Showing papers by "Nick Tyler published in 2018"

The symbolism of ‘eco cars’ across national cultures: Potential implications for policy formulation and transfer

Abstract: Transport choices are not merely practical decisions but steeped in cultural and societal perceptions. Understanding these latent drivers of behaviour will allow countries to develop and import policies to more successfully promote sustainable transport. Transport symbolism – what people believe their ownership or use of a mode connotes to others about their societal position – has been shown to be one such, non-trivial, hidden motivator. In the case of hybrid and electric cars (‘eco cars’), studies have demonstrated how their symbolic value varies within a society among different social groups. As yet, however, there has been scant research into comparing how the symbolism of a mode varies across national cultures, horizontally, between individuals with similar socio-demographic characteristics. Through qualitative thematic analysis, this study utilises two of Hofstede's cross-cultural indices – power differential and individualism versus collectivism – to develop and strengthen theory on how the differing symbolism of eco cars currently varies between four cultural clusters – Anglo, Nordic, Confucian and South Asian. It also deliberates how observed symbolic qualitative differences may influence an individual or group choice to procure eco cars. Finally, it discusses how policy development, transfer and marketing, within the context of eco cars, may need to be modified by national governments, in the Confucian and South Asian cultures, so as to encourage uptake and modal shift.

Navigational cue effects in Alzheimer's disease and posterior cortical atrophy

Abstract: OBJECTIVE: Deficits in spatial navigation are characteristic and disabling features of typical Alzheimer's disease (tAD) and posterior cortical atrophy (PCA). Visual cues have been proposed to mitigate such deficits; however, there is currently little empirical evidence for their use. METHODS: The effect of visual cues on visually guided navigation was assessed within a simplified real‐world setting in individuals with tAD (n = 10), PCA (n = 8), and healthy controls (n = 12). In a repeated‐measures design comprising 36 trials, participants walked to a visible target destination (an open door within a built environment), with or without the presence of an obstacle. Contrast and motion‐based cues were evaluated; both aimed to facilitate performance by applying perceptual changes to target destinations without carrying explicit information. The primary outcome was completion time; secondary outcomes were measures of fixation position and walking path directness during consecutive task phases, determined using mobile eyetracking and motion capture methods. RESULTS: Results illustrate marked deficits in patients’ navigational ability, with patient groups taking an estimated two to three times longer to reach target destinations than controls and exhibiting tortuous walking paths. There were no significant differences between tAD and PCA task performance. Overall, patients took less time to reach target destinations under cue conditions (contrast‐cue: 11.8%; 95% CI: [2.5, 20.3]) and were more likely initially to fixate on targets. INTERPRETATION: The study evaluated navigation to destinations within a real‐world environment. There is evidence that introducing perceptual changes to the environment may improve patients’ navigational ability.

Effect of Environmental Factors on How Older Pedestrians Detect an Upcoming Step

Abstract: The relationships between environmental features and older people's ability to safely move around a complex pedestrian environment are, as yet, poorly understood. Specifically, the impact of light levels on trip hazard detection during walking has received relatively little attention. This study investigates the effect of illuminance on people's ability to detect steps of different heights in a laboratory-based controlled environment. Sixteen young and 15 older participants walked along a 13.2 m walkway towards an either ascending or descending step at 200 lux or 4 lux light levels. Trial time, gaze behaviour and distance at which the step was first visually fixated (detection distance) were measured using an eye-tracker. It was found that both the trial time and detection distance of older participants were affected by light level whereas the fixation number and fixation duration of young participants were affected by step-height. Shorter detection distance, greater number of fixations and longer fixation duration were found among older participants as opposed to young participants. The results suggest that the processing efficiency for visual information on an upcoming step is slower among older people than among young people. This implies that the vulnerability of older pedestrians maybe be reduced if better lighting or a simplified visual environment is provided.

Envisioning Urban Futures as Conversations to Inform Design and Research

Abstract: Recognising that cities provide the context for, and are often the direct beneficiary of, much civil engineering design and construction, it is essential that the future aspirations of city stakeho...

