Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Transportation Needs Of Older Adults In Suburban And Rural Areas, Dahai Han

Theses and Dissertations

The fact that the average age of the world's population is increasing, which is more pronounced in developed countries, necessitates the understanding of the challenges faced by older adults in accessing transportation services. With advancing age, individuals may experience age-related changes that can notably affect their driving capabilities, emphasizing the importance of alternative transportation alternatives. This challenge is more evident in suburban and rural settings, where transportation choices are limited, and older adults often find themselves without access to suitable transportation alternatives. Given that mobility plays an essential role in maintaining social connections, accessing healthcare services, and fulfilling daily needs, …

Reaching Non-Work Destinations: Accessibility And Its Impacts On Travel Behavior, Sai Sun

Theses and Dissertations

As people’s daily activities are diverse, having access to various opportunities is important. However, the existing body of accessibility literature places great emphasis on job accessibility; research on non-work accessibility is limited. To fill the gap, this dissertation examines accessibility to four types of non-work opportunities (healthcare, retail, recreation, and food services) by three transportation modes (automobile, transit, and walking) as well as their impacts on travel in the Milwaukee region. This dissertation examines accessibility disparities across different racial/ethnic groups and income groups in Milwaukee County by comparing weighted average accessibility and overlaying spatial distribution of accessibility with population distributions. …

Air Cargo: Carriers, Cost, And Competition, Zoe Laulederkind

Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation examines the cost structure of U.S. air carriers participating in the freight transport sector. From 1991 to 2021, events such as the 9/11 terrorist attacks, the global financial crisis, and the COVID-19 pandemic have coincided with various events directly impacting the air freight transport industry. During this 30-year period, air transport has developed and implemented global tracking systems, engaged in labor negotiations, and weathered supply-chain shocks all of which warrant comprehensive evaluation of the U.S. air freight transport industry from the cost perspective. Chapter 1 of this thesis explores existence of natural monopoly and economies of scope among …

Exploration Of Older Adults’ Travel Behavior And Their Transportation Barriers, Hamideh Moayyed

Theses and Dissertations

Both the number of older adults and their proportion of the population are increasing rapidly in the United States. By 2040, about 20.7% of the U.S. population will be 65 and older (Harrison & Ragland, 2003a). These dramatic changes in the composition of the population will bring new challenges to the provision of transportation services. This is because the travel patterns and needs of older adults are likely to become more complicated. A growing number of people will find it increasingly difficult to meet their transportation needs. As the life expectancy of older adults is likely to continue to increase, …

Human Capital In The Knowledge Economy : A 3-Country Case Study In Healthcare, James Scott Mccallum

Theses and Dissertations

During the present knowledge economy there appear to be labor shortages at the same time and in the same regions in which there is an excess of labor supply. Such a pattern would run counter to previous major economic disruptions, as well as questioning traditional free market economic theory of supply and demand principles. Implications for policy where there are global labor shortages along with surplus labor availability in a market economy, are significant. It will likely indicate a drag on economic growth for business sectors, for regions and perhaps globally. It would indicate an accompanying growing disparity of income. …

The Food Police: Food Stamps, Surveillance, And The Construction Of The Undeserving Hungry, Renee Renee Scampini

Theses and Dissertations

Hunger in America is produced through broader social and economic inequality and patterns of hunger are unevenly distributed across places and social groups. While 10.5% of all U.S. households experienced hunger, Black households, Latino households, households with children headed by either a single woman or a single man, and households in poverty faced substantially higher rates of hunger in 2019 (Coleman-Jensen et al. 2020). The Food Stamp Program (FSP), now called the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), is the largest hunger relief program in the U.S. Acknowledging the racialized and gendered patterns of hunger in the U.S. is central to …

Exploring Predictive Factors Of Air Force Servicewomen's Retention, Christine Kmiecik

