Diversos problemas de transporte, observados nas grandes metrópoles, têm sido mitigados com o aumento da capacidade da infraestrutura viária, voltada à circulação de veículos motorizados individuais. Com isso observa-se, atualmente, aumento dos congestionamentos, das poluições sonora e ambiental, mudanças climáticas e redução nos índices de atividade física da população. Uma alternativa encontrada por muitas cidades é a transformação de seu sistema viário em um local atrativo para utilização dos Modos Ativos de Transporte – realização de viagens a pé ou de bicicleta. Nesse sentido, a cidade de Porto Alegre desde 2010 vem aumentando a quantidade de ciclovias e ciclofaixas disponíveis. No entanto, a literatura indica que existem diversos outros fatores que influenciam na decisão por usar a bicicleta como modo de transporte, principalmente para os deslocamentos até o trabalho. Dessa forma, essa dissertação teve como objetivo avaliar o impacto que a implantação de vestiário, bicicletário, empréstimo de bicicletas, treinamento para trafegar de bicicleta e ciclovias disponíveis nas principais vias de Porto Alegre, causariam na probabilidade dos funcionários da Companhia Riograndense de Saneamento (CORSAN) utilizarem a bicicleta para realizar pelo menos dois deslocamentos por semana entre a sua casa e o trabalho. Para isso foi realizada uma Pesquisa de Preferência Declarada, incluindo essas variáveis e características socioeconômicas dos funcionários. A análise das medidas foi realizada utilizando o Modelo Logit Ordenado. Foi observado que o impacto da implantação das melhorias propostas possui magnitude maior que as características socioeconômicas das pessoas. Pessoas que atualmente utilizam o automóvel particular para seus deslocamentos diários são menos propensos à inclusão da bicicleta nos seus deslocamentos, assim como as que possuem filhos. A disponibilidade de vestiário com chuveiro e armário mostrou-se a variável mais importante para o estímulo do uso da bicicleta. A presença de um bicicletário interno e seguro, disponibilidade de bicicletas para empréstimo no local de trabalho e a presença de ciclovias no trajeto também apresentaram impactos significativos. O impacto da disponibilidade de treinamento para o uso de bicicleta foi significativamente menor que os observados nas outras variáveis. Considerando a viabilidade econômica e os benefícios observados, recomenda-se a implantação de vestiário e bicicletário, como medida de estímulo ao uso da bicicleta para os deslocamentos até o trabalho. / Most metropolitan areas mitigate transportation problems by increasing road infrastructure for motorized vehicles. This practice results in an increase in traffic congestion, noise and environmental pollution and reduction in the population’s physical activity levels. Many cities have tackled these externalities by transforming their road system into an attractive environment for Active Transport Modes - walking or cycling. As an example, the city of Porto Alegre has invested in the expansion of its cycling network since 2010. According to the literature, cycling infrastructure is one of the main factors that influence the use of bicycle for transportation, especially to work. The purpose of this thesis was to evaluate the impact of implementing different measures to improve the use of bicycle for commutes using as case study Companhia Riograndense de Saneamento (CORSAN). The evaluated measures included availability of changing rooms, cycle parking, bike sharing systems, training on bicycle use, and cycle paths. An Ordered Logit Model was estimated based onStated Preference data. The impact of the proposed measures has greater magnitude than employee’s socioeconomic characteristics. Individuals who currently use the private car for commute are less likely to use bicycles for those trips, as well as those with children. The availability of a changing room with shower and locker proved to be the most important variable to increase bicycle use among CORSAN employees. Cycle parking inside the building in a safe place, a bike sharing system and the presence of cycle paths along the way also had significant impacts. The impact of training availability for bicycle use was significantly lower, compared to other variables. This research also suggests that implementation of changing room and appropriate parking facilities for bicycles are affordable and important measures to promote the use of bicycle for commutes to work.

