A constant travel time budget? In search for explanations for an increase in average travel time

Recent research suggests that during the past decades the average travel time of the Dutch population has probably increased. However, different datasources show different levels of increase. Possible causes of the increase in average travel time are presented here. Increased incomes have probablyresulted in an increase in both costs and benefits of travel. The increase in travel time may also be due to benefits having increased more rapidly than costs. Costs may even have decreased due to the increased comfort level of cars and increased opportunities offered to make double use of one's time(e.g. working in a train)

Are Asians comfortable with discussing death in health valuation studies? A study in multi-ethnic Singapore

BACKGROUND To characterize ease in discussing death (EID) and its influence on health valuation in a multi-ethnic Asian population and to determine the acceptability of various descriptors of death and "pits"/"all-worst" in health valuation. METHODS In-depth interviews (English or mother-tongue) among adult Chinese, Malay and Indian Singaporeans selected to represent both genders and a wide range of ages/educational levels. Subjects rated using 0–10 visual analogue scales (VAS): (1) EID, (2) acceptability of 8 descriptors for death, and (3) appropriateness of "pits" and "all-worst" as descriptors for the worst possible health state. Subjects also valued 3 health states using VAS followed by time trade-off (TTO). The influence of sociocultural variables on EID and these descriptors was studied using univariable analyses and multiple linear regression (MLR). The influence of EID on VAS/TTO utilities with adjustment for sociocultural variables was assessed using MLR. RESULTS Subjects (n = 63, 35% Chinese, 32% Malay, median age 44 years) were generally comfortable with discussing death (median EID: 8.0). Only education significantly influenced EID (p = 0.045). EID correlated weakly with VAS/TTO scores (range: VAS: -0.23 to 0.07; TTO: -0.14 to 0.11). All subjects felt "passed away", "departed" and "deceased" were most acceptable (median acceptability: 8.0) while "sudden death" and "immediate death" were least acceptable (median acceptability: 5.0). Subjects clearly preferred "all-worst" to "pits" (63% vs. 19%, p < 0.001). CONCLUSION Singaporeans were generally comfortable with discussing death and had clear preferences for several descriptors of death and for "all-worst". EID is unlikely to influence health preference measurement in health valuation studies

Позиціонування вугільної галузі у зовнішньому енергетичному балансі України

Здійснено формування зовнішнього енергетичного балансу з розрахунком показника чистого експорту. Виконано комплексну оцінку співвідношення обсягів виробництва та споживання вугілля в Україні. Виявлено невідповідність обсягів виробленого та спожитого вугілля та його акумуляцію в Україні. Обґрунтовано необхідність зменшення обсягів імпорту вугілля. Ключові слова: виробництво, зовнішній баланс, імпорт, комплексна оцінка, споживання, формування, чистий експорт.Осуществлено формирование внешнего энергетического баланса с расчетом показателя чистого экспорта. Выполнена комплексная оценка соотношения объемов производства и потребления угля в Украине. Выявлены несоответствие объемов произведенного и потребленного угля и его аккумуляция в Украине. Обоснована необходимость уменьшения объемов импорта угля. Ключевые слова: внешний баланс, импорт, комплексная оценка, потребление, производство, формирование, чистый экспорт.Under present-day conditions it is important to maximize the consumption of energy resources produced in Ukraine, in particular coal resources. It will contribute to solving several macroeconomic problems of Ukraine like raising the energy assurance level as a component of national security of Ukraine, improving the competitiveness of domestic enterprises and the trade balance of Ukraine. At the present stage of development the most popular energy resources are oil and natural gas which is conditioned by their high heating and ecological characteristics. At the same time the reduction of these resources, irregularity of their deposits and other objective factors make for consumption of local energy resources, in particular coal resources. It is defined that foreign energy balance is an index system that shows the demand-consumption ratio of an energy resource in a given period of time inside the country. A foreign energy balance model has been designed which includes calculation of the net export and makes it possible to clear up the modern tendencies that established in our country’s external economic relations of energy resources trade. It has been proved that the basic factor reducing the net export of energy resources is a great volume of imported natural gas though the trade balance of coal and peat operations is negative as well. A complex evaluation of production and consumption ratio of coal in Ukraine based on reduction coefficient to oil equivalent has been carried out which makes it possible to reveal the discrepancy between the volume of coal produced and the volume of coal consumed with its latter accumulation in Ukraine. The necessity of reducing the volume of coal import is proved. Keywords: foreign energy balance, import, complex evaluation, consumption, production, formation, net export

Validation of the English and Chinese versions of the Quick-FLIC quality of life questionnaire.

