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The guidelines for sustainable bicycle tourism provide a comprehensive basis for planning and improving all mobility-related infrastructure and services in connection with bicycle-tourism as the main representative of eco-tourism. A short introduction is followed by a systematic overview of bicycle based eco-tourism, covering history and trends, highlighting the benefits for local economy, nature conservation and fostering of local culture and heritage – a typical win-win situation. This chapter also describes different types of bicycle tourists and gives clues, which challenges you face in order to start a successful regional bicycle tourism initiative. The section “Planning for different types of cyclists” introduces basic design principles, pointing out common and distinct elements for different cyclists´ needs. Vehicular speed (differences) and traffic volumes in both motorized and bicycle traffic either allow mixed traffic on a shared road space or require segregated facilities for motorized and bicycle traffic. For touristic cycling recommendations generally are in favour of segregated bicycle tracks or low-volume roads. This guarantees comfortable and safe rides away from the noise and pollution of car traffic and takes the needs of more inexperienced leisure time cyclists into account. “How to start bicycle tourism in your region?” recommends advertising and monetizing all natural beauty and regional cultural characteristics. Thematically branded touristic routes like the EuroVelo network assist in conserving regional ecosystems and heritage. At the same time, they open economic opportunities for local businesses and generate jobs. The guidelines show initial steps and recommendations to cope with the constant necessity for improvements to safeguard a leading position as a successful tourism destination. The section “Infrastructure for high-level bicycle tourism” constitutes the middle part of the guidelines. Although it is impossible to describe all details of bicycle planning, this chapter deals with most infrastructure elements worth knowing in bicycle traffic. Starting with basic components of the infrastructure, different types of tracks are listed with their applications, organisational aspects of intersections and roundabouts are covered, and route signposting and information necessities are approached. Furthermore, aspects of bicycle parking, shelters for cyclists, lighting and maintenance are also part of this chapter. The recommendations given should enable (local) stakeholders to tackle all relevant aspects. We defined “must have” criteria to be met for good basic conditions and pointed out “nice to have” criteria for further improvements. Nevertheless, we strongly recommend seeking the advice of skilled planners, when planning, organising and implementing infrastructure. The implementation of infrastructure projects is a complex task and includes the participation of numerous stakeholders. The section “Transport services and intermodality” approaches the questions how cyclists can reach the starting point of their bicycle tour and how they can return home after it. The principles of eco-tourism require the use of environmentally friendly modes. Hence, public transport (train and bus) must be used for the transfers to the origin and from the final destination of the bicycle tour. Changes between the different modes of transport (= intermodality) and the transport on the public vehicles must be very well organized beforehand to make cyclists feel safe and comfortable. This includes appropriate information and booking possibilities. Bicycle rental schemes are a possibility to leave your own bicycle at home and get one for the time of your vacation. In addition, cyclists might rent an electric assisted bicycle (pedelec) and realize how much fun riding it is. We can distinguish between two rental options: Bicycles rented for longer periods from an organisation, such as a tour provider, a bike shop or the hotel you are staying at and shared bicycles. The first option is the usual way for bicycle tourists for getting along, the shared bikes are mostly located in city centres and not so much an option along touristic routes, especially because these bicycles are rather robustly built and therefore rather heavy and not very comfortable. Accommodation and gastronomy should complement each other and inform customers about the services of the other business. Everybody must eat and drink during longer bicycle tours. Cyclists on longer tours also have to stay overnight – which is also a big chance for the local economy. It is highly recommended that enterprises in both categories aspire excellent quality and demonstrate this with approved certifications. Cyclists love it when accommodations and gastronomy spoil them with best value for money. Examples for cyclists’ needs are given, such as one-night stays, warm meals all day long etc. The section “Marketing, communication and information” answers questions about which information is necessary to inspire bicycle tourists to come, how the product of “cycling tourism” is properly placed on the market of tourism and which success factors should be considered. An indicator for the success of actions and policies is measuring bicycle based eco-tourism over longer periods, with permanent counts of cyclists. Surveys – such as interviews – where cyclists reveal their characteristics are helpful for the optimization of services and planning. Cyclists should also be enabled to give feedback and suggest improvements. The most important success factor of cycling tourism is permanent improvement. Selected success stories and good practice examples are presented in their own chapter. While short checklists for successful implementation are provided at the end of each chapter or larger subsection., Project EcoVelotour co-funded by the European Union funds (ERDF, IPA)

As a key valuation indicator, the value of travel time savings (VTTS) has always been subject to extensive debate in both academia and politics, because savings in travel time have accounted for the biggest share of user benefits in most cost-benefit analysis (CBA). Recent research has shown a trend towards a potentially more insightful measure by decomposing VTTS - typically derived from mode, route and/or destination choice models - into two separate parts. Following Jara-Diaz and Guevara (2003), the value of time is the sum of two components: 1) the subjective value of travel time savings (VTTS), representing the willingness to reduce travel time in favor of other activities that generate more utility and 2) the direct (dis)-utility derived from the time assigned to travel (VTAT). Both may differ according to characteristics of the trip, travel mode and the user (Mackie et al., 2001). The sum of VTTS and VTAT equals the value of time as a resource (VOR), which is the marginal utility of an additional unit of leisure. Therefore, the VTAT cannot be derived from travel decisions alone, but requires the integration of travel decisions into a framework of consumers' time allocation, goods consumption and home production (Jara-Diaz and Guevara, 2003). The estimation of such models is not easy to handle and requires sophisticated econometric methods: Munizaga et al. (2008) presented the first results of a simultaneously estimated time use and mode choice model by allowing for possible intercorrelations between discrete and continuous decisions. In this paper we go a step further and present the first joint time use, expenditure allocation and discrete mode choice model, which includes all the required components of the complete Jara-Diaz model formulation (Jara-Diaz et al., 2008).