En cherchant à identifier les centralités d’un territoire, la capacité d’analyse se confronte très rapidement aux évolutions de la structuration spatiale en cours. La forte hausse de l’emploi, concomitante à la baisse des « stables », engendre une transition de la relation centralité-mobilité. Les nouveaux modes d’organisation urbaine résultent de la redistribution de la concentration de l’emploi et de l’intensification des mobilités alternantes. Nous retiendrons ces deux variables pour caractériser les communes de la Gironde à travers une nouvelle nomenclature dite « des aires de cohérence multicommunales ». Les enjeux d’aménagement qui en résultent, donnent lieu à une approche prospective structurée par l’interrelation entre transport et urbanisme. En effet, les scénarios d’urbanisation sont sujets à un développement autonome non maîtrisé. En anticipant les stratégies d’aménagement des transports, il est possible de limiter l’incertitude quant aux conséquences réelles en termes d’urbanisation. L’enjeu réside dans la définition des conditions d’un développement multipolaire de la Gironde. Cela permettrait d’accompagner le processus d’intégration territoriale, tout en desserrant la contrainte foncière autour de l’agglomération bordelaise. / By seeking to identify the centralities of a territory, one has to take into account the ongoing evolution of the spatial structuration. The strong employment increase, together with the slowdown of people working in the town they live (i.e. “stables”), triggers a transition in the centrality-mobility relation. The new urban organisation modes result from the spatial distribution of employment concentration as well as the intensification of commuting. These two variables will be retained in order to characterise the Gironde’s communes, through a new nomenclature called Areas of Multi-commune Cohesion (AMC). Planning issues that ensued from the AMCs lead to a prospective approach structured by Transport/Urbanism co-development. Indeed, urbanisation scenarii are subject to uncontrolled and autonomous development. By anticipating transport planning strategies, decision makers can limit the uncertainty related to the real urbanisation consequences. The main issue lies in defining the conditions of a multipolar development of Gironde county. This would enable to support the territorial integration process, while loosening land constraints around Bordeaux agglomeration.

Age, male sex, hypertension, smoking, diabetes, dyslipidaemia, and obesity are considered as established risk factors for cardiovascular diseases. Several of these established cardiovascular risk factors are strongly influenced by lifestyle. Novel biomarkers from different mechanistic pathways have been associated with cardiovascular risk, but their clinical utility is still uncertain. The overall objective of the thesis was to evaluate the associations between certain lifestyle factors (physical activity and snuff use), biomarkers reflecting the haemostatic and the inflammatory systems and risk of a future first-ever myocardial infarction.  A prospective incident nested case-control study design was used with a total of 651 cases of myocardial infarction and 2238 matched controls from the population-based Northern Sweden Health and Disease Study.  The effects of commuting activity, occupational and leisure time physical activity on risk of myocardial infarction were studied. A clearly increased risk of myocardial infarction was found for car commuting compared to active commuting (walking, cycling or going by bus). High versus low leisure time physical activity was associated with decreased risk of myocardial infarction. Low occupational physical activity was associated with risk of myocardial infarction in men.  The risk of myocardial infarction or sudden cardiac death was studied in male snuff users compared to non-tobacco users. No increased risk was found for myocardial infarction or sudden cardiac death among snuff users without a previous history of smoking. However, for sudden cardiac death the study did not have statistical power to detect small differences in risk.  Plasma levels of haemostatic markers have previously shown to be associated with risk of myocardial infarction, but as haemostatic markers are also acute-phase reactants, it is not clear if their association with myocardial infarction is independent of inflammatory markers. In the present study, the haemostatic markers D-dimer, von Willebrand factor (VWF), tissue plasminogen activator (t-PA), and tissue plasminogen activator/plasminogen activator inhibitor-1 complex (t-PA/PAI-1 complex) were associated with risk of myocardial infarction after adjustment for established risk factors and the inflammatory markers C-reactive protein (CRP) and interleukin 6 (IL-6). Furthermore, the addition of eight haemostatic and inflammatory markers could improve the predictive ability for future myocardial infarction beyond that of a model utilizing only established risk factors.  Established risk factors and novel biomarkers were explored as potential mediators of the reduced risk of myocardial infarction related to active commuting. A combination of established risk factors, haemostatic and inflammatory markers appeared to explain a substantial proportion (40%) of the difference in risk for myocardial infarction between active commuters and car commuters. IL-6, t-PA, t-PA/PAI-1 complex, apo B/apo A-1 ratio, and BMI seemed to be the largest potential mediators when tested individually. In conclusion, regular physical activity such as active commuting is associated with reduced risk of a first-ever myocardial infarction. This effect could in part be mediated through a beneficial influence on haemostasis and inflammation, as well as a positive impact on established risk factors. Several haemostatic markers are associated with risk of myocardial infarction independent of established risk factors and inflammatory markers. The combination of haemostatic and inflammatory markers may enhance predictive ability beyond established risk factors. Our findings do not support the hypothesis that snuff use increases the risk of myocardial infarction.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Mississippi State University. Department of Counseling, Educational Psychology and Special Education. / Title from title screen. Includes bibliographical references.

