Digital Commons Network^™

Exploration Of Color Patterns For Improving Work Zone Safety And Perception, Hongyue Wu, Ze Wang, Yunfeng Chen, Jiansong Zhang, James L. Jenkins

JTRP Technical Reports

Work zone safety remains a persistent concern in the United States. Color patterns are an effective way to provide visual information for drivers. Existing studies explored the colors of work zone elements, while how the color patterns impact the drivers’ perception and overall safety in work zones is missing. Therefore, this study aims to systematically investigate color patterns based on human information processing theory to improve the overall safety and perception of Indiana work zones. Methodology of this study includes: (1) A literature review to summarize the current efforts; (2) Crash data analysis to identify the representative work zones; (3) …

User Manual For Digital Inspection Training System, Yeji Hong, Yuxi Zhang, Zirui Hong, Ruisong Zheng, Hubo Cai, Dulcy M. Abraham

JTRP Technical Reports

Construction inspection plays a pivotal role in ensuring the quality and long-term performance of infrastructure products. INDOT is currently facing the challenge to effectively train novice inspectors and update experienced inspectors with the latest versions of quality requirements to perform construction inspection effectively and more efficiently. This project developed a digital inspection training system to train INDOT inspectors to inspect asphalt pavement construction. Inspectors can access the inspection instructions through a construction process-based approach or a pay item-based approach. The inspection guidance is developed using data and information from INDOT’s Standard Specification (2024), Manual for Frequency of Sampling and Testing …

Case Studies Documenting Lessons Learned And Identifying Opportunities For Maintenance Of Traffic (Mot) Improvements, Myles W. Overall, Justin Mukai, Rahul Suryakant Sakhare, Jairaj Desai, Deborah Horton, Darcy M. Bullock

JTRP Technical Reports

From July 2023 to July 2025, the team performed several dozen after-action reviews of interstate work zones and the associated maintenance of traffic (MOT). These after-action reports generally contain the following information: Date, location, visual images, connected vehicle summary graphics, qualitative discussion of activity, and in some cases press releases or media posts. In general, these themes emerged:

1. MOT plans in some cases do not accurately capture the geometry constraints placed by bridges, guardrail and or barrier wall. It is important that design reviews place careful focus on ensuring lane widths, shoulders, and shoulder treatments fit across the entire cross …

Continued Deployment Of Indiana Work Zone Analytics, Myles W. Overall, Justin Mukai, Jairaj Desai, Rahul Suryakant Sakhare, Mischa Kachler, John Mcgregor, Darcy M. Bullock

JTRP Technical Reports

Work zones along interstates often have increased congestion and crash rates when locations are close to or over capacity. Having agile monitoring methods to identifying emerging issues and challenges can provide data to transportation agency decision makers to refine maintenance of traffic plans and inform future designs.

This study developed techniques to fuse a multitude of data sources including connected vehicle speeds, connected vehicle hard-braking events, crash reports, digital alerts, commercial vehicle dash camera images, into a weekly interstate work zone report that gives stakeholders a holistic overview of their work zone operations and allowed for easy identification of opportunities …

Worksite Speed Control System (Wscs), Jairaj Desai, Rahul Suryakant Sakhare, John Mcgregor, James Sturdevant, Darcy M. Bullock

JTRP Technical Reports

This study evaluates the effectiveness of Speed Safety Camera (SSC) deployments in reducing traffic speeds through four interstate work zones in Indiana in accordance with Indiana State Law House Enrolled Act (HEA) 1015. The initial deployment of SSC was along interstate I-70 in August 2024, with deployments on I-69, I-465, and I-65 subsequently following in 2025. To evaluate the impact of SSC deployments in Indiana, connected passenger car and connected truck data was used to quantify the change in speed characteristics before and during the SSC deployments. Approximately 100 million passenger vehicle records and 3 million commercial truck records were …

Resilient Modulus Improvements To Bases And Subgrades From Geosynthetic Reinforcement, Syed Faizan Husain, Issam Qamhia, Erol Tutumluer, Peter J. Becker

JTRP Technical Reports

This study investigated the benefits of geogrid stabilization in unbound aggregate base layers and developed a framework to incorporate those benefits into mechanistic–empirical (ME) pavement design. The purpose was to address limitations in current design practices that treat geosynthetic stabilized and non-stabilized bases equivalently, despite evidence of enhanced stiffness and improved stress distribution from a geogrid inclusion. Field testing was conducted along US-20 in Indiana using Automated Plate Load Testing (APLT) device during the construction of three full-scale pavement test sections: control (CS), geogrid installed at the base–subgrade interface (GG1), and geogrid installed at mid-depth (GG2). Pavement instrumentation included Bender …

