Individual Mobility Research Articles

Assessing Supply-Side Determinants of Passenger Satisfaction in Long-Distance Expressway Bus Services in Sri Lanka: A Case Study of Southern Expressway

The transportation sector plays a vital role in fostering economic growth, societal connectivity, and individual mobility. Long-distance bus services have emerged as a prominent mode of transportation, offering an efficient and cost-effective means of travel for both urban and intercity commuters. This study aims to comprehensively assess and elucidate the supply-side determinants that significantly impact passenger satisfaction with long-distance expressway bus service in Sri Lanka. To ensure the collection of detailed and relevant insights from frequent users of the Southern Expressway's long-distance bus services, a purposive sampling technique was employed. Data collection was guided by variables identified in the literature review, and exploratory factor analysis was used to analyse the sample data. The study identified six salient supply-side factors affecting passenger satisfaction: service quality, comfort, accessibility and convenience, safety and security, cost, and customer service. These factors explained 74% of the total variance, with service quality being the most influential, accounting for 18% of the total variance. The findings recommend upgrading the bus fleet, maintaining cleanliness, optimizing scheduling, enhancing reservation systems, implementing staff training, improving safety measures, ensuring fair pricing, enhancing customer service, raising passenger awareness, and encouraging innovation to improve expressway bus services, attract more passengers, and build a reliable public transport system.

Empowering sustainable hotels: a guest-centric optimization for vehicle-to-building integration

In light of global warming, hotels account for one of the highest energy demands within the building sector, offering great decarbonization potential. As electrification increases, so does the demand for electric vehicles (EVs) charging stations at hotels and the proportion of Vehicle-to-Building-capable EVs. Therefore, the study explores the potential of guest-centric energy management. To accomplish this, we develop an optimization model for an energy management system that focuses on either cost-efficiency or carbon dioxide equivalents (CO2)-efficiency, grounded in a real-world case study. Through scenario analyses considering seasons as well as different guest mobility behaviors, this study discusses the expenses associated with CO2 savings using digital solutions. It emphasizes the currently perceived conflict between cost reduction and decarbonization goals to achieve a sustainable design of information systems. Thereby, this study highlights the critical importance of individual mobility behavior in enabling sustainable energy management for hotels.

A New Model Tax Convention for a World of Increasing Remote Work and Mobility of Individuals

Model Tax Conventions have been the subject of eternal and very heated discussions regarding corporate income taxation, particularly in the recent times as a result of the BEPS Project and its epilogue (the Pillars). However, very little attention has been paid to the challenges and risks posed to tax treaties by the generalization of remote work (a phenomenon that is on the rise, most notably after the 2020 pandemic) and the consequent increased opportunities for individuals to move across jurisdictions, temporarily or permanently relocate in new jurisdictions or even embark on a nomadic life. In the present paper, the author will attempt to provide an in-depth reflection on the impact that these phenomena may trigger in the application of tax treaties on the taxation of income of both individuals and linked entities. They will subsequently propose adjustments to the Model Tax Conventions such as reviewing the tie-breaker rules for resolving dual residency issues (article 4), reinterpreting or modifying the permanent establishment concept for the taxation of business profits (article 5), assessing the elimination of the independent personal services clause (article 14) and revising the rules on the taxation of employment income (article 15). In all cases, specific and near final proposals will be provided for the redrafting of the relevant articles.

Upscaling cargo bike sharing in cities: A comparative case study

Urban mobility transitions are essential to mitigate climate change and improve the quality of life in cities. Cargo bikes (CBs) show promise in replacing motorised vehicles due to their lower carbon intensity, space efficiency, and ability to reduce air and noise pollution. CB sharing relieves users from purchase and maintenance costs. However, it is mainly adopted by individuals with high environmental awareness. Barriers to CB sharing stem from the urban infrastructure, individual mobility choices, and the design of CB sharing organisations (CBSOs). This article analyses upscaling pathways for CB sharing, i.e., increasing their use by a broader audience and reshaping the urban mobility regime. It delivers a comparative case study analysis of two CBSOs: Grätzlrad, Vienna, and LastenVelo e.V., Freiburg. Data was collected through academic and grey literature review and 15 semi-structured interviews with CB sharing stakeholders and experts. The analytical framework is informed by strategic niche management, viewing CB sharing as a niche innovation in the urban mobility regime. The article enhances understanding of CB sharing, the interaction of CBSOs with key actors, and their scalability. CBSOs should increase the availability of shared CBs while reducing the organisational effort required from users. New ways of CB sharing, e.g., integration in shared mobility hubs, should be explored. Municipal actors play a crucial role in upscaling and ensuring that CB sharing reaches a diverse user base. The findings are useful for academia, practitioners and policymakers working with CB sharing and other sustainable urban mobility solutions.