A useful measure of quality of life should be easy and quick to complete. Recently, we reported the development and validation of a shortened Chinese version of the Functional Living Index-Cancer (FLIC), which we called the Quick-FLIC. In the present study of 327 English-speaking and 221 Chinese-speaking cancer patients, we validated the English version of the Quick-FLIC and further assessed the Chinese version. The 11 Quick-FLIC items were administered alongside the 11 remaining items of the full FLIC, but there appeared to be little context effect. Validity of the English version of the Quick-FLIC was attested by its strong correlation with two other measures of quality of life, and its ability to detect differences between patients with different performance status and treatment status (each P<0.001). Its internal consistency (alpha=0.86) and test-retest reliability (intraclass correlation=0.76) were also satisfactory. The measure was responsive to changes in performance status (P<0.001). The Chinese version showed similar characteristics. The Quick-FLIC behaved in ways that are highly comparable with the FLIC, even though the Quick-FLIC comprised only 11 items whereas the FLIC comprised 22. Further research is required to see whether the use of shorter instruments can improve data quality and response rates, but the fact that shorter instruments place less burden on the patients is itself inherently important

An easy-to-use diagnostic system development shell

The Diagnostic System Development Shell (DSDS), an expert system development shell for diagnostic systems, is described. The major objective of building the DSDS is to create a very easy to use and friendly environment for knowledge engineers and end-users. The DSDS is written in OPS5 and CommonLisp. It runs on a VAX/VMS system. A set of domain independent, generalized rules is built in the DSDS, so the users need not be concerned about building the rules. The facts are explicitly represented in a unified format. A powerful check facility which helps the user to check the errors in the created knowledge bases is provided. A judgement facility and other useful facilities are also available. A diagnostic system based on the DSDS system is question driven and can call or be called by other knowledge based systems written in OPS5 and CommonLisp. A prototype diagnostic system for diagnosing a Philips constant potential X-ray system has been built using the DSDS

Transport Modelling During Preparation of General Plans in Big Cities: Reasons and Challenges

Rapidly growing mobility of people in European cities attaches greater importance to the sustainable developmentconcept. The dynamics of European cities are however different. Cites such as Lithuanian, Slovakian and Polishones will rapidly increase traffic flows and car ownership at fast pace. Also in most of Western Europe, even if at lowerrates, private mobility is increasing. In some cities, however, car use and car ownership are finally decreasing, alsothanks to policies implemented. Of course, an increase of traffic flows poses problems in terms of street space, pollutionand liveability of cities. Sustainable integration of all kinds of transport into the urban development process is one ofthe most effective actions in the hands of city planners. The coordination between the planning of residential and businessdevelopment areas and the expansion of public transport and its hierarchical integration is however a difficult butnecessary exercise. Transport modelling tools, in particular, need important advancements to integrate transport andland use in simulations. This article analyses the main challenges in the use of transport models to support the constructionof city plans by means of two case studies of Milan and Vilnius. The analysis deals both with traditional aspects,such as the proper simulation of multimodal choices, the level of detail of zoning, the issues associated to the simulationof traffic management policies. Then, we will focus on two aspects still open: the integration of transport modelling andeconomic assessment or ranking of actions, and the inclusion of land use changes in the modelling

Bereikbaarheid: perspectieven, indicatoren en toepassingen

In dit hoofdstuk geven we een overzicht van perspectieven op en indicatoren voor bereikbaarheid. Doel ervan is duidelijk to maken dat voor zowel onderzoek als beleid het van groot belang is goed aan to geven wat men precies onder bereikbaarheid verstaat, en dat de juiste keuze van bereikbaarheidsindicatoren voor zowel onderzoek als beleid van groot belang i

On the relationship between travel time and travel distance of commuters. Reported versus network travel data in the Netherlands

This paper gives a detailed empirical analysis of the relationships between different indicators of costs of commuting trips by car: difference as the crow flies, shortest travel time according to route planner, corresponding travel distance, and reported travel time. Reported travel times are usually rounded in multiples of five minutes. This calls for special statistical techniques. Ignoring the phenomenon of rounding leads to biased estimation results for shorter distances. Rather surprisingly, the distance as the crow flies and the network distance appear to be slightly better proxies of the reported travel time compared with the shortest network travel time as indicated by the route planner. We conclude that where actual driving times are missing in commuting research the other three indicators mentioned may be used as proxies, but that the following problems may emerge: actual travel times may be considerably higher than network times generated by route planners, and the average speed of trips increases considerably with distance, implying an overestimate of travel time for long distance commuters. The only personal feature that contributes significantly to variations in reported travel times is gender: women appear to drive at lower average speeds according to our data. As indicated in the paper this may be explained by the differences in the car types of male and female drivers (females drive older and smaller cars) as well as higher numbers of stops/trip chaining among women. A concise analysis is carried out for carpoolers. Car-pooling leads to an increase in travel time of some 17% compared with solo drivers covering the same distance. In the case of car poolers, the above mentioned measures appear to be very poor proxies for the actual commuting times