Applying data-driven multimodal speed management strategies for safe, efficient transportation

Reports and Proceedings

PORTLAND STATE UNIVERSITY

How can we use a variety of data-driven speed management strategies to make transportation safer and more efficient for all modes–whether you’re driving, walking or taking transit?

The project was led by Yao Jan Wu, director of the Smart Transportation Lab at the University of Arizona. Co-investigators were Xianfeng Terry Yang of the University of Utah, who researches traffic operations and modeling along with connected automated vehicles, and Sirisha Kothuri of Portland State University, whose research has focused on improving signal timing to better serve pedestrians. Join them on Sept 15, 2021 for a free webinar to learn more.

"We want to improve mobility for all users, be it pedestrians, vehicle drivers or transit riders, and there are different strategies to do this. How do we harness data to drive us to these strategies?" Kothuri said.

Funded by the National Institute for Transportation and Communities (NITC), this multi-university collaboration addressed the question from three angles:

• Wu and his students in Arizona looked at the impact of speed management strategies on conventional roadways. 
• Yang and his team examined the effects of speed management strategies on connected corridors, coordinating with transit signal priority (TSP) systems. 
• Kothuri and her PSU team came up with an approach to estimate pedestrian delay at signalized intersections.

The aim of their combined research efforts was to investigate the possibility of developing and implementing more innovative speed management strategies that are effective for multimodal transportation and can be applied in both conventional roadways and "connected" roadways - i.e. equipped with vehicle-to-infrastructure or infrastructure-to-infrastructure communication capabilities.

IMPACT OF SPEED FEEDBACK SIGNS ON TRAFFIC FLOW AND SAFETY

Working with Pima County, Arizona, Wu and the Arizona research team evaluated the mobility and safety impacts of speed feedback signs on conventional roadways. Ina Road, a major signalized arterial in Tucson, was selected as the study corridor. This corridor was chosen because of the existing speed feedback signs along the corridor between signalized intersections, and due to the presence of advanced traffic data collection systems. Traffic data were collected for four weeks (May 28-June 25, 2018), and the existing signs were disabled for two weeks (June 11th-June 25th) during the data collection.

Using MioVision’s TrafficLink platform and high-resolution data, the researchers measured:

• Percentage arrival on red: The percentage of vehicles that arrived at the intersection when the signal was red. 
• Split failure: The occurrence of leftover demand (when at least one vehicle in the queue was not able to go, but had to wait for the next green cycle) for a specific approach at an intersection.
• Intersection delay: Total amount of time that all vehicles spend in the intersection queue while waiting to pass the intersection.

For a given time of day before and after disabling the speed feedback signs, only a little variation in traffic flow was observed. Similar traffic flow peaks for all the segments suggest that arterial mobility and traffic flow were not affected by disabling the signs. But what about the signs' effect on safety?

Data from the Pima Association of Governments show that the total number of severe crashes (four) on the study corridor all occurred before implementing the speed feedback signs in 2015. Moreover, using speed as a performance indicator, the researchers found a reduction in drivers' speeds along each link of the corridor, in between intersections (see page 21 of the final report for a table of speed results on weekdays and weekends). The reduction in the link speed was significant during the times the feedback signs were enabled, suggesting a reduced likelihood of severe crashes.

RETIMING SIGNALS FOR TRANSIT SIGNAL PRIORITY

Yang and the Utah team explored the impact of a speed management strategy on a connected corridor in Salt Lake City, Utah: how does signal retiming impact a transit signal priority (TSP) system?

Although TSP is a promising way to reduce bus delays at intersections, improve transit operational reliability, and consequently increase transit ridership with improved service, the effectiveness of TSP is subject to things like bus schedule, signal timing plan, passenger flows, etc. Considering this, the Utah Department of Transportation (UDOT) adopted a speed management strategy – signal coordination and retiming –  to improve the effectiveness of TSP. UDOT implemented signal coordination along a stretch of Redwood Road, a connected corridor with dedicated short-range communication, and applied several signal timing plans with the aim of maximizing the benefits of TSP. 

In general, researchers found, the average rate of TSP served before signal retiming was 33.13%, which is lower than that of 35.29% after signal retiming. This means that more buses requesting signal priority had their requests met, after the signals were retimed. In other words, the speed management strategies were also helping to improve bus reliability. 

In addition, bus travel time and bus running time were reduced after signal retiming. All of these findings indicate that the speed management strategy implemented along this connected vehicle corridor results in an improvement of TSP and bus service.

ESTIMATING PEDESTRIAN DELAY

There is technology, like signal controllers that can record high-resolution data, capable of recording pedestrian delay; but not every intersection is equipped with this technology because it is costly. Agencies are upgrading their infrastructure when possible, but there are still a lot of intersections where there is no means of knowing how long of a delay a pedestrian may experience. 

The PSU team, led by Kothuri, developed an alternative method for estimating pedestrian delay by using controller data for estimating multimodal signal performance measures.

Traditionally, signal timing is calibrated to prioritize vehicle movement, and long delays for pedestrians can increase noncompliance, causing unnecessary risk. So the team's goal was to find a way to use data to estimate what the pedestrian delay would be, at intersections that are not equipped with the latest infrastructure. Researchers took data from Ina Road, the same study corridor in Pima County, Arizona used to evaluate speed management strategies, and used finite mixture modeling to model pedestrian delay. Results showed that their method was able to successfully model the delay fluctuations with less than 10% mean absolute error. This method can be applied to intersections with similar characteristics as the test intersections. So cities and agencies that do not have signal controllers to capture pedestrian delay can use this finite mixture modeling method to figure out where they need to apply strategies to reduce that delay. 

The application of the proposed method could be beneficial to transportation agencies in three capacities:

1. providing a more reliable, robust, and accurate approach for estimating pedestrian delay at signalized intersections where sensors are not available to collect pedestrian delay;
2. a tool for analyzing the risk of pedestrians violating the signal;
3. calibrating a network-wide model for estimating pedestrian delay at all intersections without the need to use additional resources

OUTCOMES OF THE RESEARCH

An effective strategy for improving mobility needed to consider both motorized and non-motorized modes of transportation. The three main achievements of this project were:

1. Evaluate the impact of speed management strategies along conventional arterials using smart sensor data;
2. Understand the role of conventional speed management strategies in supporting connected arterials;
3. Examine the possibility of using controller event-based data to estimate multimodal signal performance measures.

