The Swedish joint action method against drink driving—a study of suspected drink drivers' own experiences

Objective: In Sweden, a joint action method called SMADIT is in use, where the police quickly offer help from the social services or the dependency care and treatment service to suspected drink drivers. The objective of this article is to analyze the experiences of suspected drink drivers who accepted the offer of help and what it meant for them. The knowledge can be used to improve procedures and consultations. Furthermore, it can allow the basic premises of the method to be examined; for example, the importance of offering help quickly.

Methods: To enable comparisons over time, in-depth interviews were conducted with 12 suspected drink drivers on 2 occasions with 1 year between.

Results: To varying degrees the informants knew about their alcohol problems but were unsure whether they would have sought help by themselves. Therefore, the original ideas of the method with an initial contact with the social services or the dependency care and treatment service within 24 h was found to be important. However, the results also showed that some of the informants needed some time before the first meeting because they were in shock from the drink driving incident or in need of sleep. Therefore, the drink driver's situation and individual wishes always have to be considered. The article also shows that an encouraging attitude among the police, the social services, and the dependency care and treatment service is important for the success of the SMADIT method.

The informants are satisfied with the method and in retrospect the incident and the SMADIT offer of help are described as a turning point in their lives. One year after being offered help the informants were no longer focused solely on the personal consequences of drink driving, as they were shortly after the incident. Instead, they had gained insights into the harm they could have done to other road users when they drove while drunk.

Conclusions: One conclusion from this article is that SMADIT, as an innovative method that can be deployed more rapidly than other alcohol-impaired driving countermeasures, should be considered as a good complement to conventional methods to deal with drink driving. Based on the results, we recommend a trial of the joint action method against drink driving in other jurisdictions.     

Material Flow Analysis: a tool to support environmental policy decision making. Case-studies on the city of Vienna and the Swiss lowlands

This paper discusses the use of Material Flow Analysis (MFA) as a tool to support policy decision making in the field of resource and environmental management. In terms of policy, MFA can be used for early recognition, priority setting, to analyse and improve the effectiveness of measures and to design efficient material management strategies in view of sustainability. MFA has a high potential to be implemented as a guiding tool at the regional level, for example as part of a regional environmental management and audit system or as a part of the Local Agenda 21 process. Material management based on MFA is complementary to traditional environmental and resource management strategies, which have tended to focus heavily on specific environmental compartments, and measure the concentration of substances in various media. MFA, in contrast, provides an overview of the total system by linking the anthroposphere (that part of the biosphere in which humans' activities take place) with the environment. This system approach shifts the focus away from the back-end so-called 'filter strategies' to more pro-active front-end measures. MFA examines short- and long-term loadings rather than concentrations and highlights current and potential material accumulations, called material stocks. These stocks represent either potential environmental problems (e.g. large stocks of hazardous materials) or a potential source of future resources (e.g. urban mining). In this way, MFA can assist precautionary policy making by highlighting future environmental or resource issue problems without relying on signals of environmental stress. The objective of materials management is: firstly, to analyse material flows and stocks; secondly, to evaluate these results; and thirdly, to control material flows in view of certain goals such as sustainable development. MFA is an excellent tool for the first objective and is well suited to generate a base for the other two objectives. MFA results can be compared against environmental standards or can be interpreted using assessment or indicator methodologies (such as environmental impact assessment or ecological footprints). Selected results from two studies, carried out for the city of Vienna (substance management) and the Swiss lowlands (timber management), illustrate the use of MFA as a tool for early recognition (resource depletion and environmental quality), for priority setting and for effective policy making.     