Maintaining balance on a moving bus: The importance of three-peak steps whilst climbing stairs

Abstract: In a previous work of the authors, the impact of bus acceleration in level walking was presented. However, climbing stairs is physically more challenging than level walking and results in a high number of falls, hence substantial medical costs. Understanding the impact of a dynamic environment, such as that of a bus, on people’s gait whilst walking on stairs, would enable the reduction, or even the elimination of balance-loss falls. The gait of 29 healthy and regular bus users (20–80 y.o.) was monitored whilst ascending and descending a static and “moving” staircase. The tasks took place in a real double-decker bus which was initially stationary. When the bus was moving, ascending was tested during medium acceleration (+1.5 m / s 2 ), while descending during medium deceleration (−1.5 m / s 2 ), reproducing the most common movements aboard buses. Examining healthy people enables the identification of differences in gait that are accounted for the alteration in the bus environment and gives the opportunity to further consider the challenges mobility impaired passengers are experiencing. After applying the method established in level walking, chi-square tests were performed on participants’ step type (resulting from the ground reaction force profile), taking into account participants’ age and gender and the bus acceleration. The outcomes revealed that age and gender affect people’s gait in a dynamic environment. Moreover, there is a significant correlation between the increase of acceleration and the type of steps passengers use to sustain their balance, as the number of three-peak steps was increasing with the increase of bus acceleration. Hence, the bus environment forces people to use a walking style other than their natural one and older people in particular, unconsciously increase the contact area between their foot and the floor (three-peak steps) to increase balance. Surprisingly, males appear less able than females to control balance. People’s stair walking in a moving vehicle was investigated for the first time and has opened-up new horizons for gait analysis in dynamic environments.

Maintaining balance on a moving bus: The importance of three-peak steps whilst walking on the lower-deck

Abstract: The numerous falls reported on buses due to sudden accelerations indicate the importance of examining the effect of dynamic environments on people’s gait and balance. Although such falls are more common for the elderly and increase the cost of medical care, they also reduce younger passengers’ satisfaction for the service. This study investigates the differences between natural gait and that resulting from the bus environment. Twenty-nine regular bus users, between 20 and 80 years old, were invited to participate in a series of experiments. Their natural gait whilst walking on a flat surface was monitored in a static laboratory and was compared to their gait whilst walking on the lower deck of a moving bus. A medium level of acceleration (1.5 m / s 2 ) was examined, which falls in the range of accelerations experienced by passengers on the real bus service in London. A new method of measuring and analysing gait in dynamic environments was established. Chi-square tests were conducted on measures of changes in gait (step type), which encloses important information about body balance, considering participants’ age and gender and the bus acceleration. The statistical analysis has shown that as acceleration increases bus passengers use more three-peak steps, which denote that the entire foot is under pressure and in full contact with the ground, thus increasing balance. This is the first study investigating people’s gait inside moving vehicles, hence the gait of healthy people was examined so that the differences in walking patterns would be unaffected by health-related conditions, and to increase understanding of the real challenges passengers experience during bus journeys. The presented methods and outcomes can be used to improve research around eliminating risk of falling for people with mobility difficulties.

Environmental Effect of Bus Priority Measures Applied on a Road Network in Santiago, Chile:

Abstract: Air pollution is at the highest levels ever and there is currently a worldwide initiative by transport engineers and urban planners to redesign public transport modes and cities to become more sust...

Rethinking 'Sustainable Infrastructure': Natural Processes, Context, Value and Balance

Abstract: This paper is of interest to all stakeholders involved in infrastructure design and development, concerned by the sustainability of current approaches and in search of new perspectives which may inform their own practice. These include professionals from all relevant disciplines – from engineering, urban planning, governance and environmental science – as well as concerned members of the general public. Key Messages 1. Natural Processes: The importance of natural processes to sustainable infrastructure and their potential to deliver infrastructure outcomes rather than just be inputs to infrastructure. Infrastructure is dependent on, and enabled by, the role natural processes play as ‘source’ and ‘sink’ for infrastructure inputs and outputs. Infrastructure planners, investors and operators must be aware of this dependence when making infrastructure decisions 2. Spatio-temporal Context: The need to incorporate multiple simultaneous timescales and the flexible nature of human perception of time so that the planning, design and operation of the local context takes into account its spatio-temporal characteristics 3. Balance: The importance of balance in sustainable infrastructure and the need for a systemic perspective including the elements of natural processes such as air, water and sunlight (see 1) 4. Value vs Growth: The role infrastructure can play in supporting growth in Value, rather than just the economy and sustainability

People and Infrastructure Based Services – An Opportunity for Engagement

Abstract: This paper considers the ways in which the public can be involved in the decisions surrounding the implementation of infrastructure. Using examples of decisions made which have led to good outcomes for the people and their city, the paper extracts a way of seeing the decision process from the outset to the implementation of the infrastructure. Starting by creating high-level principles that are agreed and accepted by everyone, enables infrastructure designers and decision makers to develop strategies based on these principles and consequently to create infrastructure that suits the needs of the people. The paper also considers some examples of where decisions have gone wrong. How could such large-scale projects be organised so that public participation is – and is seen by all parties to be – a genuinely positive contribution to the improvement of quality of life of society as a whole?