Enhanced Traffic Pattern Knowledge Abstraction And Presentation From 511 Database, Jiannan Ding, Liya Koshy, Tanay Maheshwari, Abin Mathew, Jue Zhou, Stanley Chien, Tianyi Li, Chengcheng Tao, Yaobin Chen

JTRP Technical Reports

The explosive growth in the volume, variety, and velocity of transportation data has placed considerable strain on traditional data infrastructures employed by state departments of transportation (state DOTs). Existing traffic information systems are constrained by fragmented data streams, limited historical archiving, and inadequate interoperability, thereby hindering their utility for comprehensive analysis, causal inference, and predictive modeling. This study addresses these challenges by presenting the design and initial implementation of a traffic data integration platform that unifies multi-source datasets and establishes a foundation for more applications. The platform focuses on data integration and access, incorporating systematic data ingestion pipelines, schema harmonization, …

Further Refinement And Integrated Platform For Indot Traffic Management And Safety Toolset, Stanley Chien, Shu Hu, Yaobin Chen, Mei Qiu, William Lorenz Reindl, Noah Meng, Liya Koshy, Sajan Kumar

JTRP Technical Reports

The SRP-4930, Further Refinement and Integrated Platform for INDOT Traffic Management and Safety Toolset, aims to further refine the previously developed Anomaly Detection and Weaving Analysis programs and create a unified, Web-based user interface for users to access TASI-developed software tools conveniently.

1. The INDOT Application Suite has been successfully developed for centralizing the digital platform developed by Purdue University’s Transportation and Autonomous Systems Institute (TASI). It offers a secure, single point of access to a range of specialized applications, consolidating multiple tools into a unified system.
2. A scalable, lane-wise highway traffic anomaly detection framework that operates exclusively on video-based data …

Study On The Permissible Depth Of Utilities Under The Mse Walls And Means And Methods Of Protecting The Mse Walls When The Permissible Depth Cannot Be Provided, Md Asad Ahmad, Antonio Bobet

JTRP Technical Reports

Mechanically Stabilized Earth (MSE) walls may intersect utilities such as pipes and culverts, which may be located within the reinforced backfill or foundation soil. Evidence from previous failures has shown that leakage or collapse of these utilities can lead to severe deformation or loss of wall integrity. Despite the critical implications of pipe failure, there are no standardized guidelines in the U.S. regarding the placement of utilities within or beneath MSE walls, and current practices vary widely among state DOTs. This report describes the mechanical interaction between MSE walls and buried utility pipes and explores configurations where pipes are placed …

Safety Performance Of Centerline Raised Pavement Markers, Lucas Florez Forero, Vamsi Krishna Bandaru, Mario A. Romero, Andrew P. Tarko

JTRP Technical Reports

Centerline raised pavement markers (RPM) have emerged as a justifiable rural road safety countermeasure for preventing run-off-road (ROR) and opposite-direction crashes. These devices supplement lane markings, enhance positional guidance, alert drivers to changes in roadway geometry, and reduce encroachment. This research evaluated the safety effect of centerline raised pavement markers (RPM) installed on rural roads in Indiana and proposed a practical and systemic approach for identifying road segments that require more attention. To support the Indiana Department of Transportation (INDOT) in this task, the study develops a set of Crash Modification Factors (CMFs) that reflect the safety effects of installing …

Best Practices For Implementing Driving Simulators In Indot Driver Training, Soowon Chang, Luciana Debs, Yanchao Zheng, Jae Heo, Yunfeng Chen, Jiansong Zhang

JTRP Technical Reports

This study supports the Indiana Department of Transportation’s (INDOT) initiative to enhance driver training through the strategic use of driving simulators. Traditional driving training methods are limited by seasonal variability and safety concerns. To address this, this project evaluated the role of simulators in improving driver preparedness, safety, and training efficiency. A comprehensive mixed-methods approach was used, including literature review, surveys, focus groups, performance data analysis, and case studies. Findings indicate that simulators are well-received, especially by novice drivers, enhancing confidence, decision-making, and situational awareness, particularly for snowplow operations. Realistic scenarios and structured debriefs using simulator-generated data were key to …

Implementing An Advanced Friction Testing Program For Seamless Coverage Of Indot System, Chengcheng Tao, Yizhou Lin, Junyi Duan, Cheng Peng, Jieyi Bao, Yi Jiang, Shuo Li

JTRP Technical Reports

The interaction between tires and the road surface is crucial for maintaining vehicle stability and safety. The frictional forces at the tire-road interface, along with the coefficient of friction, affect vehicle dynamics, influencing transportation safety. Rapid advancements in transportation technology, infrastructure demands, and safety regulations pose complex transportation challenges, requiring adaptive solutions. The goal of this study is to provide actionable insights for highway agencies, offering improved friction assessment methodologies that support safer and more effective roadway maintenance and design. This study investigates and verify Locked Wheel Skid Tester (LWST) friction measurement on horizontal curves using Sideway-force Coefficient Routine Investigation …

