•A new complementary approach, combining PLS-SEM and NCA, is introduced.•Critical conditions for improving overall travel satisfaction are identified.•Necessary Condition Analysis is used to identify ...critical bottlenecks.•A medium level of comfort is necessary for achieving high overall travel satisfaction.•An increase in comfort, functionality/reliability and value for money is sufficient for improving overall travel satisfaction.
In order to effectively manage transportation systems, and improve the attractiveness of public transport, public authorities, policymakers and researchers need a better understanding of the conditions necessary for improving attractiveness and those that can be considered sufficient. The purpose of this study is to expand the analytical toolbox of transportation research and introduce an analytical approach to identifying and distinguishing between the conditions that are necessary and sufficient for a desired outcome. Specifically, we suggest a complementary approach to combining partial least square structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM) and necessary condition analysis (NCA) in order to examine which service quality attributes (functionality, information, security/safety, comfort, and cost) are sufficient, and what degree of satisfaction with these attributes is necessary for high overall travel satisfaction. The data consists of subjectively reported experiences from over 900 users of public transportation in four northern European countries. We find that, for high overall travel satisfaction, a minimum level of satisfaction with comfort (equal to 33.1%) is necessary. Furthermore, an increase in satisfaction with comfort, functionality/reliability and cost is sufficient to improve overall travel satisfaction. This means that comfort is both a necessary and a sufficient condition, whereas functionality/reliability and cost are sufficient but non-necessary conditions in this context. We conclude that using this complementary approach can guide public transport managers and researchers in identifying important bottlenecks and establishing priorities for improving service quality, essential knowledge when developing effective strategies for attractive public transport services.
People are living longer than they did previously, and the proportion of older people is increasing worldwide. This rapid development will have implications for the transport system, in general, and ...for travel behavior and accessibility to daily activities, in particular. In recent years, both research and politics have drawn the attention of the public to issues affecting the opportunities of the elderly to participate in everyday life. The debate has so far mostly focused on health issues, with limited work having been done on the ability of the elderly to live the lives they want to considering how they travel. With this view, a theoretical model, grounded in a model of travel and subjective wellbeing was developed to explore the role of perceived accessibility in satisfaction with travel and life satisfaction. Empirical data were collected from a sample of 2950 respondents (aged 60-92) from five cities in Northern Europe (Stockholm, Helsinki, Oslo, Copenhagen, Bergen) and analyzed using partial least square structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM). The findings confirmed the link between perceived accessibility, travel satisfaction, and life satisfaction. The findings also showed the role of sociodemographic and travel attributes in perceived accessibility and satisfaction with travel, as well as the moderating effects of different age groups. We conclude that this moderating role played by age clearly indicates that we should not treat the elderly as a homogenous group in research and transport planning.
•Life satisfaction is directly and indirectly related to satisfaction with travel.•Emotional well-being is directly related to satisfaction with travel.•Car and active modes have more positive ...effects than public transport.
Previous research has investigated satisfaction with work commutes. We extend this research by investigating whether satisfaction with all daily travel (including work commutes, school, leisure, and shopping trips) is related to life satisfaction and emotional well-being. A random sample of 367 participants was recruited from three urban areas in Sweden (Karlstad, Göteborg, and Stockholm) varying from a small (appr. 90,000 residents) through a medium (appr. 550,000 residents) to a large population size (appr. 925,000 residents). In a questionnaire the participants reported retrospectively their satisfaction with all daily travel, life satisfaction, and emotional well-being. Direct and indirect effects of travel satisfaction on life satisfaction and emotional well-being were analysed with PLS-SEM. Results showed that satisfaction with daily travel directly influences emotional well-being and both directly and indirectly life satisfaction. It is also found that driving and active modes have more positive effects than public transport.
Service quality in public transport is proposed as a key determinant of perceived accessibility, the ease to live the life one wants with the help of the transport system, as low service quality may ...be a barrier for use, decreasing the ease to participate in daily activities. The first aim was to validate the direct relationship between public transport quality and perceived accessibility. Secondly, we analyzed the mediating role of safety perceptions to better explain the link between service quality and perceived accessibility. Public transport travelers (n = 4944) from five northern European cities were surveyed. Results from PLS-SEM modeling show that service quality has a significant and direct relationship with perceived accessibility, especially regarding functionality. An indirect relationship through travel safety perceptions was also observed, highlighting information and comfort as main drivers. High car use, low public transport use, increasing age, and being a woman were also associated with greater perceived accessibility. City comparisons yielded a number of significant differences. Our results contribute to the research literature by highlighting the importance of service quality in public transport for perceptions of accessibility in daily travel. In particular, we argue that functionality is the core attribute to focus on, and that attributes related to travel safety perceptions should be carefully considered when planning for sustainable transport.