Application of Mobile Technology in Enterprise Management: From Mobile Office to Intelligent Decision Support

With the rapid advancement of information technology, the application of mobile technology in enterprise management has become increasingly widespread. From mobile office solutions to intelligent decision support systems, the proliferation of mobile technology has not only enhanced operational efficiency but also provided more flexible and convenient management methods. Existing research indicates that the adoption of mobile office solutions enables enterprises to overcome limitations of time and space, improving work efficiency and employee satisfaction. Additionally, the implementation of intelligent decision support systems allows enterprises to make faster and more accurate business decisions. However, current studies often focus on individual mobile technologies or application scenarios, lacking a systematic exploration of mobile office data sharing and intelligent decision-making collaboration. Moreover, most research overlooks privacy protection issues in the enterprise management decision-making process. To address these gaps, this paper proposes a scheme for mobile office data sharing and intelligent decision-making collaboration and examines the integration of privacy protection in the decision-making process. The findings not only enrich the theoretical framework of management studies but also provide enterprises with a systematic and practical solution for mobile technology applications, enhancing management efficiency and intelligence while effectively safeguarding data privacy and security.

Development of an Intelligent Drone Management System for Integration into Smart City Transportation Networks

Drones have experienced rapid technological advancements, leading to the proliferation of small, low-cost, remotely controlled, and autonomous aerial vehicles with diverse applications, from package delivery to personal transportation. However, integrating these drones into the existing air traffic management (ATM) system poses significant challenges. The current ATM infrastructure, designed primarily for traditionally manned aircraft, requires enhanced capacity, workforce, and cost-effectiveness to coordinate the large number of drones expected to operate at low altitudes in complex urban environments. Therefore, this study aims to develop an intelligent, highly automated drone management system for integration into smart city transportation networks. The key objectives include the following: (i) developing a conceptual framework for an intelligent total transportation management system tailored for future smart cities, focusing on incorporating drone operations; (ii) designing an advanced air traffic management and flight control system capable of managing individual drones and drone swarms in complex urban environments; (iii) improving drone management methods by leveraging drone-following models and emerging technologies such as the Internet of Things (IoT) and the Internet of Drones (IoD); and (iv) investigating the landing processes and protocols for unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) to enable safe and efficient operations.

Passenger car market and regional price discriminations for new cars: Case study and empirical analysis for Poland 2004–2021

Abstract Poland disposes on a large stock of mostly aged private passenger cars. In contrast younger cars still play minor role in individual mobility. The contribution analyzes reasons of lagging modernization by focusing on new cars prices with respect to regional price discrimination. It finds in 2004-2021 substantially increasing new cars prices and regional price discrimination between Poland and Germany. Price differentials were positive, with lower prices in Poland, and increased during time. Producers discriminated by prices increasingly but also limited arbitrage transactions by controlling excess differentials. Optimal regional price discrimination could support car markets developments in Poland by stock age compositions shifts towards younger cars. However, applied discrimination proves in observed market environments not sufficient to achieve a great car market transition in near future.

Mobility of non-binary and gender nonconforming individuals: A systematic literature review

The gendered nature of travel behaviours and experiences have long been recognised in research and policy making. However, research on non-binary people and their mobility is scarce, as is the acknowledgement of a spectrum nature of gender within the transportation discipline. This paper presents the first systematic literature review, using PRISMA guidelines, of the mobility and travel experiences of non-binary people. The review identified that to date the main research domains for non-binary people's mobility considered issues of harassment and violence on public transit, fear, security measures, intersectionality, and strategies to deal with discrimination. The paper highlights spatial and geographical constraints, such as immobility and inaccessibility, that non-binary people face when interacting with public transportation system. Strategies to improve mobility for the gender nonconforming community included upgrading public transport stations, increasing funding for public transportation, and providing gender diversity training for transit workers. The findings draw attention to the need for substantial further transportation research into the field. By including non-binary perspectives in transport research, a unique range of insights and experiences can be unlocked, while increasing inclusivity in transport research.