Improved multimodal speed management strategies foster a safer community that will, in turn, encourage more people to walk and bike. This project addressed data-driven multimodal speed management strategies for traditional corridors using traffic sensors, and for future evaluation of connected vehicle-based strategies. The project also strengthened relationships between the three universities and their local partners, including Pima County and the Utah DOT.

"This project highlighted the strong collaboration we have among the universities. Trying to find innovative solutions during the process tied our universities together, bringing local resources together as well," Wu said.

ABOUT THE PROJECT

Data-Driven Mobility Strategies for Multimodal Transportation

Yao-Jan Wu, University of Arizona; Xianfeng Yang, University of Utah; Sirisha Kothuri, Portland State University

• Download the Final Report (PDF)
• Download the Project Brief (PDF)
• Register for the September 15, 2021 webinar

This research was funded by the National Institute for Transportation and Communities, with additional support from Pima County Public Works Administration, Portland State University, University of Arizona, University of Utah, and Utah Department of Transportation.

RELATED RESEARCH

To learn more about this and other NITC research, sign up for our monthly research newsletter.

• Connected Vehicle System Design for Signalized Arterials
• Improving Walkability Through Control Strategies at Signalized Intersections
• Development Of Low-Cost Radar-Based Sensor For Multi-Modal Traffic Monitoring

The National Institute for Transportation and Communities (NITC) is one of seven U.S. Department of Transportation national university transportation centers. NITC is a program of the Transportation Research and Education Center (TREC) at Portland State University. This PSU-led research partnership also includes the Oregon Institute of Technology, University of Arizona, University of Oregon, University of Texas at Arlington and University of Utah. We pursue our theme — improving mobility of people and goods to build strong communities — through research, education and technology transfer.

 

Is your mobile provider tracking your location? This new technology could stop it.

For the first time, researchers have found a way to protect phone users’ identity and location, without compromising connectivity.

Peer-Reviewed Publication

UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA

Right now, there is a good chance your phone is tracking your location—even with GPS services turned off. That’s because, to receive service, our phones reveal personal identifiers to cell towers owned by major network operators. This has led to vast and largely unregulated data-harvesting industries based around selling users’ location data to third parties without consent.

For the first time, researchers at the University of Southern California (USC) Viterbi School of Engineering and Princeton University have found a way to stop this privacy breach using existing cellular networks. The new system, presented at USENIX Security conference on Aug. 11, protects users’ mobile privacy while providing normal mobile connectivity.

The new architecture, called “Pretty Good Phone Privacy” or PGPP, decouples phone connectivity from authentication and billing by anonymizing personal identifiers sent to cell towers. The software-based solution, described by the researchers as an “architecture change,” does not alter cellular network hardware.

“We’ve unwittingly accepted that our phones are tracking devices in disguise, but until now we’ve had no other option—using mobile devices meant accepting this tracking,” said study co-author Barath Raghavan, an assistant professor in computer science at USC. “We figured out how to decouple authentication from connectivity and ensure privacy while maintaining seamless connectivity, and it is all done in software.”

Decoupling authentication and phone connectivity

Currently, for your phone to work, the network has to know your location and identify you as paying customer. As such, both your identity and location data are tracked by the device at all times. Data brokers and major operators have taken advantage of this system to profit off revealing sensitive user data—to date, in the United States, there are no federal laws restricting the use of location data.

“Today, whenever your phone is receiving or sending data, radio signals go from your phone to the cell tower, then into the network,” said Raghavan. “The networks can scoop up all that data and sell it to companies or information-for-hire middlemen. Even if you stop apps tracking your location, the phone still talks to the tower, which means the carrier knows where you are. Until now, it seemed like a fundamental thing we could never get around.”

But Raghavan, with study co-author Paul Schmitt who recently joined USC’s Information Sciences Institute from Princeton University, found a way: they decoupled what’s known as authentication—who you are—from your phone connectivity. The key finding: there is no reason why your personal identifier has to grant you network connectivity.

Their new system works by breaking the direct line of communication between the user’s cellphone and the cell tower. Instead of sending a personally identifiable signal to the cell tower, it sends an anonymous “token.” It does this by using a mobile virtual network operator, such as Cricket or Boost, as a proxy or intermediary.

“The key is – if you want to be anonymous, how do they know you’re a paying customer?” said Raghavan. “In the protocol we developed, the user pays the bills, and gets a cryptographically signed token from the provider, which is anonymous. Now the identity in a specific location is separated from the fact that there is a phone at that location.”

Restoring control

The duo, who have launched a startup called Invisv, prototyped and tested everything with real phones in the lab. Crucially, their approach adds almost zero latency and doesn’t introduce new bottlenecks, avoiding performance and scalability problems of other anonymity networks. The service could handle tens of millions of users on a single server and would be deployed seamlessly to customers through the network operator.

Since the system works by stopping a phone from identifying its user to the cell tower, all other location-based services—such as searching for the nearest gas station, or contact tracing—still work as usual. The researchers hope the technology will be accepted by major networks as default, particularly with mounting legal pressure to adopt new privacy measures.

“For the first time in human history, almost every single human being on the planet can be tracked in real-time,” said Raghavan. “Until now, we had to just silently accept this loss of control over our own data—we believe this new measure will help to restore some of that control.”

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SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

Not applicable

ARTICLE TITLE

Pretty Good Phone Privacy

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

11-Aug-2021

 

The push to cashless transit fare leaves some riders behind

Reports and Proceedings

PORTLAND STATE UNIVERSITY

Our multi-year study on automated transit fare collection offers a key finding that won't surprise you: Despite the convenience, the rush toward cashless fare systems has created barriers for lower-income riders seeking to use transit. Results from focus groups, surveys, and a review of current transit agency practices suggest that continuing to accept cash is a crucial way to keep transit accessible. However, dealing with cash has drawbacks: it’s time intensive and expensive. Using a detailed cost-benefit model, the researchers explored the costs for agencies to maintain some cash options and found that some simple approaches can be quite effective. The best bang for the buck? Cash collection on board buses.