Material Flow Analysis: A tool to support environmental policy decision making. Case-studies on the city of Vienna and the Swiss lowlands

This paper discusses the use of Material Flow Analysis (MFA) as a tool to support policy decision making in the field of resource and environmental management. In terms of policy, MFA can be used for early recognition, priority setting, to analyse and improve the effectiveness of measures and to design efficient material management strategies in view of sustainability. MFA has a high potential to be implemented as a guiding tool at the regional level, for example as part of a regional environmental management and audit system or as a part of the Local Agenda 21 process. Material management based on MFA is complementary to traditional environmental and resource management strategies, which have tended to focus heavily on specific environmental compartments, and measure the concentration of substances in various media. MFA, in contrast, provides an overview of the total system by linking the anthroposphere (that part of the biosphere in which humans' activities take place) with the environment. This system approach shifts the focus away from the back-end so-called 'filter strategies' to more pro-active front-end measures. MFA examines short- and long-term loadings rather than concentrations and highlights current and potential material accumulations, called material stocks. These stocks represent either potential environmental problems (e.g. large stocks of hazardous materials) or a potential source of future resources (e.g. urban mining). In this way, MFA can assist precautionary policy making by highlighting future environmental or resource issue problems without relying on signals of environmental stress. The objective of materials management is: firstly, to analyse material flows and stocks; secondly, to evaluate these results; and thirdly, to control material flows in view of certain goals such as sustainable development. MFA is an excellent tool for the first objective and is well suited to generate a base for the other two objectives. MFA results can be compared against environmental standards or can be interpreted using assessment or indicator methodologies (such as environmental impact assessment or ecological footprints). Selected results from two studies, carried out for the city of Vienna (substance management) and the Swiss lowlands (timber management), illustrate the use of MFA as a tool for early recognition (resource depletion and environmental quality), for priority setting and for effective policy making.     

An analysis of cyclists’ speed at combined pedestrian and cycle paths

Abstract

Objective: In Sweden, cyclists, pedestrians, and moped riders share the space on combined pedestrian and cycle paths, and their speeds may differ greatly. Both actual speed and speed differences can potentially influence the number of accidents on the shared paths. As a starting point, this article studies the speed component and how cyclists’ speed varies at pedestrian and cycle paths depending on the day, week, and year; road user composition; and road design.

Methods: Three data sources were used: Existing measurements of cycle speed and flow in 3 different Swedish municipalities, Eskilstuna (1 site, January–December 2015), Linköping (6 sites, 4?weeks in September–October 2015), and Stockholm (10 sites, 1–5?days in August–September 2015); complementary measurements of cycle speed and flow in Linköping (4 sites, 1–10?days in August–September 2016) and Stockholm (1 site, only part of 2?days in August 2016) were also conducted within the project, in addition to roadside observations of bicycle types at the 5 new sites.

Results: The average speed of cyclists on the paths varied between 12.5 and 26.5?km/h. As expected, the lower average speeds were found in uphill directions, near intersections, and on paths with high pedestrian flows. The higher speeds were found in downhill directions and on commuter routes. In all, 70%–95% of road users observed on pedestrian and cycle paths were cyclists, and 5%–30% were pedestrians. The most common type of bicycle was a comfort bike, followed by a trekking bike. Electric-assisted bicycles and racer bikes occurred at all sites, with proportions of 1%–10% and 1%–15%, respectively. The 2 sites with the highest proportion of electric-assisted bicycles and racer bicycles also had the highest average speeds. The differences in average speed throughout the day, week, and year could only be assessed at one of the sites. Only small differences were found, with the most noticeable being that the average speed was lower in January and February (13.8?km/h) compared to the rest of the year (15.3–16.1?km/h). The average speed was also lower during daytime (14.7?km/h) than during other parts of the day (15.4–15.8?km/h).

Conclusions: The relationship between bicycle type and measured speed was not entirely clear, but the results suggest that paths with higher proportions of electric and racer bicycles have higher average speeds. There also appears to be a connection between average speed and the width of the distribution; that is, the higher the average speed, the wider the speed distribution. More research is needed on how speed levels and speed variance affect accident risk.     