This thesis consists of four self-contained essays. Essay 1 (with Olof Åslund and Matz Dahlberg): In this essay we investigate the impact of commuter train access on individual labor market outcomes. Our study considers the exogenous introduction of a commuter train linking locations in the northern part of Uppsala County (Sweden) to the regional employment center, considerably decreasing commuting times by public transit to the center for those living close to the pre-existing railroad. Using difference-in-differences matching techniques on comprehensive individual panel data spanning over a decade, our intention-to-treat estimates show that the reform had mainly no impact on the earnings and employment development among the affected individuals. Essay 2: In this essay I look into the role of public transit for residential sorting by studying how the introduction of a commuter train linking locations in the northern part of Uppsala County (Sweden) to the regional employment center affected migration patterns in the areas served. Using a difference-in-difference(-in-difference) approach and comprehensive individual level data, I find that the commuter train had a positive effect on overall in-migration to the areas served and no effect on the average out-migration rate from these areas. With regards to sorting based on labor market status, I find no evidence of sorting based on employment status but some evidence that the train introduction increased the probability of moving out of the areas served for individuals with high labor incomes relative to the probability for individuals with lower income. Considering sorting along other lines than labor market status, the analysis suggests that people born in non-western countries came to be particularly attracted towards the areas served by the commuter train as compared to other similar areas. Essay 3: In this essay I look into the relation between housing mix and social mix in metropolitan Stockholm (Sweden) over the period 1990-2008. Using entropy measures, I find that although the distribution of tenure types over metropolitan Stockholm became somewhat more even over the studied period, people living in different tenure types still to a large extent tended to live in different parts of the city in 2008. The degree of residential segregation was much lower between different population groups. I further find that the mix of family types, and over time also of birth region groups and income groups, was rather different between different tenure types in the same municipality. The mix of different groups however tended to be similar within different tenure types in the same neighborhood. While the entropy measures provide a purely descriptive picture, the findings thus suggest that tenure type mix could be more useful for creating social mix at the municipal level than for creating social mix at the neighborhood level. Essay 4 (with Matz Dahlberg): The last decade’s immigration to western European countries has resulted in a culturally and religiously more diverse population in these countries. This diversification manifests itself in several ways, where one is through new features in the cityscape. Using a quasi-experimental approach, essay 4 examines how one such new feature, public calls to prayer, affects neighborhood dynamics (house prices and migration). The quasi-experiment is based on an unexpected political process that lead way to the first public call to prayer from a mosque in Sweden combined with rich (daily) information on housing sales. While our results indicate that the public calls to prayer increased house prices closer to the mosque, we find no evidence that the public calls to prayer served as a driver of residential segregation between natives and people born abroad around the mosque in question (no significant effects on migration behavior). Our findings are consistent with a story where some people have a willingness to pay for the possibility to more fully exert their religion which puts an upward pressure on housing in the vicinity of a mosque with public calls to prayer.

