuate the international collaboration amongst the students in the innovation-project. The number of stat-up companies formed by the students has also increased with the introduction of the iMDE-course

A Student-Centered Approach and Mindset-Focused Pedagogical Approach for Entrepreneurship and Leadership

The ease and abundance of knowledge acquisition that is unparalleled in history, renders knowledge transition and practicing of skills in education insufficient. The importance of personal reflection and identity, i.e. the individual’s mindset, is increasingly important. Re-thinking educational approaches, to entrepreneurship and leadership in particular, is important since they are activities for which perfect information cannot be gathered.This paper introduces a new pedagogical approach that we will refer to as the MIND methodology, which incorporates aspects of the individual’s mindset. The novel pedagogical approach includes four building blocks; theory practice, mindset and engagement-and-networking. The MIND-methodology is based on accepted pedagogical theories and known psychological aspects: social learning, communities of practice, and fixed and growth mindset.The novelty of the methodology lies in its clear student-centered approach and its focus on the student’s mindset. The methodology has been used in ongoing education in entrepreneurship and leadership over the course of about 10 years, and is gradually evolving. The results from applying the methodology show promising results for the main stakeholders; students and future employees. Students’ ranking years after graduation is unusually high and reveal that the curricula has provided life-long learning, the mindset activities are valued the most, and salaries and salary-increases provided by their eventual employers indicate that the students possess qualities sought after in today’s labor market

Effects of adopting Lean Management within collaborating farms : a qualitative study of Lean Lantbruk in a Swedish context

Higher competition and lower profitability has forced Swedish farm enterprises to adapt new market strategies. A machinery sharing collaboration between farms may increase competitiveness, reduce costs and increase shared knowledge. Since 2010 the multi-dimensional management strategy Lean Management has been adopted within Swedish farm enterprises through the project Lean Lantbruk. Lean Management implies an awareness of goal achievement and practical process tools in order to minimize costs and maximize efficiency. Further, the management strategy encourages development of relationships within the supply chain in order to fully achieve collaborative benefits. According to previous research there is need for further evaluation of the Lean Management theory in an agricultural collaboration context. The focus of this study is Lean Management in a horizontal Supply Chain Collaboration in a Swedish agricultural context with respect to machinery sharing arrangements. This study aims to increase the understanding of business culture within a collaboration between farms in Swedish agriculture where Lean Management has been implemented. A qualitative multiple case study has been conducted through in-depth interviews with three pairs of collaborating farms where Lean Management has been implemented. Interviews have also been conducted with three pairs of reference collaborations that have not implemented Lean Management. The gathered data has been analyzed through the theoretical framework which consists of theories regarding Lean Management and Supply Chain Collaboration. The results indicate a high level of perceived trust and mutuality among all collaborative parties. Hence, Lean Management does not seem to be crucial for a well functioning machinery sharing arrangement. The influence of Lean Management is perceived as low within the collaboration which may be due to a non-holistic implementation of the management strategy within the individual farm, or due to a lack of deeper relation between the collaborating parties. By recognizing the collaborating party as a part of the own business strategy a long-term partnership could be developed, which may enhance the implementation of Lean Management.Högre konkurrens och lägre lönsamhet har tvingat svenska lantbruksföretag att anpassa sig till nya marknadsstrategier. Ett maskinsamarbete mellan gårdar kan ge ökad konkurrenskraft, minskade kostnader och ett ökat kunskapsutbyte. Sedan 2010 har multidimensionella ledningssystemet Lean Management implementerats inom svenska lantbruksföretag genom projektet Lean Lantbruk. Lean Management innebär en medvetenhet om måluppfyllelse och användandet av praktiska processverktyg för att minimera kostnader och för maximerad effektivitet. Strategin uppmuntrar även utvecklingen av relationer inom värdekedjan för att fullt tillgodogöra sig de fördelar ett samarbete kan medföra. Enligt tidigare forskning finns det ett behov av ytterligare utvärdering av Lean Management-teorin i ett jordbruks perspektiv med avseende på samarbete. Fokus i denna studie är Lean Management i en horisontell värdekedja inom svenskts jordbruk vad gäller maskinsamarbeten. Denna studie syftar till att öka förståelsen för företagskulturen inom ett samarbete mellan gårdar inom svenskt jordbruk där Lean Management har implementerats. En kvalitativ multipel fallstudie har genomförts genom djupintervjuer med tre par av samarbetande gårdar där Lean Management har implementerats. Intervjuer har också utförts med tre par av referenssamarbeten som inte har implementerat Lean Management. Det empiriska materialet har analyserats med hjälp av det teoretiska ramverket som består av teorierna Lean Management och Supply Chain Collaboration. Resultaten indikerar en hög upplevd tillit och ömsesidighet inom alla samarbetsparter. Därmed verkar Lean Management inte vara avgörande för ett väl fungerande maskinsamarbete. Inom samarbetet uppfattas graden av Lean Management som låg vilket kan bero på att implementering av managementstrategin inte har skett till sin helhet inom den enskilda gården, eller att det saknas en djupare relation mellan de samarbetande parterna. Genom att se samarbetspartnern som en del av den egna affärsstrategin kan ett långsiktigt partnerskap utvecklas som kan förbättra implementeringen av Lean Management