Accessibility has conventionally been measured and evaluated ignoring user perceptions in favor of focusing on travel time and distance to a number of pre-determined destinations. Acknowledging this ...gap, we recently developed a scale for perceived accessibility PAC (Lättman, Friman, & Olsson 2016b) aimed at capturing the individual perspective of accessibility with a certain travel mode. In this paper, we 1) further develop the PAC measure of perceived accessibility in order to capture how easy it is to live a satisfactory life with the help of the transport system, 2) compare levels of perceived accessibility between residential areas and main travel modes, and 3) compare residents’ perceived accessibility to the objective accessibility level for the same residential area. Data from 2711 residents of Malmö, Sweden show that perceived accessibility is consistently different from objective accessibility across 13 residential areas, with minor differences in levels of perceived accessibility between areas. Surprisingly, bicycle users rate their accessibility significantly higher than those who mainly use the car or public transport for daily travel, contrary to objective accessibility assumptions. These differences point at the importance of including perceived accessibility as a complementary tool when planning for and evaluating transport systems.
It is argued that utility theory that underpins current cost-benefit analyses of daily travel needs to be complemented. An alternative theoretical framework is to this end proposed which applies ...subjective well-being (SWB) to travel behaviour analysis. It is posited in this theoretical framework that participation in goal-directed activities, facilitated or hindered by travel, contributes to SWB, that the degree of travel-related stress in participating in these activities reduces SWB, and that positive affect associated with travel in itself has an impact on SWB.
Aims and objectives
To identify person‐centred care as an intervention in controlled trials, where patients had been involved as a partner, and to describe the outcomes of these studies.
Background
...The notion of person‐centred care asserts that patients are persons and partners in care and should not be reduced to their disease alone.
Design
A systematic literature review.
Method
Searches were undertaken in the databases PUBMED and CINAHL. The inclusion criteria were that person‐centred care as an intervention was described as a partnership between the caregiver and the patient, and that the studies were randomised controlled trials or quasi‐experimental designs. The studies were analysed based on methodology, context and type of intervention, outcomes and effects of the interventions. Eleven trials fulfilled the inclusion criteria.
Results
The studies were carried out in a variety of contexts with diverse outcomes. Person‐centred care as an intervention was shown to be successful in eight of the studies. The internal and external validity in the studies were generally good. However, as regards the precision of the studies there was a wide variation.
Conclusions
The value and efficacy of person‐centred care as an intervention have only been studied to a limited extent. Methodological problems in trial design and execution could account for the general lack of research on person‐centred care. Evidence that person‐centred care is effective is insufficient, more stringent studies are needed.
Relevance to clinical practice
The results suggest that person‐centred care may lead to significant improvements, but the implementation and relevant effects needs to be assessed in more studies.
Cyclic hormonal stimulation of the breast tissue plays a significant role in breast carcinogenesis. Current risk factor models do not include direct measures of cycle characteristics although the ...effects of possible surrogates of cycle activity such as age at menarche and menopause, parity, and nursing time have been investigated. Future risk models should also include menstrual cycle length, regularity, number of cycles before first full-term pregnancy, and life-time number of cycles. New risk factor models for pre- and postmenopausal breast cancer are proposed here. Furthermore, there is a need for more long-term, prospective studies investigating menstrual cycle characteristics as data currently available are primarily retrospective and collected at one time-point only.
Previous research demonstrates an impact on subjective well-being (SWB) of affect associated with routine performance of out-of-home activities. A primary aim of the present study is to investigate ...whether satisfaction with daily travel has a positive impact on SWB, either directly or indirectly through facilitating the performance of out-of-home activities. A secondary aim is to determine whether emotional-symbolic or instrumental reasons for car use results in higher satisfaction with daily travel than other travel modes. A survey of a population-based sample of 1,330 Swedish citizens included measures of car access and use, satisfaction with daily travel, satisfaction with performance of out-of-home routine activities, and affective and cognitive SWB. The results confirmed that the effect on affective and cognitive SWB of satisfaction with daily travel is both direct and indirect via satisfaction with performance of activities. Percent weekly car use had a small effect on satisfaction with daily travel and on affective SWB, although fully mediating the effect of satisfaction with performance of the activities. This suggests that car use plays a minor role for satisfaction with daily travel and its effect on SWB. This role may be larger if investigated after a forced reduced car use.
This project aims to expand understanding of how cross-laminated timber (CLT) constructions, including joints, connections and attachment points, are impacted by precipitation during construction. ...The project’s case studies have been based on measurements of moisture contents and material sampling as well as microbiological analysis during the construction stage of the structure. The study does not include control of remediation. A literature review and interviews with seven individuals also were conducted. The results are based on two case studies with a total of four buildings. The field measurements show microbiological growth in all buildings and essentially on all investigated floor structures. Of a total of 200 analysed measuring points, half had some growth and about a third had moderate or extensive growth. Based on the outcome, it seems difficult or impossible to avoid the appearance of microbial growth during construction with CLT without weather protection. The literature review shows that microbiological analysis of CLT is extremely rare in both laboratory and field studies, which indicates that there are obvious shortcomings in the scientific work in practical studies. However, there seems to be good awareness in the literature that theoretical studies often conduct mould growth risk evaluations. In the survey, half of those interviewed believed that remediation was needed only in the case of growth visible to the naked eye. There appear to be no moisture safety assembly methods or solutions for CLT construction without weather protection or declaration of the critical moisture conditions for CLT products. As a result, it is recommended that weather protection is used, preferably complete weather protection.
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