A multivariate approach for a comparison of big data matrices. Case study: thermo-hygrometric monitoring inside the Carcer Tullianum (Rome) in the absence and in the presence of visitors

In the last decades, the very fast improvement of the analytical instrumentation has led to the possibility of quickly and easily getting a lot of data; in turn, the need of advanced statistical methods suitable to extract the full information furnished by instruments has increased. Such kind of data treatments is particularly important in any case of continuous monitoring of one or more parameters, so the microclimate monitoring is a typical example for this application. Microclimate control is essential in the conservation of Cultural Heritage (CH), but decisions on optimal conservation parameters cannot base only on existing norms that do not take into account the environment’s history. Often CH has survived for many centuries in conditions that must be considered risky but also a stable state (equilibrium) resulting from a long adaptation process during which a more or less heavy damage occurred to the materials. Any successive change of microclimate parameters has interrupted this equilibrium conditions and has induced further damage to material until a new equilibrium is reached; dimension and frequency of changes are proportional to the expected damage. This thermodynamic consideration provides the background for a CH conservation project based on microclimate control and highlights the importance of environmental monitoring for the identification of equilibrium parameters to be maintained. In 2010, we monitored the microclimate of an important historical building in Rome, the Mamertino Carcer, before its opening to visitors. One year later, we repeated the monitoring in the presence of visitors, and here, we present a careful choice of multivariate data treatments adopted for an enough, simple and immediate evaluation of the microclimatic changes; this allows an easier understanding also for persons with not too deep scientific background, such as Superintendents and, in turn, really useful information to provide suggestions for a conservation project. Results evidenced the expected loss of isolation of the site that occurred by opening to visitors; this led to wider excursions of both temperature and relative humidity and, in turn, to a worsening of the conservative conditions. Surely, a monitoring of particulate matter, correlated to air fluxes and, in turn, to microclimate, is of fundamental importance for the conservation of frescoes and will be object of one of our future diagnostic interventions in the site.     

Learning and the transformative potential of citizen science

The number of collaborative initiatives between scientists and volunteers (i.e., citizen science) is increasing across many research fields. The promise of societal transformation together with scientific breakthroughs contributes to the current popularity of citizen science (CS) in the policy domain. We examined the transformative capacity of citizen science in particular learning through environmental CS as conservation tool. We reviewed the CS and social‐learning literature and examined 14 conservation projects across Europe that involved collaborative CS. We also developed a template that can be used to explore learning arrangements (i.e., learning events and materials) in CS projects and to explain how the desired outcomes can be achieved through CS learning. We found that recent studies aiming to define CS for analytical purposes often fail to improve the conceptual clarity of CS; CS programs may have transformative potential, especially for the development of individual skills, but such transformation is not necessarily occurring at the organizational and institutional levels; empirical evidence on simple learning outcomes, but the assertion of transformative effects of CS learning is often based on assumptions rather than empirical observation; and it is unanimous that learning in CS is considered important, but in practice it often goes unreported or unevaluated. In conclusion, we point to the need for reliable and transparent measurement of transformative effects for democratization of knowledge production.     

Behavioral adjustments of a pipefish to bacterial Vibrio challenge

Animals can profit from increasing temperatures by prolonged breeding seasons and faster growth rates. However, these fitness benefits are traded off against higher parasite load and increased virulence of temperature-sensitive pathogens. In thermally stratified habitats, behavioral plasticity can allow hosts to choose the optimal temperature to enhance individual fitness and to escape parasite pressure. To test this idea, we performed a temperature choice experiment with the host–parasite system of the sex-role reversed broad-nosed pipefish (Syngnathus typhle) and its bacterial pathogen Vibrio spp. In this species, pregnant males are expected to face a trade-off between shortening their brooding period in warm water and decreasing the effect of the infection in cold water. We found that exposure to Vibrio changed the temperature preference for both pregnant and nonpregnant males, as well as females compared to nonchallenged fish that tended to prefer warm water. This study shows that behavioral plasticity is one option for avoidance of higher bacterial prevalence, as expected due to rising ocean temperatures.