The role of mobility in epidemics near criticality

Abstract The general epidemic process (GEP), also known as susceptible-infected-recovered model, provides a minimal model of how an epidemic spreads within a population of susceptible individuals who acquire permanent immunization upon recovery. This model exhibits a second-order absorbing state phase transition, commonly studied assuming immobile healthy individuals. We investigate the impact of mobility on the scaling properties of disease spreading near the extinction threshold by introducing two generalizations of GEP, where the mobility of susceptible and recovered individuals is examined independently. In both cases, including mobility violates GEP’s rapidity reversal symmetry and alters the number of absorbing states. The critical dynamics of the models are analyzed through a perturbative renormalization group (RG) approach and large-scale stochastic simulations using a Gillespie algorithm. The RG analysis predicts both models to belong to the same novel universality class describing the critical dynamics of epidemic spreading when the infected individuals interact with a diffusive species and gain immunization upon recovery. At the associated RG fixed point, the immobile species decouples from the dynamics of the infected species, dominated by the coupling with the diffusive species. Numerical simulations in two dimensions affirm our RG results by identifying the same set of critical exponents for both models. Violation of the rapidity reversal symmetry is confirmed by breaking the associated hyperscaling relation. Our study underscores the significance of mobility in shaping population spreading dynamics near the extinction threshold.

Migration scale, process, and impact in the Tiwanaku colonies: Paleomobility at the archaeological site of Omo M10.

Contemporary migrations show form and intensity of interaction between homeland and host communities to shape social dynamics and identities. We apply here a contemporary theoretical framework and biogeochemical analyses to elucidate the scale, processes, and impacts of migration in the Tiwanaku polity (6th-11th c. CE) by inferring the mobility of individuals interred at the Tiwanaku-affiliated site of Omo M10 (Moquegua Valley, Peru). For each of 124 individuals, we captured paleomobility across the life-course by analyzing up to four enamel and bone samples that formed during discrete developmental periods for radiogenic strontium (87Sr/86Sr) and stable oxygen (δ18Ocarbonate(VPDB)) isotopes. At Omo M10, archaeological human enamel and bone values range from 87Sr/86Sr = 0.70632-0.72183 and δ18Ocarbonate(VPDB) = -13.4‰ to +1.7‰, with a mean of 87Sr/86Sr = 0.70763 ± 0.00164 (1σ, n = 334) and δ18O = -7.8‰ ± 1.9‰ (1σ, n = 334). Together with archaeological evidence, we interpret these data as evidence for multigenerational interaction between communities in the high-altitude Tiwanaku heartland and at the site of Omo M10. Our results suggest that one-fourth of individuals spent some part of their life outside of Moquegua and one in eight individuals from Omo M10 were first-generation migrants. Greater mobility of females and juveniles at Omo M10 indicates that gender and family were important social constructs in maintaining relationships and cultural continuity in provincial Tiwanaku life, and communities maintained autochthonous migration streams with Tiwanaku-affiliated populations throughout the south-central Andes. Intra-individual biogeochemical analyses of migration at Omo M10 contribute a nuanced perspective on the diverse experiences of multigenerational Tiwanaku colonies.

Covid-19 and firm communication: how do mobility constraints affect the conference call sentiment?

ABSTRACT During the COVID pandemic, the mobility of individuals is largely reduced. This paper is to investigate how this immobility-induced social isolation affects conference calls sentiment. We employ several exogenous events: first death via COVID in the county, declaration of State of Emergency, and Stay at Home Order. We find a consistent result that mobility constraints decrease the sentiment within earnings calls. Our findings suggest the variation of mobility constraints impacts manager mood and further influences short-term market returns beyond firm fundamentals. Our results remain significant after using alternative proxies for mobility constraints and focusing on the manager’s specific sentiment usage.