Theses and Dissertations

Military women’s retention is an ongoing organizational challenge. In the U.S. Air Force, the target service for this study, women currently account for 20% of all personnel, but across all services they are retained at a rate five to ten percent lower than males. A related issue is dual-military marriages, and 11% of all active-duty Airmen, regardless of gender, are married to another service member. Almost 54% of married female Airmen are in a dual-military marriage, compared to 13% of married male Airmen. Unlike non-dual-military marriages, retention of dual-military servicemembers significantly decreases after ten years in service. This study seeks …

Development Of A Cloud-Based Traffic Diagnosis And Management Laboratory Based On High-Coverage Alpr, Weijie Tan

Theses and Dissertations

As the traffic volume in urban areas continues to increase, traffic congestion results in longer travel time, lower reliability, and larger energy consumption. Traffic diagnosis and management strategies are generally considered the most cost-efficient approaches to reduce traffic congestion. Automated License Plate Reader (ALPR) is one of the most valuable data sources for traffic diagnosis and management. It outperforms many traditional methods of traffic data collection in terms of cost and accuracy. Many cities have deployed their ALRP systems in the past two decades. In those cities, traffic networks are highly covered by ALPRs. ALPRs produce a tremendous amount of …

Comprehensive Safety Analysis Of Vulnerable Road User Involved Motor Vehicle Crashes, Farah Jazi Al-Mahameed

Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation explores, identifies, and evaluates a multitude of factors significantly affecting motor vehicle crashes involving pedestrians and bicyclists, commonly defined as vulnerable road users (VRUs). The methodologies are guided by the concept of safe behavior of different parties that are primary responsible for a crash, either a pedestrian, a bicyclist or a driver, pertaining to roadway design, traffic conditions, land use and built environment variables; and the findings are beneficial for recommending targeted and effective safety interventions.

The topic is motivated by the fact that human factors contribute to over ninety percent of the crashes, especially the ones involving …

Public Transit And Micro-Mobility: Identifying The Impacts Of Bikeshare On Public Transit Ridership In The City Of Chicago, Shamsi Mosharraf Trisha

Theses and Dissertations

ABSTRACT

PUBLIC TRANSIT AND MICRO-MOBILITY: IDENTIFYING THE IMPACTS OF BIKESHARE ON PUBLIC TRANSIT RIDERSHIP IN THE CITY OF CHICAGO

The variation of transit and bike share access amongst the communities in Chicago, in terms of their social, ethnic and economic segregation was investigated. The findings identify the area suitable for implementation of micro mobility as a first and last mile option. Based on transit connectivity and population mix, the communities are ranked into five groups: 1) Central: excellent transit and bike share access serving the micro mobility purpose; 2) North Side : good transit access which can be improved further …

Transportation Network Company (Tnc) Ridehailing Travel Patterns In Chicago’S Economically Disconnected Areas, Kelly Marie O'Brien

Theses and Dissertations

Transportation network companies (TNCs) like Uber and Lyft position themselves as a complement—rather than a detriment—to existing public transportation. Since the launch of TNCs, however, public transit ridership in major cities has steadily declined. This severely impacts economically disconnected residents, who often do not own automobiles and therefore rely on public transportation. The decline of public transit, coupled with the growth of TNCs, thus begs the question: Do TNC services complement or substitute public transportation in serving economically disconnected urban residents? Using data from the American Community Survey and new TNC data from the City of Chicago, this paper maps …

Situating Worker Cooperatives: The Urban, Racial And Gendered Geographies Of Cooperative Development In New York City’S Worker Cooperative Business Development Initiative, Rebecca Wolfe

Theses and Dissertations

Worker cooperatives are gaining increased traction as an urban economic development strategy aimed to better support low-income women, immigrants and communities of color. Worker cooperatives are businesses that are owned and managed by its workers, and their supporters see them as a more equitable form of development that facilitates enhanced economic agency and access to ownership and wealth building. Reflecting and reinforcing growing cooperative momentum, New York City developed the nation’s first municipal-sponsored cooperative development initiative in 2014. The Worker Cooperative Business Development Initiative (WCBDI) brings together policy makers, city administrators and nonprofit community-based organizations to provide educational programming, cooperative …