Recent research has shown a trend towards a potentially more insightful measure by decomposing the value of travel time (VTT) - typically derived from discrete choice models - into two separate parts: The value of leisure (VOR) and the value of time assigned to travel (VTAT). In this paper we refine the micro- economic modeling framework proposed by Jara-Diaz et al. (2008), allowing for 1) correlations between continuous time use and expenditure allocation 2) correlations between continuous equations and discrete mode choices and 3) correlations within individuals‘ mode choices by accounting for the panel structure, using a representative sample of 748 Austrian workers observed over one week (Aschauer et al., 2018). Compared to the independent estimation approach, although coefficients are similar, the simultaneous estimation of correlated coefficients yields a significant increase in model fit, and leads to a - from an analytical point of view - substantial simplification of the modelling structure. VTT (10 Euro/h for car, 4 Euro/h for public transportation, 8 Euro/h for bike and 15 Euro/h for walk) and the resulting VTAT (as the difference between VOR and VTT) vary substantially between the different modes, implying that e.g. the conditions of travel in public transportation are perceived more pleasant compared to car.

Mode choice models have been extensively used to evaluate policy implications and level-of-service changes, providing a powerful tool in transport planning for developing effective travel demand forecasts (Bhat, 1998). As a key valuation indicator, the value of travel time has always been subject to extensive debate in both academia and politics, because savings in travel time have accounted for the biggest share of user benefits in most cost-benefit analysis.

This thesis presents the SuMo-DAQ concept for the real-time data acquisition, processing and analysis of imaging X-ray spectroscopy detector systems of the next generation. The FPGA-based concept enables the analysis of data streams of several GB/s and the significant reduction for recording them. Novel adaptive parameter estimators allow for the automatic adaption of the data processing to the detector system used and to the current measuring conditions. In changing measurement environments, such as in satellites and in long-time measurements, the measurement accuracy can be significantly enhanced. In dieser Arbeit wird das SuMo-DAQ-Konzept für die Echtzeitdatenerfassung, -verarbeitung und -analyse von bildgebenden Röntgenspektroskopie-Detektor-Systemen der nächsten Generation vorgestellt. Das FPGA-basierte Konzept ermöglicht es, Datenströme von mehreren GB/s in Echtzeit zu analysieren und für die Speicherung deutlich zu reduzieren. Neuartige adaptive Parameterschätzer ermöglichen die automatische Anpassung der Datenverarbeitung an das verwendete Detektorsystem sowie an die aktuellen Messbedingungen. In sich verändernden Messumgebungen, wie z.B. auf Satelliten sowie bei Langzeitmessungen, kann die Messgenauigkeit dadurch signifikant erhöht werden.

Die Komplexität moderner Produkte und die Notwendigkeit, Fertigungsprozesse noch reaktionsschneller an die individuellen, häufig sehr variantenreichen Kundenbedürfnisse anzupassen, zwingen den Unternehmer zum Einsatz von hochflexiblen, wandlungsfähigen und ressourceneffizienten Produktionsanlagen. Damit einher geht die Forderung nach einem maximalen Grad an Autarkie, um Fertigungsprozesse über einen längeren Zeitraum flexibel, zuverlässig und vor allem störungsfrei zu gestalten. Voraussetzung bei der Umsetzung ist die Erweiterung der Funktionalität und die Leistungsfähigkeit einer Produktionszelle zur Gewährleistung eines hohen Grades an Selbstständigkeit. Diese Selbstständigkeit lässt sich nur durch den Einsatz intelligenter Systemkomponenten realisieren. Die Sensorik gilt dabei als Schlüsseltechnologie auf dem Weg zur intelligenten Systemkomponente. Rein mechanische Systeme sind heute schon an ihrer physikalischen Grenze und eine funktionelle Erweiterung ist vielfach nur durch die Kombination Mechanik- Elektronik erzielbar. OTT-JAKOB Spanntechnik hat sich daher entschieden, den mechatronischen Weg zu gehen und Anfang 2008 eine eigene Elektronikentwicklung innerhalb der Konstruktionsabteilung gegründet. Das vorliegende Dokument soll dem Leser einen Überblick zu den bisher verfügbaren Assistenzsystemen der Firma OTT-JAKOB im Bereich der Motorspindelüberwachung geben und Hintergrundinformationen zum Plananlagenkontrollsystem liefern. Grundgedanke ist die Betrachtung des OTT-JAKOB-Plananlagenkontrollsystems im Kontext mit dem Stand der Technik sowie der Verschmutzungsproblematik im Bereich der Werkzeugschnittstelle. Anhand von zwei typischen Bearbeitungsprozessen wird der wirtschaftliche und technische Vorteil des OTT-JAKOB-Systems herausgearbeitet