Launched in 2019, the research project "Applying an Equity Lens to Automated Payment Solutions for Public Transportation" was supported by a Pooled Fund grant program from the National Institute for Transportation and Communities (NITC) and conducted at three universities: Portland State University (PSU), the University of Oregon (UO), and the University of Tennessee, Knoxville (UTK). The other funding partners were City of Eugene, OR, City of Gresham, OR, Lane Transit District, Clevor Consulting Group, and RTD (Regional Transportation District) Denver.

Aaron Golub of PSU served as the principal investigator, with co-investigators Anne Brown of UO, Candace Brakewood of UTK and John MacArthur of PSU.

WHY STUDY CASHLESS TRANSIT FARE?

Automated payment technologies can smooth operations and improve data collection, but the added convenience for the agency and some riders comes at a price: those systems require riders to have access to private internet, smartphones, and banking/credit services. Access that is decidedly not universal. What happens to the riders who are left behind?

Fare payment systems have a long history in significant equity challenges - both in fare amounts, but also in how and where fare can be purchased and stored. The final report “Applying an Equity Lens to Automated Payment Solutions for Public Transportation” (PDF) is a detailed exploration of how transit riders pay for their fare, based on 2,303 intercept surveys and three focus groups with transit riders in Colorado and Oregon. Researchers looked at the use of cash, and focused on riders who may be excluded if cash options are removed as new fare payment systems are implemented in the coming years. The research team also interviewed employees at ten transit agencies to find out how their fare payment has been modernized in the past 5 years, how those agencies have evaluated the equity implications of these changes, and what programs they have deployed to mitigate the equity impacts.

Andrew Martin, Development Planner at Lane Transit District, served on the project's technical advisory committee. "Around the same time as this study, we were in the middle of purchasing and implementing our first electronic fare collection system. We had already decided to take a more customer-centric approach: instead of going completely cash-free, we determined that we were going to take on the costs of making sure our service remained accessible to all riders. It was good to see, in the research, a lot of the things that we were intuitively feeling turned out to be true. The cost-benefit analysis shows that the cost isn't as great as you think; by doing the equity mitigations, you might end up with higher ridership and offset the revenue loss," Martin said.

SOME KEY FINDINGS

Researchers found that a significant number (around 30%) of transit riders still rely heavily on paying cash on-board buses. Older and lower-income respondents had less access to smartphones and internet. 

Of those who do own smartphones, many are concerned about reaching data limits, and some depend solely on public Wi-Fi for internet connectivity. 

A small but significant number of riders (around 7%) have no access to formal banking services.

The researchers worked with transit organizations in three case cities: Eugene, OR (population 247,421); Denver, CO (population 2,374,203); and Portland, OR (population 1,849,898). The cost-benefit model can be used by any size agency to implement new fare payment technology.

"One thing that would be really helpful to a lot of agencies is the cost modeling [the researchers] did. It estimates the general cost to put new technologies out there, like ticket vending machines. A lot of smaller agencies may not have things like that, and they're really useful for customers. So even aside from the equity focus, there is a lot of good info on costs of implementing a system," said Martin.

COST BENEFIT MODEL

Researchers constructed a quantitative cost-benefit model that combines first-year capital investments along with 10 years of maintenance, operations and capital replacement into a single total cost estimate. This approach creates an overall reflection of the lifecycle costs of the fare payment system, meaning it enables us to understand the total cost from both the initial costs, as well as the recurring annual costs.

They then used the model to explore and compare four scenarios along with an additional base (no-cash) case. Scenarios are based on the feedback received from transit agencies and a review of best practices nationally: 

• Base - (No cash accepted anywhere) 
• Scenario 1 - No cash anywhere, adds retail network 
• Scenario 2 - Cash on board, not at TVMs, no retail 
• Scenario 3 - Cash only at TVMs, no retail 
• Scenario 4 - Cash accepted everywhere

"The heart of this cost-benefit model is, how many riders cannot ride under the different scenarios? We were able to study more than 2,000 riders, and, in the fully no-cash base case, we knew that about 8% of riders could not ride, based on our surveys. Their answers to how they would  ride with different configurations of ticket vending machines and cash on board informed this model," Golub said.

SELECTING MITIGATION STRATEGIES

Any of the above scenarios 1-4, above the no-cash baseline, can mitigate some of the equity implications of going cashless. Which scenario is best for a particular setting depends greatly on how many riders are potentially excluded by a cashless fare system, and on which options those riders would most likely use, given the opportunity to pay with cash. Based on the results of the cost-benefit analysis for each of the three case cities, researchers developed some general principles that agencies should keep in mind, when choosing strategies to help keep transit accessible. 

"When you're looking at 10 different systems and you've got to justify to the board, the general manager, the community, why you're spending money a certain way – it's really helpful to have research like this that shows that the costs are not some huge amount. When equity is cheap to obtain, it's really easy to justify doing that," Martin said.

Larger agencies spend less to collect fare. This impacts the cost-benefit calculation of adding additional capabilities. Small agencies, the researchers suggest, should seriously consider going fare-free. The Eugene case study (the smallest agency) shows that, across the board, fare collection consumes a large part of fare revenues - in the full cash scenario, about 40% of revenue is spent on collecting fare. 

Retail is a low-cost option: Accepting cash payments at retail locations is by far the lowest cost option to add cash capabilities in terms of total cost, net costs, and in terms of cost to accommodate potentially excluded riders. It is also the most commonly used mitigation, according to interviews with agencies. However, the retail network still poses significant geographical barriers for many riders, and does not offer the kind of coverage and access that cash collection on-board would offer.

Simple cash collection on buses could be an important bridge: According to the ridership survey data, in addition to being a low-cost option for agencies, this mitigation also added significant ridership. Accepting cash at ticket vending machines was found to be much more expensive than accepting cash on board.

When larger numbers of riders are excluded, equity mitigations are cheaper. The larger number of riders that are excluded, the bigger impact equity mitigations have and the cheaper they are per additional rider, and per additional fare collected. The Portland-Gresham case study showed relatively few riders were excluded when cash was eliminated compared to the other properties. That meant that adding retail cash collection cost $0.27 per new boarding. In Denver and Eugene, larger populations of riders were potentially excluded by cashless fare, and adding retail capabilities only cost 14 and 1.9 cents per boarding, respectively.

"Within the 10-year transition, some of the worst effects could be avoided by using some of these mitigations,” Golub told NextCity in a May 25, 2021 article: What Happens When Cash Fares Are Eliminated?