Identifying And Incorporating Driver Behavior Variables Into Crash Prediction Models, Mohammad Razaur Rahman Shaon

Theses and Dissertations

All travelers are exposed to the risk for crashes on the road, as none of the roadways are entirely safe. Under Vision Zero, improving traffic safety on our nation’s highways is and will continue to be one of the most pivotal tasks on the national transportation agenda. For decades, researchers and transportation professionals have strived to identify causal relationships between crash occurrence and roadway geometry, and traffic-related variables on the mission of creating a safe environment for the traveling public. Although great achievements have been witnessed such as the publication of the Highway Safety Manual (HSM), research is rather limited …

Transit-Oriented Development And The Implications For Equitable Development: A Case Study Of The Milwaukee Streetcar, Joshua Diciaula

Theses and Dissertations

Many cities across the US have reintroduced the streetcar as an economic development tool, or as an image-branding and tourism-promoting amenity, while public transportation benefits are largely afterthoughts. The purpose of this research is to investigate the Milwaukee Streetcar as a transit-oriented development strategy, the distribution of benefits and burdens, and its implications for equitable development. Guided by semi-structured interviews and content/discourse analysis of planning/policy documents through an equity lens, this study analyzed Milwaukee’s initial downtown streetcar routes against the potential extension lines into the more transit-dependent communities of Bronzeville and Walker’s Point. The findings suggest that the initial routes …

Developmental State Economic Model Versus Neo-Classical Principles: The Case Of Rwanda And Burundi, Maxime Sarah Mianzokouna

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this thesis is to examine the significance of the developmental state model using the economic performances of two African countries, Burundi and Rwanda. The two neighboring African countries share similar economic characteristics and face virtually same social and political challenges. In the last two decades, Burundi and Rwanda have taken two different approaches to develop their economies. Burundi is using a standard neoclassical economic model in contrast to Rwanda that is applying the developmental state model. I use the standard method of difference-in-difference and the annual data over the period 1974-2014 from the two countries to compare …

Advanced Quantitative Methods For Imminent Detection Of Crash Prone Conditions And Safety Evaluation, Zhi Chen

Theses and Dissertations

Crashes can be accurately predicted through reliable data sources and rigorous statistical models; and prevented through data-driven, evidence-based traffic control strategies. Both predictive analysis and analysis to estimate the causal effect of traffic variables of real-time crashes are instrumental to crash prediction and a better understanding of the mechanism of crash occurrence. However, the research on the second analysis type is very limited for real-time crash prediction; and the conventional predictive analysis using inductive loop detector data has accuracy issues related to inconsistently and distantly spaced loop detectors. The effectiveness of traffic control strategies for improving safety performance cannot be …

Project Central Voice: Assessing The Congruency Between African American Perspectives And The City Of Milwaukee's Community Development Block Grant Practices, Deborah Clements Blanks

Theses and Dissertations

Theories of Critical Race provide a foundation on which to analyze racism. Critical Race Theory uses elements such as the ordinariness of racism, convergence of interest, revisionist history, and the voice of the oppressed to identify how systems of oppression function to maintain institutional racism.

This dissertation is a community-based participatory research project that studies a government-funded social welfare system serving the African American community in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The research analyzes how the structure, policies, and practices of this decentralized system, composed of government institutions and community-based organizations, affects the infrastructure of Milwaukee’s African American community. Specifically, the research analyzes …

Data-Driven Optimization Models For Feeder Bus Network Design, Yaojun Wang

Theses and Dissertations

Urbanization is not a modern phenomenon. However, it is worthwhile to note that the world urban population growth curve has up till recently followed a quadratic-hyperbolic pattern (Korotayey and Khaltourina, 2006). As cities become larger and their population expand, large and growing metropolises have to face the enormous traffic demand. To alleviate the increasing traffic congestion, public transit has been considered as the ideal solution to such troubles and problems restricting urban development. The metro is a type of efficient, dependable and high-capacity public transport adapted in metropolises worldwide. At the same time, the residents from crowded cities migrated to …