SME creation facilitation process at Universities

Much research on SMEs is aimed at researching SMEs after the fact that they have become SMEs. However all SMEs as well as larger companies start as an idea in the head or heads of one or many persons - the prospective entrepreneurs. The purpose of this paper is to investigate how SMEs can be created by transforming ideas into real companies. More specifically we will investigate if and how Universities can facilitate this process by running international cross-functional courses. Our hypothesis is that in order to create a SME three topics are of pivotal importance: • Specialist Competence in the business area • General management competence • Financial capital During the fall of 2012 we will test the hypothesis by running a university course called international Marked Driven Engineering (iMDE) in cooperation between Lund University and Zhejiang University. Technology faculties from both Universities are involved – students as well as teachers. Their participation is crucial to cover specialist competence in the business area – technology-based enterprises. Management faculties from both Universities are involved – students as well as teachers. Their participation is crucial to cover general management competence in setting up, funding and running an enterprise. When it comes to financial capital our hypothesis is that for clever business ideas, financial capital can be raised in order to industrialize such a business idea. In the first trial run 8 business ideas will be generated and tested in the Hangzhou area during the period 120910-121019. Each of the 8 teams will consist of 8 persons – blended to cross-fertilize engineering-business, Chinese-Swedish and male-female participants. With the support of university teachers with the same blend the aim is to create embryos of SME’s

Metacognition and Learning Journals in Higher Education

The studies in higher education have its natural focus on the subject matters of study. This also holds for the master program Technology Management (TM). In addition it is important to complement the students’ academic knowledge with insights about metacognition, i.e. knowledge and understanding of themselves and their own behaviour. The introduction of so-called Learning Journals has proved to be a successful step in this direction. TM is a unique program at Lund University, where a selected number (40) of students from the Faculty of Economics (20) and from the Faculty of Engineering (20) are taught together during their last 2 years of study. Their different views on problems and challenges in today’s industry often complement each other. By the introduction of learning journals, they also learn about themselves, what influence their motivation, behaviour and attitude have on a group, and an understanding of their own preferred learning method. The learning journals are introduced in the course Project Leadership. In this course, the students are divided in groups of 4-5 students, each one managing one project. Throughout the whole course (2 semesters) the students are writing learning journals and supervisors are commenting monthly. The learning journals have four purposes; 1) providing an opportunity to reflect on the development of the project itself 2) enabling personal reflection on the own process, 2) enabling reflection on the own position and part in the group, and 4) through the longitudinal effect of the course; it provides an opportunity to compare journals over time to become aware of and able to analyse the own learning process. In a newly performed Placement report, students that have graduated from the Technology Management programme the last 10 years, rate their education 4.37 out of 5. Some students even consider the Learning Journals among the most valuable parts of the whole programme in retrospect

