845 research outputs found
Optimisation of policies for transport integration in metropolitan areas: report on work packages 30 and 40
The overall objectives of Project OPTIMA are:-
(i) to identify optimal urban transport strategies for a range of urban areas within the
EU;
(ii) to compare the strategies which are specified as optimal in different cities, and to
assess the reasons for these differences;
(iii) to assess the acceptability and feasibility of implementation of these strategies
both in the case study cities and more widely in the EU, and
(iv) to use the results to provide more general guidance on urban transport policy
within the EU.
There is a wide range of objectives of transport policy in urban areas, but most can be
grouped under the broad headings of economic efficiency, including economic
development, on the one hand, and sustainability, including environment, safety, equity
and quality of life, on the other. It is now generally accepted that the overall strategy for
achieving these objectives must include an element of reduction of private car use and
transfer of travel to other modes. The policy instruments for achieving these objectives
can include infrastructure provision, management measures to enhance other modes and
to restrict car use, and pricing measures to make public transport more attractive and to
increase the marginal cost of car use. It is now widely accepted that the most appropriate
strategy will involve several of these measures, combined in an integrated way which
emphasises the synergy between them.
The most appropriate strategy for a city will depend on its size, the current built form,
topography, transport infrastructure and patterns of use; levels of car ownership,
congestion and projected growth in travel; transport policy instruments already in use;
and the acceptability of other measures in political and legislative terms. These will
differ from city to city. Policy advice cannot therefore be generalised, but must be
developed for a range of different types of city. This is the approach adopted in this
study, in which nine different cities in five countries (Edinburgh, Merseyside, Vienna,
Eisenstadt, Trams@, Oslo, Helsinki, Torino and Salerno) have been studied in detail,
using a common study methodology. This report summarises the output of two work
packages in OPTIMA:
WP30: Test Combinations of Policy Instruments
WP40: Identify Optim
Theological and Scientific Arguments for the Occurrence of Death Before Human Sin
Messiah College faculty scholarship papers : submitted by faculty in partial fulfillment of the requirements for promotion to the rank of professo
Improving the capabilities and use of strategic decision making tools.
Recent research has shown that a substantial proportion of local authorities do not use models for strategy formulation or scheme design and appraisal. Models were perceived to be unable to reflect the range of policy instruments which local authorities now use; and were seen as too complex for local authority staff and stakeholders to use themselves. To overcome these issues the MARS model has been enhanced to provide a transparent and easy to use tool with a flight simulator front-end. This paper describes the model along with improvements to the representation of public transport by inclusion of quality and crowding factors and the incorporation of urban heavy rail
Designing optimal urban transport strategies : the role of individual policy instruments and the impact of financial constraints
This paper presents a methodology for the design of optimal transport strategies and the case study results of the methodology for the City of Edinburgh, using the two multi-modal transport/land-use models MARS and TPM. First, a range of policy instruments are optimised in turn and their relative impacts explored. Second, optimisations with and without financial constraints are performed and compared. Although both models produce similar optimal policies, the relative contribution of the instruments differs between models as does the impact on outcome indicators. It is also shown that by careful design it is possible to identify a strategy which costs no more than the do-minimum but which can generate substantial additional benefits. The optimisation methodology is found to be robust, and is able to be used with different
transport models, and with and without financial constraints
Changing Structures Induce Changing Behaviour: Streetscape Revitalisation and Human Mobility
The preceding contributions of Frey and Emberger in this workshop prepare the theory-based path from the
layer-based model of human behaviour to the acting principles of a human-centered design of urban spaces,
streetscapes and transport structures.
Designing transport infrastructures and urban streetscapes poses an ethical challenge for the human being a
part of a socio-technical regime. Not only are humans of course in every stage of life and health every-day
users of these designed structures, some also act as planning agents of the very same â either as planners or
in a public participation. Densely intertwined with the ethics question of properly designing urban mobility
structures is the question on where and how to start the change of structures. Overcoming mental barriers
among planners and decision makers as well as users not yet accustomed to a changed streetscape pose a
considerable challenge for shaping societyâs dynamically evolving urban transport regimes.
Human mobility behaviour is subject to âfastâ adaptability, if change management techniques are applied, ie.
comprehensive information is available on a wide scale beforehand of the intervention. As large scale
sporting events of the past have shown, such quasi-permanent transformation (closures for vehicular traffic)
evoke the transport systemâs flexibility in reacting on such events: mobility patterns adapt.