This research was funded by the National Institute for Transportation and Communities; the City of Eugene, OR, City of Gresham, OR, Lane Transit District, Clevor Consulting Group, and RTD (Regional Transportation District) Denver.

ABOUT THE PROJECT

Applying an Equity Lens to Automated Payment Solutions for Public Transportation

Aaron Golub and John MacArthur, Portland State University; Anne Brown, University of Oregon; Candace Brakewood, University of Tennessee, Knoxville

• Download the Final Report (PDF)
• Download the Project Brief (PDF)
• Read a 2020 blog post by Aaron Golub: The Hidden Costs of Removing the Option to Pay for Transit With Cash?
• Watch the recorded webinar from May 11, 2021
• Download the cost-benefit model (Excel spreadsheet)

RELATED RESEARCH

To learn more about this and other NITC research, sign up for our monthly research newsletter.

• New Mobility For All: Can Targeted Information And Incentives Help Underserved Communities Realize The Potential Of Emerging Mobility Options?
• National Scan of Bike Share Equity Programs
• The Connection between Investments in Bus Stops, Ridership, and ADA Accessibility

The National Institute for Transportation and Communities (NITC) is one of seven U.S. Department of Transportation national university transportation centers. NITC is a program of the Transportation Research and Education Center (TREC) at Portland State University. This PSU-led research partnership also includes the Oregon Institute of Technology, University of Arizona, University of Oregon, University of Texas at Arlington and University of Utah. We pursue our theme — improving mobility of people and goods to build strong communities — through research, education and technology transfer.

 

Scrap the nap: Study shows short naps don’t relieve sleep deprivation

Peer-Reviewed Publication

MICHIGAN STATE UNIVERSITY

 

IMAGE: RESEARCHERS FOUND THAT SHORT NAPS OF 30 OR 60 MINUTES DID NOT SHOW ANY MEASURABLE EFFECTS ON MITIGATING EFFECTS OF SLEEP DEPRIVATION. view more 

CREDIT: CREATIVE COMMONS VIA PXHERE

EAST LANSING, Mich. – A nap during the day won’t restore a sleepless night, says the latest study from Michigan State University’s Sleep and Learning Lab.

“We are interested in understanding cognitive deficits associated with sleep deprivation. In this study, we wanted to know if a short nap during the deprivation period would mitigate these deficits,” said Kimberly Fenn, associate professor of MSU, study author and director of MSU’s Sleep and Learning Lab. “We found that short naps of 30 or 60 minutes did not show any measurable effects.”

The study was published in the journal Sleep and is among the first to measure the effectiveness of shorter naps — which are often all people have time to fit into their busy schedules.

“While short naps didn’t show measurable effects on relieving the effects of sleep deprivation, we found that the amount of slow-wave sleep that participants obtained during the nap was related to reduced impairments associated with sleep deprivation,” Fenn said.

Slow-wave sleep, or SWS, is the deepest and most restorative stage of sleep. It is marked by high amplitude, low frequency brain waves and is the sleep stage when your body is most relaxed; your muscles are at ease, and your heart rate and respiration are at their slowest.

“SWS is the most important stage of sleep,” Fenn said. “When someone goes without sleep for a period of time, even just during the day, they build up a need for sleep; in particular, they build up a need for SWS. When individuals go to sleep each night, they will soon enter into SWS and spend a substantial amount of time in this stage.”

Fenn’s research team – including MSU colleague Erik Altmann, professor of psychology, and Michelle Stepan, a recent MSU alumna currently working at the University of Pittsburgh - recruited 275 college-aged participants for the study.

The participants completed cognitive tasks when arriving at MSU’s Sleep and Learning Lab in the evening and were then randomly assigned to three groups:  The first was sent home to sleep; the second stayed at the lab overnight and had the opportunity to take either a 30 or a 60 minute nap; and the third did not nap at all in the deprivation condition.

The next morning, participants reconvened in the lab to repeat the cognitive tasks, which measured attention and placekeeping, or the ability to complete a series of steps in a specific order without skipping or repeating them — even after being interrupted.

“The group that stayed overnight and took short naps still suffered from the effects of sleep deprivation and made significantly more errors on the tasks than their counterparts who went home and obtained a full night of sleep,” Fenn said. “However, every 10-minute increase in SWS reduced errors after interruptions by about 4%.”

These numbers may seem small but when considering the types of errors that are likely to occur in sleep-deprived operators — like those of surgeons, police officers or truck drivers — a 4% decrease in errors could potentially save lives, Fenn said.

“Individuals who obtained more SWS tended to show reduced errors on both tasks. However, they still showed worse performance than the participants who slept,” she said.

Fenn hopes that the findings underscore the importance of prioritizing sleep and that naps — even if they include SWS — cannot replace a full night of sleep.

(Note for media: Please include the following link to the study in all online media coverage: https://academic.oup.com/sleep/advance-article-abstract/doi/10.1093/sleep/zsab152/6307588)

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Michigan State University has been working to advance the common good in uncommon ways for more than 165 years. One of the top research universities in the world, MSU focuses its vast resources on creating solutions to some of the world’s most pressing challenges, while providing life-changing opportunities to a diverse and inclusive academic community through more than 200 programs of study in 17 degree-granting colleges.

 

For MSU news on the Web, go to MSUToday. Follow MSU News on Twitter at twitter.com/MSUnews

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JOURNAL

SLEEP

DOI

10.1093/sleep/zsab152

ARTICLE TITLE

Slow-wave sleep during a brief nap is related to reduced cognitive deficits during sleep deprivation

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

22-Jun-2021

Closer encounters: How UFOs became a target for US intelligence again

    

Tourists waiting outside the gift shop near Area 51, a US Air Force facility said to host an alien spacecraft that has become a popular destination for alien enthusiasts.

 © John Locher, AP

Text by: Sébastian SEIBT

A hotly anticipated US government report on unidentified aerial phenomena (UAP) was released on Friday. After decades of mysterious reported sightings, the Pentagon had too little data to accurately determine the nature of these flying objects. But the fact that the report even exists is a marvel in itself, dating back to events from 1947.

While Doctor Who, The X-Files and ET fuel our imaginations with the possibility of alien life on earth, they remain works of fiction. But the nine-page report on UFOs, released by the US Office of the Director of National Intelligence and the Pentagon last Friday, is very much real.