Accounting for continuous correlations among alternatives in the context of spatial choice modelling using high resolution mobility data

Accounting for similarity among alternatives is important for having unbiased estimates and behaviourally reasonable substitutions. Capturing similarity in a spatial context is a challenging task and the common approach of discretising space into a number of disjoint nests generally leads to uncaptured spatial correlations. On the other hand, relying on more complex error structures quickly leads to computational issues. In the present paper, we propose an alternative approach, where a Cross-Nested Logit (CNL) modelling framework with a flexible correlation structure is used, where space is treated as continuous, while the allocation can be parameterised based on a range of similarity factors. The proposed structure is applied in the context of mode and destination choices of shopping trips using a smart-phone GPS panel survey from Leeds, UK. Results indicate that in addition to the improvements in model fit, the proposed CNL specification is able to uncover interesting findings about individual mobility behaviour.

Descending Stairs Detection Using Digital Image Processing to Guide Visually Impaired

Blindness refers to a condition in which an individual experiences limitations in their visual ability. Individuals with visual impairments require specific assistance to facilitate their movement from one location to another. The need for this assistance arises due to various obstacles scattered throughout their environment. One of the most significant challenges is navigating descending stairs. To address this issue, a descending stairs detection system based on digital image processing has been developed. Through this approach, the mobility of individuals with visual impairments can be enhanced. The descending stairs detection system is designed using the Gray Level Co-occurrence Matrix (GLCM) method to extract distinctive features of descending stairs and the surrounding floor surfaces. Seven GLCM features are incorporated into the development of this system, allowing it to differentiate between descending stairs and floors using the Extra Tree Classifier classification method. Through a series of tests, the system's accuracy is measured at 84%, demonstrating its adequate ability to identify descending stairs. Additionally, the average computation time for detecting descending stairs and floors is recorded at 0.121 (s), indicating the efficient performance of this system in supporting the mobility of individuals in need.

Cargo bikes for personal transport: A user segmentation based on motivations for use

Building on the success of e-bikes, sales of e-cargo bikes are rapidly increasing in several countries. Cargo bikes fill an important gap in the urban transport market by combining the advantages of cycling with the greater transport capacity of a family car. Whereas most research on cargo bikes has focused on logistics, this paper addresses their use for personal transport. It is based on a large-scale survey in Switzerland among both proprietary cargo bike owners (CBO) and users of cargo bike sharing (CBS) (N = 955). A principal component analysis finds 3 families of motivations for using cargo bikes: transporting children, staying active, and reducing car use. Based on these 3 components, we use hierarchical clustering to identify 4 user segments: cargo transporters, enthusiasts, multimodals, and sustainable parents. Our results suggest that owned and shared cargo bikes are complementary and have the potential to attract new audiences to cycling and reduce car use. They could become a central component in a low-carbon/post-car urban mobility strategy. However, user experiences indicate that lacking safety, road infrastructure and parking provisions remain barriers to wider cargo bike use. We conclude by proposing a future research agenda for cargo bike research.

A comprehensive study on Mecanum wheel-based mobility and suspension solutions for intelligent nursing wheelchairs

Intelligent nursing wheelchairs significantly enhance mobility and independence for elderly individuals with disabilities. However, traditional designs often suffer from large turning radii that restrict their functionality in confined spaces. Addressing this critical challenge, this study introduces an innovative design utilizing a Mecanum wheel chassis that allows for omnidirectional movement, significantly improving maneuverability and stability. Our design incorporates independently controlled Mecanum wheels, overcoming traditional constraints and enhancing user autonomy. To address issues such as wheel spacing variations and hub center tilting, which can lead to slipping and inaccurate motion control, we developed a novel suspension system that stabilizes the chassis, minimizes slipping risks, and boosts motion control accuracy. Experimental validations, including shock absorption and positioning tests, demonstrate that our suspension system markedly enhances the wheelchair's control performance and stability, thereby providing users with enhanced precision and potentially improving their quality of life.

Posture, mobility and pressure signatures of community dwelling individuals with pressure ulcers: stratifying exposure to support personalised care.

Posture, mobility and pressure signatures of community dwelling individuals with pressure ulcers: stratifying exposure to support personalised care.