Because this paper claims to provide a synopsis of evidence and examples of changes in behaviour due to
changed structures, it culminates with four sets of examples following these main lines of thought:
(1) Example: Active modes friendly settlement structures
(2) Example: Commuting infrastructure
(3) Example: Parking place pricing and and locations
(4) Example: Rredifining road space usage
We conclude with highlighting the behavioural flexibility of mobility, the impacts of such behavioural
changes from the urban dwellersâ perspectives and the importance of making such changes conceivable
beforehand
Indicators of Consumers' Preferences for Bio-Based Apparel: a German Case Study with a Functional Rain Jacket Made of Bioplastic
Plastic pollution is an increasing global problem, however, replacing fossil resources with bioplastics made from renewable resources could be part of the solution. Currently, no research analyzing the influencing factors for consumers' preferences for functional apparel made of bioplastic material could be found. To close this gap in research, we conducted this study with a sample of 1673 participants that were representative of the German population aged 16 years and above. We conducted a choice based conjoint analysis for a bio-based rain jacket and measured psychographic indicators that were used as covariates in the statistical estimation of participantsâ preferences for the rain jacket. Our results show the high level of importance of prior product experience, Green Consumer Values and attitude towards bioplastic for selecting bio-based apparel, and thus give first insights related to the influence of psychographic characteristics of consumers when selecting bio-based apparel
Simulating the effects of tax exemptions for plug-in electric vehicles in Norway
Pfaffenbichler, P., Fearnley, N., Figenbaum, E. et al. Simulating the effects of tax exemptions for plug-in electric vehicles in Norway. Eur. Transp. Res. Rev. 16, 26 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12544-024-00648-yFor many years Norway has been in the forefront of promoting electromobility. Today, Norway has the worldâs highest per capita fleet of plug-in electric cars. In 2021, 1.6% of the cars in the EU fleet were plug-in electric vehicles, whereas their share was 21% in Norway. Part of the successful market take-up rate is due to wide-ranging tax exemptions. Increasing plug-in electric vehicles numbers causes tax revenue losses, making exemptions unsustainable. Norway has the ambitious goal that from 2025, all newly registered cars shall be zero-emission vehicles. Keeping tax exemptions in place might be crucial for this goal. The objective of this paper is to provide information to solve this dilemma. Tax exemption reduction and abolition paths which offer a compromise between minimal effects on the development of zero-emission vehicles and tax revenues have been identified. An updated and re-calibrated version of the stock-flow-model SERAPIS was used to simulate and assess different scenarios. Results show that a controlled tax phase-in allows Norway to reach its environmental targets of 100% zero emission vehicles by 2025 and a 55% decrease of CO2-emissions in 2030 relative to 2005 while simultaneously increasing public revenues significantly.Simulating the effects of tax exemptions for plug-in electric vehicles in NorwaypublishedVersio
Total ionizing dose test with DEPFET sensors for Athena's WFI
The focal plane of Athena's WFI consists of spectroscopic single photon X-ray
detectors that contain arrays of DEPFETs (DEpleted P-channel Field-Effect
Transistor) as well as ASICs that are used for steering, readout and analog
signal shaping. These components have to be examined regarding the effect of
ionizing radiation. A Total Ionizing Dose (TID) test was done with prototype
detector modules with 64x64 DEPFETs and one SWITCHER and VERITAS ASIC each. The
current design of the WFI detector head features a proton shield equivalent to
4 cm of aluminum in order to prevent a strong increase of leakage current in
the fully depleted 450 m thick bulk of the sensor. This keeps the expected
doses and dose rates during the nominal mission relatively low (5 Gy). It
is nevertheless important to study the current system in a dedicated TID test
in order to exclude unforeseen effects and to study any radiation related
changes that can have an effect on the very sensitive readout chain and the
detector performance. The combination of low doses, low dose rates, low
operating temperature (<-60{\deg}C) but high sensitivity on small changes of
the threshold voltages represent somehow unusual boundary conditions in
comparison to TID tests for standard radiation hard electronic components.
Under these circumstances it was found beneficial to do the test in our own
laboratory with an X-ray source in order to realize irradiation during nominal
operation conditions. Furthermore, it facilitated to take annealing effects
into account. Reasonably accurate dosimetry is achieved by measuring the X-ray
spectrum and intensity with the device under test. After irradiation to a total
dose of 14 Gy and subsequent annealing the threshold voltage of the DEPFETs
were shifted by a mean value of 80 mV, the performance remained unchanged apart
from a slight increase in readout noise by 10%.Comment: 8 pages, 6 figures, to appear in SPIE Proceeding of Astronomical
Telescopes + Instrumentation, 202
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