The document discloses 144 observations of what the government calls “unidentified aerial phenomenon” (UAP) dating all the way back to 2004, most of which were reported by US Navy personnel. Mysterious flying objects, described in the report as a “potential threat” to US national security, were said to “probably lack a single explanation”.

Although the nature of these UFOs is still unknown, the document’s publication is a climactic moment in the decades spent analysing sightings. The US military has been tracking, deflecting and debunking observations of UFOs and “flying saucers” since the 1950s.

The truth is still out there

Bizarrely enough, efforts to disclose intelligence on UFOs wouldn’t have been possible without Donald Trump and the Covid-19 pandemic. In December 2020, just before leaving the White House, Trump signed a $2.3 trillion (€1.9tn) coronavirus relief bill into law. The bill included a clause ordering the US Department of Defense to tell Congress everything they knew about UFOs. And they had six months to do so.

The news ignited excitement among alien enthusiasts, eagerly waiting for the report to be released. But to their dismay, there was little evidence to confirm or deny any intergalactic visitations. Possible explanations for UAP included birds, drones, atmospheric phenomena like ice crystals, innovative developments by US government entities and unchartered technologies by adversaries such as Russia or China. However, the report clearly stated a “lack [of] sufficient information” in its dataset “to attribute incidents to specific explanations”.

Only one of the reported sightings was fully accounted for. Classified as airborne clutter, it was identified “with high confidence” as a large, deflating balloon. “The others remain unexplained,” the report said.

There is still hope for enthusiasts, though. In the next three months, the Pentagon will develop a new strategy for collecting and tracking information on potential sightings.

“It is critical that the United States maintain operations security and safety at DoD ranges,” Deputy Defense Secretary Kathleen Hicks wrote in a memo released on Friday. “To this end, it is equally critical that all US military aircrews or government personnel report whenever aircraft or other devices interfere with military training. This includes the observation and reporting of UAPs.”

UFOs: a bipartisan fascination

But a lack of conclusive evidence is precisely what could fuel more theories of otherworldly visitations, to which the US government is clearly not immune. The surprising decision to publish the report was described by the BBC as “a cultural shift that saw the US military and US political leadership go from extra-terrestrial-sceptic to ET-curious”.

In fact, UFOs have become a rare unifying topic across political lines. “After this last year, it’s kind of nice to see something that’s bipartisan,” Robert Powell, an executive board member of the Scientific Coalition for UAP Studies, told the Washington Post.

On the left, former presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, Bill Clinton’s chief of staff John Podesta and former Democratic Senate leader Harry M. Reid all expressed an interest in researching unidentified aerial phenomenon. Former President Barack Obama also chimed in, acknowledging in May 2021 that “there’s footage and records of objects in the skies that we don’t know exactly what they are”.

In the search for greater transparency, the top Republican on the Senate intelligence committee Marco Rubio said in May that despite the “stigma on Capitol Hill” resulting in “giggles” from his colleagues, the issue was worth investigating. He was joined by Fox news host Tucker Carlson, who referred to UFOs as a “very big issue”.

From the margins to the centre-stage

Often relegated to fringe, unscientific and even conspiratorial theories reserved for “ufologists”, it’s the first time since the 1950s that the topic has been taken seriously by the US government. After the pilot of a small plane reported seeing several “saucer-like” objects flying near Mount Rainier in Washington state in a 1947 newspaper headline, ordinary citizens followed suit. Sightings of “flying saucers” started exploding in numbers.

In the summer of that same year, theories circulated that an alien spacecraft had crashed near a military site in Roswell, New Mexico. US military officials visited the crash site and said they found remnants of a crashed weather balloon, but their findings weren’t enough to quell what had already become a national sensation.

Because of the Cold War, the US military wasn’t as worried about coming face to face with an alien as it was about discovering a Soviet machine more technically advanced than their own. So in 1953, a CIA advisory panel of experts was formed to officially investigate unidentified flying objects, saying they posed a potential threat to national security.

In a lengthy investigation on the relationship between UFOs and the Pentagon published by the New Yorker magazine in April 2021, journalist Gideon Lewis-Kraus wrote: “The Cold War made it crucial that the US government be perceived to have full control over its airspace.”

What ensued was a vast media campaign in the 1960s, orchestrated by the US government to try to dissuade the population from tracking down “flying saucers”. For a period of about 40 years, the US government was entirely silent on the issue. This never stopped ufologists from pilgrimaging across the “Extraterrestrial Highway” in the Nevada desert to Area 51, a US Air Force facility said to host an alien spacecraft that has become a popular tourist destination.

Later on in 2017, the New York Times published an article about the Pentagon’s mysterious UFO programme and the subject came back into the limelight. The article explained that sightings had frequently come from the US military itself, shattering the myth that the government considered civilian reports to be nonsense spewed by conspiracy theorists.

Since then, US media outlets have been able to access several videos and audio recordings of US Air Force pilots who have come face to face with unidentifiable objects flying at supersonic speeds, their movements hard to replicate.

Playing politics with Blink-182

Months before the report on UAP was ordered by Trump, the US Department of Defense formally released three Navy videos showing unidentified aerial phenomena blurrily moving against dark backdrops. Unintentionally stoking ufologists hopes that extra-terrestrial life exists, the Pentagon’s intention was to “clear up any misconceptions”.

The videos were first released between December 2017 and March 2018 by To The Stars Academy of Arts & Sciences, a private company co-founded by former Blink-182 member Tom DeLonge.

As to the question of why UFOs are coming back into the spotlight now, many speculate it could be tied to tense US-Russia relations. Just like in the beginning of the Cold War, the US once again feels its military and technological superiority is under threat.

David Clarke, an associate professor at Sheffield Hallam University in the UK, told the Washington Post: “My sort of view of this is UFOs are a product of the Cold War.” He said he found it “interesting that UFOs should once again come into public prominence” as they have today.

This article was adapted from the original in French.

German sports giant Adidas to sell Reebok

Adidas had owned Reebok for 15 years but was unable to revive the ailing brand. The German sporting goods behemoth saw its stock surge with the announcement of the sale.



High-profile stars like Victoria Beckham, Cardi B and Ariana Grande tried to help revive the brand

German sportswear firm Adidas said Thursday it will sell the brand Reebok to a US company, in a deal worth €2.1 billion ($2.5 billion).