Collective flow-evolutionary patterns reveal the mesoscopic structure between snapshots of spatial network

Uncovering the collective behavior of flows among locations is critical to understanding the structure within an ever-changing spatial network. When a network evolves, there may exist subgraphs within which the internal flows generally follow a rule: the change rates of the flow weight are either collectively high or low. Classic network measures such as degree, clustering, and betweenness can be used to quantify the process of network evolution by profiling the overall characteristics over time. However, it remains challenging to elucidate how a spatial network is evolving without looking at structures where collective changes emerge. To bridge this gap, we introduce the concept of the Collective Flow-Evolutionary Pattern (CFEP) as a mesoscopic description for spatial network evolution. Four types of patterns with distinct features are defined to clarify the collective behaviors of the flow-evolutionary characteristics. We provide an analytical framework that utilizes flow change rates between two snapshots of the spatial network to detect CFEPs as optimized flow evolution (evo-groups). Synthetic experiments are presented to validate the method. A case study of large-scale individual mobile positioning data is conducted in the Twin Cities Metropolitan Area, Minnesota, US to demonstrate how CFEP can effectively understand the evolution of human mobility networks.

Договор поминутной аренды транспортных средств (каршеринг)

The transformation of public relations under the influence of digitalization, as well as the intensification of property turnover, contributed to the formation of an economic model of sharing, which is often referred to through the prism of the English term "sharing". A striking example of such a model is carsharing, based on the idea of "mobility on demand" and being a predictable alternative to personal transport in the future. It is assumed that in the future, car owners, giving priority to car-sharing services, will give up ownership of a car, which will significantly accelerate urban traffic, free up parking spaces, and reduce the anthropogenic burden on the environment. Despite the prevalence of carsharing, especially in large and resort cities of Russia, its federal legal regulation has not yet been presented: to date, only regional experience of such regulation is known. At the same time, there are many issues in this subject area, some of which are solved by law enforcement practice. The key issue discussed in this scientific article is the choice of a contractual structure that could become an adequate model of carsharing relations.

Lévy Flight and the Interpersonal Distance of a Pedestrian in a Crowd

A simple self-experiment allows for the measurement of individual pedestrian movements, aiming to understand the deviations from intended directions seen in heterogeneous human crowds. The method involves pedestrian self-observations using the GPS sensor of a smartphone, providing a unique perspective on individual behavior within a crowd and offering a means to evaluate average pedestrian speed. The study is focused on individual mobility in the context of a heterogeneous crowd rather than the behavior of a crowd composed of similar types of people. With this study, an important contribution to the understanding of interpersonal distances in heterogeneous crowds is made.

Rehabilitation Recommendations According to § 31 SGB XI: Empiricism, Discussion and Health Policy Implications

The principle of "rehabilitation before care" is a principle of social law. The recommendation of the Medical Service (MD) as part of the assessment (§ 31 SGB XI) plays an important role in rehabilitation recommendations. In around 3% of its assessments, the MD recommends implementation of rehabilitation. Only every fourth to fifth recommendation is actually carried out. The aim of the study was to find out if rehabilitation recommendations are utilized and exploited. This study aimed to examine the perspective of insured persons whose recommended rehabilitation was actually carried out. After evaluating 586,228 routine data records with care assessments by the MD, 1,972 survey questionnaires were sent out in March 2023, and 1,116 analyzable questionnaires were included in the data analysis. In seven questions, the respondents were asked to retrospectively assess the overall success and satisfaction with rehabilitation procedures carried out. The evaluation of the results showed that 87% of the study participants would be ready to undergo repeat rehabilitation. The assessment of the success of rehabilitation in terms of remaining at home for a longer period of time also carried weight. On the other hand, only around 10% of rehabilitation was carried out on an outpatient basis. One previously assumed reason for the low rate of patients taking advantage of recommended rehabilitation was that those in need of care had already received rehabilitation in the previous year. In this study focussing on whether recommended rehabilitation is taken advantage of, this assumption was found not to be correct. The question needs to be raised whether the strong focus in Germany on inpatient rehabilitation is up-to-date, both medically and with regard to the preferences of those entitled to rehabilitation. In contrast to inpatient rehabilitation, individual, outpatient and, if necessary, mobile rehabilitation offers might be more suitable, and these would also take into consideration issues of individual mobility and patient autonomy. The offer of different modes of rehabilitation also enables meeting the wish of those patients who prefer to have rehabilitation carried out in a home environment.