Using Photovoice To Understand The Meaning Of Social Participation As It Impacts Transitions For Student Veterans, Caitlin Gene Dobson

Theses and Dissertations

Student veterans encounter a variety of social pressures that civilian students do not, making the transition from military life to student civilian challenging. The issue of military personnel transitioning to roles as student veterans is one that is relevant to occupational therapy, as the profession promotes social participation as a meaningful occupation. It has been found that veterans find social relationships to be a critical challenge in the process of transitioning to the university and the civilian world (Plach & Haertlein Sells, 2013).

Additionally, this issue is important to occupational therapy as a factor in promoting mental health. Mental health …

Preferred Institutions: Public Views On Policy, Shawn Christopher Fettig

Theses and Dissertations

In this dissertation, I ask why people might prefer one institution of government (courts, legislatures, executives) over another to handle certain issues. Previous research has focused on legitimacy of the courts, whether institutions can legitimate policy, and how public opinion is thus informed. This research is invaluable in understanding support for and influence of specific institutions, but this only gets us so far. We still do not know why people might feel that one institution is more legitimate than another to handle policymaking on a specific issue. Here, I begin to examine this question arguing that institutions act as source …

Contributing Factors On Drivers Yielding Behaviors At Uncontrolled Intersections, Aida Sanatizadeh

Theses and Dissertations

Abstract

The present study aims at analyzing drivers yielding behaviors to pedestrians’ right of way, who are attempting to cross at uncontrolled crosswalks. Three types of variables were identified to be collected for this research including characteristics of the locations as well as demographic, and behavioral characteristics of pedestrians and drivers. The behavioral characteristics of drivers and pedestrians is recorded only when a pedestrian arrives at the crosswalks trying to cross and a vehicle is approaching the intersection; so, the driver makes a decision whether or not yield to the pedestrian waiting to cross. Some behavioral characteristics of pedestrians include …

Racial Integration And Institutional Change, 1965-1971: A Case Study Of Uw-Milwaukee’S Human Relations Institute, Center For Afro-American Culture And Spanish Speaking Outreach Institute, Toni Johns

Theses and Dissertations

This historical case study explores the development of the Institute for Human Relations, the Center for Afro-American Culture and the Spanish Speaking Outreach Institute. These three university entities demonstrate the evolution of class-and race-based policy development at UW-Milwaukee between 1965 and 1971. There is limited literature regarding the historical development of programs that served to racially integrate UW-Milwaukee. Much of the existing literature was written by former University administrators (Klotsche 1966, 1972, 1985, Cassell, Klotsche and Olsen 1992) and highlights the positive actions taken by the administration. Literature written by non-administrators (J. Rodriguez 2005, M. Rodriguez 2015) focuses on community …

Developing Sampling Strategies And Predicting Freeway Travel Time Using Bluetooth Data, Hasan Md Moonam

Theses and Dissertations

Accurate, reliable, and timely travel time is critical to monitor transportation system performance and assist motorists with trip-making decisions. Travel time is estimated using the data from various sources like cellular technology, automatic vehicle identification (AVI) systems. Irrespective of sources, data have characteristics in terms of accuracy and reliability shaped by the sampling rate along with other factors. As a probe based AVI technology, Bluetooth data is not immune to the sampling issue that directly affects the accuracy and reliability of the information it provides. The sampling rate can be affected by the stochastic nature of traffic state varying by …

Analyzing Transportation Services For Older Adults In Southeastern Wisconsin, Elizabeth Jean Saunderson