Authentic Brands Group (ABG) will be Reebok's new owner, after Adidas failed to lift the fortunes of a brand it acquired in 2006.

The large US firm owns a number of brands including fashion retailers JCPenney, Forever21 and Brooks Brothers, as well as the magazine Sports Illustrated.

"Reebok has been a valued part of Adidas, and we are grateful for the contributions the brand and the team behind it have made to our company," Adidas CEO Kasper Rorsted said in a press release.

"With this change in ownership, we believe the Reebok brand will be well-positioned for long-term success," Rorsted said.

A struggling brand

ABG chief Jamie Salter said it was an "honor" to carry Reebok's legacy forward. "We look forward to working closely with the Reebok team to build on the brand's success," Salter said.

Boston-based Reebok was acquired by Adidas 15 years ago for €3.1 billion ($3.8 billion), as the German sports giant sought to take on US rival Nike.

Despite high-profile collaborations with the likes of Victoria Beckham, Cardi B and Ariana Grande in recent years, the brand struggled.

While Adidas said the sale of Reebok would have "no impact" on its financial outlook in the coming year, the company saw its stock price rise 1.6% after announcing the sale.

jcg/rs (Reuters, dpa)

German rail union warns of more possible action as strike bites

A union representing German train drivers has warned of further strike action after a walkout that crippled passenger services.

Passengers were left seeking alternatives as the majority of services were canceled


The German Train Drivers Union (GDL) said it retains the possibility of strike action next week if its demands are not satisfied.

A 48-hour passenger rail strike that started on Wednesday left travelers across Germany scrambling to make alternative arrangements.

Only about 25% of long-distance trains are operating as normal. Some 40% of regional routes are in service.

What is the union saying?

The GDL has said it will only make its decision on possible further strikes next week.

GDL vice-chairman Norbert Quitter said officials first wanted to assess the DB executive board's reaction to the initial strike.

A strike involving rail freight began on Tuesday evening, with the passenger train strike taking effect in the night going into Wednesday morning.

GDL has said it plans to end the strike Friday at 2 a.m. (0000 GMT).

What does management say?

Deutsch Bahn (DB) spokesman Achim Stauss described the strike as "completely excessive" and called on the GDF to desist from industrial action and resume negotiations.

Stauss said both sides are already "relatively close" at the negotiating table, he told national broadcaster ZDF.

"What there is to discuss must be clarified there and not at the expense of the passengers," said Stauss.

Watch video02:27 German floods destroy rails and train stations

What is the strike all about?

The GDL announced the strike after the collapse of wage talks with the DB management.

Union officials said representatives had failed to reach any agreement with DB over pay raises, bonuses, benefits, job security, and retirement for the GDL's 37,000 members.

The GDL is demanding a wage increase of around 3.2% by 2022, as well as the payment of a one-time coronavirus allowance of 600 euros ($700).

10 THINGS GERMANS GENERALLY KNOW ABOUT TRAINS

Did you get that?

There's a loudspeaker announcement while you're waiting for a train, but you barely distinguish a single word? The acoustics of any train station are generally bad, so instead of worrying too much about what you've missed, here's a German idiom for the unexceptional occasion: "Ich verstehe nur Bahnhof" — literally, "I only understand train station" — which means you didn't understand a thing. 12345678910

DB says its position on pay is "quite close" to the union's – conceding to the 3.2% demand but asking for an extra year to pay it out.

The company says that, after losing billions of pounds in revenue amid the coronavirus pandemic, it needs the delay.

Meanwhile, the even larger EVG train drivers union which has already reached an agreement with DB — has said it plans to renegotiate its contract if the GDL gets a better offer.

How Mekong River is turning into a new flashpoint in Indo-Pacific

Experts view the South China Sea as the most probable area of conflict in Asia. Their attention now has also turned to the Mekong River, where the economic and environmental stakes are arguably much higher.

China, one of Laos' closest political allies and trade partners, is a key investor in Mekong River projects

For several years, US politicians have adopted the Japanese slogan of a "free and open Indo-Pacific," calling for international law to apply over disputes in the South China Sea, where China is accused of acting aggressively.

Earlier this month, during the East Asia Summit foreign ministers' meeting, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken called for "a free and open Mekong."

The latest slogan points to the Mekong River's importance to peace and stability in mainland Southeast Asia, as well as China's alleged ambition to gain geopolitical advantage from riparian disputes.

The Mekong River begins in China's Tibetan Plateau and runs through Myanmar, Laos, Thailand and Cambodia before exiting in Vietnam's delta region. Hundreds of hydropower dams have been built up and down the river since 2010, and most of them are in China and Laos.

Laos, the poorest member of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) bloc and a landlocked state without much of a manufacturing sector, has recorded a 7% GDP growth on average for much of the past decade, thanks in large part to exporting hydropower-generated electricity.

Environmental catastrophe overshadowed by political agenda

However, dam-building has resulted in environmental destruction and accusations of forced evictions and land-clearing across the region.

When part of a dam collapsed in southern Laos in 2018, at least 40 people were killed and hundreds of households in the region were affected by flooding.

The Mekong River begins in China's Tibetan Plateau and runs through Myanmar, Laos, Thailand and Cambodia before exiting in Vietnam's delta region

Thailand and Vietnam now also say they are experiencing unusual flooding and droughts because of damming on upstream parts of the Mekong.

Pianporn Deetes, the Thailand and Myanmar campaigns director for International Rivers, a global NGO, argues that an increased American and Chinese interest in Mekong has made the debate "more politicized and polarized."

The concerns of riparian communities, she adds, are "being overshadowed or sidelined by political agenda."

Critics say that China could threaten to intentionally hold back much of the river's water upstream, producing extreme droughts in Thailand and Vietnam, as a way of pressuring Bangkok and Hanoi to accept Beijing's geopolitical aims. In late July, Chinese hackers allegedly stole data on the Mekong River from Cambodia's Foreign Ministry servers.

On the other hand, increased funding from US and China-led initiatives to governments and institutions in the region has "contributed to greater public attention and debate on issues critical to the future of the Mekong River and its people," Deetes told DW.

Can the US and China cooperate?