Rapid growth in suburb-to-suburb commuting has created a problem for transit providers: the dispersed commuting patterns are very difficult to serve with transit, and are characterized by low transit use. This thesis aims to determine which markets have the best potential for transit, and what factors could increase this potential. Surrey, B.C. is typical of the rapidly growing areas where suburb-to-suburb commuting is most prevalent. Commuting between Surrey and other suburban areas has increased sharply in recent years. A detailed examination of commuting patterns within Surrey revealed the highly dispersed nature of the work trip flows; the only flows which were concentrated to any degree were those between nodes with relatively high population and employment densities. A correlation was found between density, especially employment density, and transit use. Inter-nodal trips, which already have the greatest transit use among suburb-to-suburb trips, will be a key market for transit in the suburbs. Inter-nodal express service would help to address complaints that suburb-to-suburb transit service is too slow and indirect. Trips to and from the nodes will also be an important market. Intra-nodal trips, which presently have low transit use, form another key market which could possibly be served by a paratransit shuttle service. In Surrey, efforts have begun to address the issue of suburb-to-suburb transit in a comprehensive manner, but there has been little substantive progress to date. The case study results were used to develop a conceptual framework for suburb-to-suburb transit planning which could then be applied to other suburban areas facing similar problems. The framework calls for a wide array of transit and paratransit services, each filling a different market niche, which can be combined to create an integrated but flexible system. This system must be reinforced with land use strategies to promote greater densities, and more pedestrian and transit friendly design. Transportation demand management must also be used to encourage transit use by increasing the costs of driving an automobile. This three-pronged, comprehensive approach should allow transit to compete successfully in some suburban markets.

Nova Scotia is one of the least active provinces in Canada and is experiencing rising levels of obesity and related diseases. Women in Canada have low rates of participation in physical activity, despite the many benefits. The purpose of this research was to develop an understanding of how the built, natural and social environments act as enablers and barriers to the use of active transportation for midlife women. A qualitative, grounded theory approach was used in conjunction with a feminist perspective to explore the research topic. Findings suggest that the characteristics of the route and region, the presence or lack of support, and the perceived value and benefits of active transportation affect the type of transportation mode that is selected for commuting. Findings also reveal the ways that women respond to and overcome barriers. Implications for health promotion and future research are discussed.

Au cours des dernières décennies, l’important mouvement de déconcentration territoriale évoluant au sein de nombreuses métropoles à travers le monde a indéniablement su bouleverser leurs dynamiques territoriales, notamment en termes d’organisation spatiale des fonctions urbaines et de mobilité. Ce phénomène n’a pas manqué de susciter l’intérêt de nombreux auteurs, toutefois, face à la variété des facteurs d’influence et aux nombreuses spécificités locales, ces études se sont régulièrement révélées divergentes, voire contradictoires. Ainsi, de nombreuses incertitudes demeurent. La déconcentration des activités serait-elle en mesure de favoriser une meilleure adéquation des lieux de résidence et de travail au sein des territoires métropolitains? Quels en sont les conséquences sur les migrations alternantes? À l’heure où la mobilité constitue à la fois un facteur clé du développement des villes et un enjeu majeur quant aux ’émissions de GES et, alors que le mouvement de déconcentration demeure très actuel et poursuit sa progression, ce mémoire vise à enrichir le débat en proposant une étude basée sur l’analyse des plus récentes formes de distribution des activités métropolitaines en lien avec les caractéristiques de navettage, le tout dans une optique d’évaluation de la durabilité des déplacements. Le cas de Montréal, une métropole dont l’organisation spatiale a été considérée atypique en Amérique du nord, a été observé. L’analyse réalisée comprend trois grandes étapes. L’espace métropolitain montréalais a d’abord fait l’objet d’une caractérisation basée sur une typologie développée en France et basée sur divers critères reliés à la localisation emploi-résidence. Cette typologie a ensuite servi de base à une analyse des déplacements pendulaires, entre 2003 et 2008. Le portrait obtenu a finalement été opposé à celui résultant d’une analyse basée sur un découpage plus traditionnel « centre-banlieue-périphérie » de l’espace métropolitain. Les résultats suggèrent, à l’instar d’autres études, que la seule proximité des lieux d’emploi et de résidence ne suffit pas à favoriser des pratiques de navettage plus durables. D’un