Vallmaskiners ekonomiska livslängd

Högre driftskostnader och lägre avräkningspris på mjölk har gjort att lönsamheten inom svensk mjölkproduktion har sjunkit. Genom grovfoder, exempelvis ensilage, får mjölkkorna den största delen av sitt dagliga näringsbehov. För att korna ska hålla en hög produktivitet måste grovfodret ha rätt kvalitet. Detta kräver att grovfodret skördas vid optimal tidpunkt vilket i sin tur ställer krav på maskiner med lämplig kapacitet. Av mjölkproducenternas produktionskostnad utgör maskinkostnader en hög andel. Mjölkgårdar står därför ständigt inför utmaningen att minimera sina maskinkostnader kopplade till vallskörden, utan att göra avkall på grovfodrets kvalitet. En utav svårigheterna ligger i att bedöma när det är mest lämpligt att byta ut befintliga redskap som får allt högre underhållskostnader och föråldrad teknik. Således är det den ekonomiska livslängden för vallredskap som denna studie söker svaren på. Syftet med denna studie är att bedöma vid vilken tidpunkt under ett ägande det är mest lönsamt att göra reinvesteringar av vallredskap. Studien avser även att belysa maskinkapacitetens inverkan på den totala maskinkostnaden. Förhoppningen är att med studien även vara behjälplig för mjölkproducenter vid beslut om en eventuell reinvestering. En litteraturstudie har genomförts med hjälp av tidigare forskning för att presentera befintlig litteratur inom ämnet samt ge en teoretisk kunskapsbas och ökad förståelse. Exempelvis behandlas läglighetskostnader under vallskörd, underhållskostnader och investeringskalkyler. Studien har en kvantitativ ansats där metoden baseras på en komparativ tvärsnittsdesign. Detta för att kunna öka generaliserbarheten samt användbarheten av studien. Genomförda beräkningsmodeller avser två fiktiva mjölkgårdar i Västergötland med 70st respektive 300st mjölkkor. Huvudsakligen inhämtas data om vallredskapen genom sekundärdata. För respektive gård antas en maskinkedja bestående av rotorslåttermaskin, strängläggare samt fälthack eller rundbalspress. Studiens resultat visar att av fyra vallredskap är det endast ett, rotorslåttermaskinen, som har en tydlig brytpunkt för när den ekonomiska livslängden är slut och en reinvestering således är lönsam. Anledningen är att underhållskostnaden ökar markant med ålder och slitage för detta redskap. De övriga vallredskapen kan behållas och nyttjas över en ännu längre tidsperiod. En diskussion förs med återkoppling till redan befintliga studier vad gäller stordriftsfördelar, teknisk utveckling, läglighetseffekter samt hur sekundärdata kan påverka denna studies resultat. Tidigare forskning som genomförts för att beräkna olika redskaps underhållskostnader ligger till grund för studiens resultat. En likvärdig studie gällande underhållskostnader anpassad efter den teknik redskapen har idag är dock önskvärd, då stor teknisk förändring skett. Vidare framgår att den årliga maskinkostnaden kan sänkas genom att ta hänsyn till läglighetseffekter vid val av kapacitet inför en nyinvestering. Läglighetskostnaden är högre för vallredskap på den större mjölkgården än för den mindre.In order to maintain the productivity of the dairy cows, forage of the right quality must be used. This requires that the forage be harvested at the optimum time which creating demands on machinery of adequate capacity. Machinery costs represent a high percentage of production costs for dairy farmers. This leads dairy farms to constantly face the challenge of minimizing machinery costs when harvesting forage, without reducing the quality of the forage. One of the problems is to determine when it is most appropriate to replace existing machines due to increasing maintenance costs and outdated technology. Thus, the purpose of this study is to assessing at what point during ownership it is most profitable to make reinvestments in forage gear. The study also intends to highlight the impact of machine capacity on the total machine cost. Examples on issues that's considered are timeliness costs for forage, maintenance cost and investment calculations. The study takes a quantitative approach, with the implemented calculation intended for two fictitious dairy farms in Västergötland, with 70 head and 300 head of cattle respectively. Each farm is assumed to have a machine chain on a disk mower, stricter and forage wagon or alternatively a round baler. The results show that only one out of the four grass gears had a clear breakpoint for when reinvestment is more economical than continued use, resulting from increased maintenance costs due to age and wear on the current gear. The study also shows that the total machinery costs can be reduced if timelines effects are considered regarding re-investments

Fostering Automatic Control Students to Become Innovators

Today, innovation is a key word for many universities, as it constitutes an important part of most universities’ public and scientific outreach task. Many universities are striving to increase the number of innovations generated at the university. A common method is to provide various support for research projects e.g.; providing researchers with information about international patent rights (IPR), offering administrative or financial help concerning patent applications, giving entrepreneurship and start-up support, etc. However, fostering innovators and entrepreneurs can start already in undergraduate/graduate courses, i.e. long before a student potentially reaches the research level. We believe that key factors for success in this matter are diversity and freedom. A course that strives to promote innovation capability must allow for students with different backgrounds and different curricula to meet and work together, and must allow for students to freely use their current knowledge within new contexts. This is generally not a setting provided in traditional undergraduate/graduate courses. This article describes the execution and outcome of an graduate course “international Market-Driven Engineering (iMDE)” in which diversity and freedom are key factors. The course is international and multi-disciplinary in terms of students, teachers and subjects. Graduate students with prior knowledge in automatic control constitute one important part of the course population. We believe that the diversity amongst the students, and their freedom when it comes to both innovation process and product, provides a promising platform in which seeds of ideas can grow into conceptual prototypes that build a solid foundation for full-scale innovations. On of the iMDE- projects, the Elderly Accessible Chair, or EA Chair, with its automated scanning and automatic seat- provider functionality, is one concrete example of this