On August 2, US Secretary of State Blinken co-hosted the second ministerial meeting of the Mekong-US Partnership, created in 2020 to expand the work of a previous forum, the Lower Mekong Initiative. The Beijing-led Lancang-Mekong Cooperation forum was formed in 2016.

"The US emphasis on transparency and inclusivity as part of its Mekong-US Partnership is enabling productive outcomes in the Mekong region and decreasing China's accountability gap in its own backyard," said Brian Eyler, director of the Stimson Center's Southeast Asia program.

There are even claims that despite the conflict, the Mekong River could be one issue on which Beijing and Washington see eye-to-eye. "Environmental conservation of the Mekong is actually a major area of alignment for both the US and China," Cecilia Han Springer, a senior researcher with the Global China Initiative at the Global Development Policy Center, told DW.

Tensions within Southeast Asia

Susanne Schmeier, an associate professor in Water Law and Diplomacy at IHE Delft, identifies two main tensions between China and the Southeast Asian states, and among the Southeast Asian states themselves.

"The data shows that Thailand is the biggest investor in hydropower dams in Laos, building four times as many dams as China," said Eyler

Watch video 03:18 Mekong River threatened by dams and climate change

Thailand is also the biggest importer of electricity generated by Laos' hydropower dams. But there is already an excess of power generated by the dams in Laos, so Vientiane has "a tall order ahead" to find markets for that power, Eyler added. "It would be wise to pause future dam building until this supply-demand problem is worked out."

Deetes said, "As a key financier and buyer of electricity from Mekong mainstream and tributary dams in Laos, Thailand has a key role to play to reduce impacts on the Mekong and its people."

In February 2020, the Thai government ended the China-led Lancang-Mekong Navigation Channel Improvement Project over its possible social and environmental impacts.

In January this year, Thai authorities rejected the new technical report issued by the Chinese developers of the $2 billion (€1.7 billion) Sanakham dam project in Laos, arguing it didn't assess the environmental impact of downstream communities, mostly those in Thailand itself.

"Thailand should be more proactive in addressing the impacts of the Lancang cascade, including working with other Mekong countries, to advocate for the changes in the ways the dams are operated to reduce impacts on the river and communities downstream," said Deetes.

Economic dependence on China

But how much influence other Southeast Asian states have over Laos remains in doubt. The bigger problem is whether Laos, as the so-called battery of Asia, could wean its economy off reliance on hydropower investments and exports.

Unlike its neighbors, Laos doesn't have a large low-cost manufacturing sector. Its exports to the US and the European Union are negligible. The EU imported just €300 million worth of goods from Laos last year, according to European Commission data. Instead, the Lao economy remains heavily dependent on hydropower exports, mining and farming.

Watch video 07:27 Cambodia: Dam threatens Mekong's dolphins

"I do not think Laos is likely to divert from its current strategy as the export of hydropower to neighboring countries provides a reliable and promising source of income," said Schmeier.

Neither, Schmeier adds, does Laos' government have many incentives to diversify its economy. The development of dams provides various opportunities for "additional personal income" for government officials and other actors, she noted.

And China, one of Laos' closest political allies and trade partners, is a key investor in these projects.

Concerns have been expressed that Laos' considerable debt to China puts it at risk of Beijing's alleged "debt-trap diplomacy," which could force it to sell important state assets away to China in lieu of repayments.

In 2020, a Chinese firm effectively took control of Laos' domestic electricity grid.

After cataloguing the 100 largest hydropower projects in the Mekong region, Springer found that most of the hydropower projects in Laos plan to export up to 90% of electricity generated abroad. However, she adds, other renewable sources of energy, such as wind and solar, "can meet much of Laos' electricity demand with similar revenue streams and less capital investment than if the current hydropower pipeline was built."

Dozens detained after Syrian shops attacked in Turkey

Police in Ankara use tear to dispurse a crowd attacking shops believed to be owned by Syrian families STR AFP

Issued on: 12/08/2021 - 
Ankara (AFP)

Turkish police detained dozens of people on Thursday after a mob of angry men smashed up shops and cars believed to belong to Syrian migrants in the capital Ankara.

The unrest broke out late Wednesday in response to a fight between locals and migrants in which one Turkish national was stabbed to death.

Images on social media showed dozens of shouting men breaking through police cordons and then attacking cars and shops believed to be owned by Syrian families.

They smashed windows with stones and crowbars and tore down the metal grill of one store before breaking in and ransacking its shelves.

Images obtained by AFP showed police firing tear gas to dispurse the crowds as the violence raged late into the night.

One showed a young man trying to break into the apartment of a building by dislodging the metal wiring of its ground floor window.

Turkish Red Crescent chief Kerem Kinik tweeted an image of a child with streams of blood running down their face who he said had been hurt in the unrest.

"When did stoning houses at night become part of our tradition?" Kinik asked.

"Many refugees contacted us. They are worried for the safety of their children. They are scared."

The Ankara police said they had detained 76 people who were either suspected of involvement in the violence or of disseminating incendiary social media posts.

A young man trying to break into the apartment of a building by dislodging the metal wiring of its ground floor window STR AFP

The Anadolu state news agency said two "foreign nationals" also have been arrested and charged with homicide over the deadly fight.

- Anti-migrant sentiment -

The unrest in Ankara comes with polls showing anti-migrant sentiments riding high among many Turks.

Turkey has become home to 3.6 million Syrians under a deal it struck with the European Union in 2016 to help avert the continent's migrant crisis.

The sides are currently working on updating the terms.

Ankara has received billions of dollars in exchange for setting up camps in the southeast that are now home to more than four million people.

Turkey's main opposition party last month made waves by vowing to send Syrians "back home" if it came to power in a general election scheduled for 2023.

Angry crowds after unrest in response to a fight between locals and migrants in which one Turkish national was stabbed to death STR AFP

Analysts link some of the resentment to economic instability that accelerated in Turkey with the coronavirus pandemic.

The Teyit fact-checking platform has been debunking numerous negative social media posts about migrants -- many of them Afghan -- this week.

The issue is gaining added attention because of sweeping gains being made by Taliban fighters in Afghanistan, with some fearing a mass exodus from the war-torn country.

Turkey is on one of the main transit routes for Afghans seeking shelter in Europe.

© 2021 AFP

Is Morocco's 'Arab Spring' moment finally here?