point de vue méthodologique, l’étude révèle également la pertinence des deux types d’approches proposés, de même que leur complémentarité. / Over the past decades, many cities have been facing an important decentralization movement resulting in major changes in territorial dynamics, especially in terms of spatial organization and mobility. Growing interest in these questions led many authors to investigate the subject. However, facing the wide variety of factors and the influence of local specificities, these studies regularly show diverging or even contradictory results. Hence, the real impact of the decentralization movement remains uncertain. Does decentralization improve home-work connections in metropolitan regions? What are the consequences of these reorganizations on commuting? Mobility is not only a key factor in the development of cities but it is also a key player in terms of GHG emissions. As the decentralization movement progresses, this study aims to analyze the most recent forms of distribution patterns in metropolitan activities with respect to commuting characteristics. It also aims to evaluate these tendencies in a sustainable perspective. The specific case of Montreal, considered atypical in North America in terms of spatial organization, will be observed. This study contains three main parts. First, the Montreal metropolitan area was characterized in relation to the typology developed in France. This methodology refers to criteria based on job and resident location. Second, using the established typology, an analysis of commuting between 2003 and 2008 gave a better understanding of major tendencies with respect to commuting within the metropolitan area. Finally, these results were opposed to a more traditional analysis, based on a centre-suburban-peripheral characterization. Results suggest that, as some previous studies showed, proximity of home and work locations on its own is not sufficient to induce more sustainable commuting patterns. On a methodological basis, this study showed the adequacy of combining multiple approaches as the two typologies employed in the present case revealed complementary results.

With its point of departure of increasing numbers of people being engaged in commuting, the aim of this thesis is to reveal prerequisites for and consequences of long-distance commuting in Sweden for the individual and his or her partner. Special attention has been given to prerequisites for long-distance commuting in sparsely populated areas, and to social consequences related to long-distance commuting in terms of gender differences in commuting patterns, earnings and separation. The thesis is based on four empirical studies, presented in different papers. Two studies draw on individual longitudinal register data on all Swedish long-distance commuters living with a partner. The other two focus on commuting behaviour in sparsely populated areas, one based on individual register data and the other on a survey. Long-distance commuting (>30 kilometres) has become an increasingly common mobility strategy among Swedish workers and their households. Results from the thesis show that 11 percent of Swedish workers are long-distance commuters and about half of them live in a relationship. Among these couples many are families with children, indicating the importance of social ties in households’ decisions on where to work and live. Most long-distance commuters are men, and it is also likely that long-distance commuters have a high education level and are employed in the private sector. For the majority, long-distance commuting gives higher earnings; however, men benefit economically more than women do. As long-distance commuting reduces available family time, the non-commuting spouse often takes on a larger share of household commitments. The thesis shows that men’s long-distance commuting may therefore serve to reproduce and reinforce traditional gender roles on the labour market and within households. On the other hand, women’s long-distance commuting can lead to more equalitarian relationships on the labour market and within households. For the majority of couples it seems as if long-distance commuting becomes more than a temporary mobility strategy, while for some couples it does not work out very well. Separation rates are found to be higher among long-distance commuters compared to other couples; especially the first years of commuting seem to be the most challenging. It is suggested that coping strategies are important to make the consequences of long-distance commuting easier to handle and adjust to in the daily life puzzle. For those unable to handle these consequences, long-distance commuting is not a sustainable mobility strategy and can even end a relationship. The extent of long-distance commuting is low in sparsely populated areas, and those who do long-distance commute are mainly men. Most people work and live within the same locality and do not accept longer commuting times than do those in densely populated areas. In this thesis it is argued that facilitating car commuting in the more sparsely populated areas of Sweden can be more economically and socially sustainable, for the individual commuters as well as for society, than encouraging commuting by public transportation.