Theses and Dissertations

Older adults are important users to consider in the evaluation of transportation services. Many older non-drivers take fewer trips than their driving peers. It is important that transportation services meet the needs of older adults to provide greater access to this subset of the population. This thesis applies the Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) to evaluate the thirty-one non-private transportation services that exist in southeastern Wisconsin. The AHP structure uses multiple criteria to evaluate and rank several alternatives based on a stated goal. An optimization model using the LINGO solver introduces a fuzzy scale level to the AHP and assigns weights …

Farm Aid: A Case Study Of A Charity Rock Organization, Andrew Palen

Theses and Dissertations

This study examines the impact that the non-profit organization Farm Aid has had on the farming industry, policy, and the concert realm known as charity rock. This study also examines how the organization has maintained its longevity. By conducting an evaluation on Farm Aid and its history, the organization’s messaging and means to communicate, a detailed analysis of the past media coverage on Farm Aid from 1985-2010, and a phone interview with Executive Director Carolyn Mugar, I have determined that Farm Aid’s impact is complex and not clear. Farm Aid, while very active in the political sphere, including lobbying for …

Integrated Special Event Traffic Management Strategies In Urban Transportation Network, Peng Li

Theses and Dissertations

How to effectively optimize and control spreading traffic in urban network during the special event has emerged as one of the critical issues faced by many transportation professionals in the past several decades due to the surging demand and the often limited network capacity. The contribution of this dissertation is to develop a set of integrated mathematical programming models for unconventional traffic management of special events in urban transportation network. Traffic management strategies such as lane reorganization and reversal, turning restriction, lane-based signal timing, ramp closure, and uninterrupted flow intersection will be coordinated and concurrently optimized for best overall system …

Get A Lot For Less: Evaulation Of The $1 Vacant Lot Pilot Program In Milwaukee's 15th Aldermanic District, Sierra Starner-Heffron

Theses and Dissertations

Between July, 2014 and July, 2015, the city piloted a program in which City-owned vacant lots could be sold for $1 to adjacent homeowners exclusively in the 15th Aldermanic District. The focus of this research was to determine the effectiveness of the $1 lot program in revitalizing the neighborhoods within that District. Using a visual assessment, this research observed the condition of 26 vacant lots sold approximately one year prior to the assessment and scored them based on a unique set of factors including the presence of a fence (a proxy for defensible space) the presence of gardens, whether any …

Freeway Removal In Milwaukee: Three Case Studies, Alex Snyder

Theses and Dissertations

A growing number of cities are choosing to remove parts of their urban freeway network to make room for alternative land uses. This study examines the history of two freeway spurs in Milwaukee—the Park East Freeway and Interstate 794—which were both targeted for demolition. Park East was demolished in 2002, but Interstate 794, which was considered for partial demolition on two separate occasions, was eventually rebuilt. This study asks what the cases of Park East and I-794 can tell us about the attributes of a successful freeway teardown project. This study traces the history of both freeways from the 1950s …

Veteran As Leader: The Lived Experience With Army Leader Development, Michael James Kirchner

Theses and Dissertations

This phenomenological study examined the lived leader development experience of Post 9/11 Army veterans while serving in the armed forces. At least $10-$15 billion is spent annually on leadership development in the United States and human resource executives claim developing leaders is their number one priority over the next five years. Simultaneously, companies actively hiring veterans claim the former service member's leadership abilities are their most desired quality. Inspection of the Army’s leader development program offers an opportunity for employers to integrate revised approaches in their own leadership development initiatives.

A purposive sample of ten Army veterans—six males and four …

Three Essays On Public Policy And Health, Darin F. Ullman

Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation consists of three chapters. My first chapter examines the effect of mandatory first time offender ignition interlock laws. Specifically, I use difference in difference techniques to estimate the effect of the laws on alcohol related fatal accidents. I also discuss and link behavioral models of deterrence and incapacitation to the results, so that finding can easily be interpreted. Results of the study provide pivotal policy relevant information that are essential to maximizing public health and reducing dangerous alcohol related crashes. In particular, results show that states which adopt legislation that requires mandatory participation of first time offenders in …