After a fiery suicide by a cart driver, hundreds of Moroccans protested against their government. But this is not the first such case and it probably won't be the last.


The coronavirus pandemic has impacted the Moroccan economy and fueled angry protests

Earlier this week, hundreds of Moroccans protested the death of Yassine Lekhmidi, a 25-year-old man in the city of Sidi Bennour.

In July, local police confiscated a food cart Lekhmidi was driving because he wasn't wearing a face mask to protect against COVID-19. Despite paying a fine for the infraction, police refused to return his cart.

Distraught over the loss of an important source of income for his family, Lekhmidi set himself on fire. The young man was hospitalized with third-degree burns on July 28 and died of his injuries on August 6.

Over the past week, hundreds of locals in Sidi Bennour have taken to the streets to demand justice for Lekhmidi and his family. Moroccans elsewhere in the country were cautiously sympathetic to the cause.


"I think the citizens have the right to protest but they should do it legally," Imad, a 27-year-old student from Rabat, told DW.

"There have been a few protests here recently. It's the negative impact of the coronavirus," added Abdullah, a 40-year-old clothing retailer from Salé. "The way I see it, that's normal. People have a right to call for social justice."

Today in Tunisia, street vendor Mohamed Bouazizi is celebrated

Return of the Arab Spring?

The protests in Sidi Bennour have subsided over the past few days. Still, international observers quickly wondered whether Lekhmidi's death might spark wider protests, with many drawing parallels between his self-immolation and that of Mohamed Bouazizi.

A Tunisian street vendor, Bouazizi's 2010 death in similar circumstances is widely believed to have ignited popular revolution against Tunisia's dictatorship in 2011, which in turn inspired the so-called Arab Spring protests.

But in fact, Lekhmidi's death is not the first such case in Morocco to have sparked anti-government protests. Over the past decade, there have actually been several incidents in which injustice after a brush with authorities brought Moroccans to the streets.

That includes 2012, when five unemployed university graduates set themselves on fire outside a Ministry of Education building during anti-government protests in the capital Rabat. One person died in the incident.

In 2017, thousands of Moroccans protested the deaths of two brothers trapped in an abandoned coal mine in the town of Jerada. The unemployed men had been extracting coal from the dangerous mines then selling it to local "coal barons," some of whom held government positions.

The protester's hashtag, Grind Him, became popular on Morrocan social media after fishmonger Mouhcine Fikri's death

Objects of contempt

Possibly the best known — and most gruesome — event occurred in 2016, when police confiscated several tons of swordfish from a fishmonger, Mouhcine Fikri, in the coastal town of Hoceima.

Desperate to get his valuable wares back, Fikri jumped into the back of a garbage truck the fish had been thrown into.

Although local authorities later denied it, a government official reportedly told the operator of the truck to "grind him." Fikri was crushed to death in the back of the vehicle while officials stood by.

In the days that followed, thousands of locals demonstrated for justice for Fikri and his death is thought to have started the local Hirak al-Shaʿbi protest movement in Morocco's marginalized Rif region.

The thing these incidents have in common is "hogra," which is defined as "a feeling of being the object of contempt, structural injustice and humiliation," associated with "state officials who make life unlivable," explains the Arab Studies Institute, a US-based think tank, in an online lexicon defining terms coming out of protest movements in North Africa.

Morocco's King Mohammed VI

Under surveillance

Morocco has an elected parliament and is a constitutional monarchy. But in reality, it is King Mohammed VI, who's been on the throne for over 22 years now, who wields most political and economic power.

In the recent past, the country's authorities have been quick to deal with anti-government protests and strikes. They allow some demonstrations to go ahead but react quickly to serious challenges. For example, in the case of the ill-fated fishmonger, the king promised an investigation. Within days, several alleged perpetrators had been arrested.

But then, in other situations, dissenting voices, investigative journalists and protesters are policed, sometimes harshly. For instance, in late 2017, following outrage over the fishmonger's death, a law was passed that enabled Moroccan authorities to more ruthlessly suppress the Hirak al-Shaʿbi movement.

That is part of the reason related protests remain isolated in Morocco and have failed to grow into any kind of nationwide revolutionary moment according to locals.

"When you have a security system like this, it's really hard to go on the street to protest or make demands," a civil society activist in Rabat — who requested anonymity for fear of retribution — told DW. "Everybody knows somebody working in the security apparatus. It's so widespread and so large. That really discourages people from going out on the streets."

Pandemic pressure

Additionally, the opposition is splintered. "It's always difficult to know when a protest movement will escalate — or go nowhere," said Jacob Mundy, a visiting fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations and associate professor focusing on the Middle East and Maghreb at Colgate University in New York. "The last major wave of protests in Morocco became entangled in separatist ethnic issues in the north of the country, a politics that most Moroccans don't share. If the protests in Morocco become widespread throughout the country, then that could be a sign that something is different this time."

It has been suggested that the COVID-19 pandemic might be making that difference, as the health crisis is putting pressure on what observers describe as Morocco's "benevolent authoritarianism narrative."

In 2018, Morocco had the highest income inequality in North Africa

Lockdowns, a lack of tourism and the resulting impact on the economy has widened pre-existing income inequalities, which, according to a 2018 report by the OECD, were already worse in Morocco than in any other North African nation.

As social pressure has built inside the country, locals say there has also been more suppression of dissenting opinion. They tout recent revelations about the Moroccan government's use of the digital spyware Pegasus to target human rights lawyers and journalists as proof, as well as the arrest of independent journalists often on unrelated and disputed charges.

Morocco on a 'slippery slope from bad to worse'

"The effects of the coronavirus pandemic risk diminishing the monarchy's capacity to subdue the population and limit political dissent … politically, the health crisis has reinforced the regime's authoritarianism," experts at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace confirmed in a July 2020 commentary.

Moroccans protest against the incarceration of two journalists in 2021

"Even two years ago doing an interview like this would not have been a problem," the Rabat activist concluded, "but now it's much harder to voice demands, no matter who you are."

"A lot of people here work in the informal economy or day-to-day, as laborers," the activist told DW. "The pandemic has shut all that down. So it's harder and harder for people to make a living. For the first time ever, I heard about people going hungry in some of Morocco's bigger cities. And then there also seem to be systematic attempts not to let people speak about it openly. It feels like we are on a slippery slope," the activist concluded, "and going from bad to worse."