Telework is a method of work that lets employees work from other places than the central office. With the world becoming more digitized, technology is becoming mobile and people become accessible wherever they are located. There are many benefits with Telework, but also many challenges that need to be taken into consideration. The digital era has led to that employees have changed their perception of how often they need to be at the central office, wishing to be more flexible and attain a better work-life balance. However, the adoption of Telework strategies has not grown as fast as first predicted by the originator, Jack Nilles, which some researchers after him have explained to be due to managerial resistance and lack of technology. This master thesis aims to investigate Telework as a phenomenon and explore how modern organizations can evolve to meet the demands of employees seeking more flexibility, but at the same time deal with challenges that may affect the organization negatively. Through a systematic literature review, we explore the concept of Telework and use previous publications in order to find common themes in research in order to find what may have impacted the decision-making process when organizations decide to implement Telework or not. A complementary literature study has also been used to investigate these themes further, which was followed by conducting empirical data collection through one semi-structured interview and two qualitative surveys. From our findings it can be found that common themes that act as drivers for Telework to be implemented are related to: an employee’s eligibility to reduce their commute, availability of digital infrastructure and ICT based tools and the organization’s possibility to cut cost related to office space. In our findings we have identified factors that organizations discuss before making a decision with regard to the implementation of Telework. Lastly, we see that how well an organization has adapted to a digital working environment does have impact on the adoption of Telework, given that there are many ICT solutions that can cope with the challenges Telework brings. / Distansarbete (Telework) är en arbetsmetod som låter anställda arbeta på annan plats än det centrala kontoret. Eftersom digitaliseringen i världen ständigt utvecklas och teknologier utvecklas mot att bli mer mobila så blir människan ständigt nåbar var de än befinner sig. Det finns många fördelar med distansarbete, men också många nackdelar. Den digitala eran har bidragit till att många anställda har förändrat sin syn på hur ofta de behöver befinna sig på det centrala kontoret, vilket har lett till att efterfrågan på flexibilitet och bättre balans mellan arbetsliv och privatliv har ökat. Införandet av distansarbete har dock inte ökat med den fart som upphovsmannen, Jack Nilles, förutspått, vilket forskare efter honom har förklarat med att det funnits ett motstånd från ledargrupper och brist på teknologiska lösningar. Den här masteruppsatsens mål är att undersöka distansarbete som fenomen och utforska hur moderna organisationer kan utvecklas för att möta efterfrågan på ökad flexibilitet från anställda, och samtidigt hantera de utmaningar som en organisation ställs inför. Genom en systematisk litteraturgranskning utforskar vi distansarbete som koncept. Där använder vi tidigare forskning för att försöka hitta teman i vad som påverkat beslutsfattandeprocessen när organisationer diskuterar distansarbete. En kompletterande litteraturstudie har sedan hjälp till att vidare undersöka de funna temana, vilket följdes av insamling av empiriska data genom två kvalitativa enkäter och en semi-strukturerad intervju. I våra fynd har vi hittat att teman som kan ses som drivande i frågan att införa distansarbete: möjligheten för anställda att minska pendlingstid, tillgänglighet av digital infrastruktur och ICT-baserade verktyg, samt organisationens möjlighet att minska kostnader kopplat till minskad kontorsyta. Våra fynd innehåller vilka faktorer som beslutsfattare tar i beaktning när implementation av distansarbete diskuteras inom organisationer. Vi ser också att hur väl en organisation har implementerat ICT-relaterade lösningar påverkar införandet av distansarbete.