Connected Vehicle Trajectory Data To Screen Network For Hard-Braking And Hard-Acceleration Events, Rahul Suryakant Sakhare, Jairaj Desai, Christopher Gartner, Justin Mukai, Nathan Sturdevant, Nathan Shellhamer, Taylor Ruble, Dan Mccoy, Darcy M. Bullock

JTRP Technical Reports

Hard braking and hard acceleration data has been demonstrated as an important emerging data source that provides quicker feedback than crash data. In fact, a strong correlation between hard braking on the interstate and crash rates has been reported in previous studies. A previous study has shown that there are approximately 147 hard braking events in a work zone for every crash. However, there have been subtle changes in acceleration thresholds as well as techniques automotive companies and third-party vendors use to compute hard braking. The motivation of this study is to define scalable and sustainable procedures for obtaining consistent …

50 Tips For Traveling Responsibly, Ailin Fei, Jonathon Day

Tourism Insights

No abstract provided.

Jase 5.1 Front Matter

Journal of the Arts and Special Education

No abstract provided.

Celebrating Five Years Of The Journal Of The Arts And Special Education And Welcoming Our Inaugural Editorial Board, Jasmine Begeske, Kathleen M. Farrand

Journal of the Arts and Special Education

The co-editors of the Journal of the Arts and Special Education (JASE) provide a brief history and overview of recent accomplishments of the journal and describe priorities for the future. These priorities include regular publication cycles, special issues, expanded article types, engagement opportunities, and a recommitment to accessibility. The editorial concludes with guidance for future authors and an introduction to the inaugural editorial board.

Eggplant Variety Demonstration Results For West-Central Indiana, 2024, Petrus Langenhoven, Lizeth Sofia Catucuamba Tuquerrez

Midwest Vegetable Trial Reports

A non-replicated demonstration of eggplant varieties was conducted at Purdue University's Meigs Horticulture Facility to evaluate eight varieties, including four Italian-type and four Asian-type varieties, under Indiana growing conditions. Plants were transplanted on May 14, 2024, with 30 plants per variety in 180-foot rows. Weekly harvests occurred from weeks 8 to 18 after transplanting. Italian varieties consistently produced higher marketable yields than Asian types, with Nigral achieving the highest yield at 55,446 pounds per acre (17.7 fruits per plant, averaging 11.2 ounces per fruit). Rolandia produced the heaviest individual fruits, with an average weight of 12.3 ounces. Among Asian varieties, …

Unit: Data Efficient Tactile Representation With Generalization To Unseen Objects, Zhengtong Xu, Raghava Uppuluri, Xinwei Zhang, Cael Fitch, Philip Glen Crandall, Wan Shou, Dongyi Wang, Yu She

School of Industrial Engineering Faculty Publications

UniT is an approach to tactile representation learning, using VQGAN to learn a compact latent space and serve as the tactile representation. It uses tactile images obtained from a single simple object to train the representation with generalizability. This tactile representation can be zero-shot transferred to various downstream tasks, including perception tasks and manipulation policy learning. Our benchmarkings on in-hand 3D pose and 6D pose estimation tasks and a tactile classification task show that UniT outperforms existing visual and tactile representation learning methods. Additionally, UniT's effectiveness in policy learning is demonstrated across three real-world tasks involving diverse manipulated objects and …

2025 Standard-Sized Seedless Watermelon Cultivar Evaluation In Indiana, Wenjing Guan, Dennis Nowaskie, Cesar Escalante

Midwest Vegetable Trial Reports

Indiana ranked fifth in watermelon production in the United States. In 2024, Indiana growers planted approximately 8,100 acres of watermelons. Watermelon cultivar evaluation trials have been conducted annually at the Southwest Purdue Agricultural Center (SWPAC) in Vincennes, IN, for over 30 years. In 2025, 25 standard-sized seedless watermelons were evaluated, and yield and fruit quality parameters were assessed.

Experimental Comparison Of Cycle Modifications And Ejector Control Methods Using Variable Geometry And Co2 Pump In A Multi-Evaporator Transcritical Co2 Refrigeration System, Gabriele Toffoletti, Riley Barta, Steven M. Grajales, Haotian Liu, Davide Ziviani, Eckhard A. Groll

School of Mechanical Engineering Faculty Publications

To reduce the direct global warming impact of refrigerants in HVAC&R applications, low-global warming potential (GWP) refrigerants, including natural refrigerants, have been extensively investigated as alternatives to hydrofluorocarbon (HFC) refrigerants. Among the natural refrigerants, Carbon Dioxide (CO2) offers several advantages, such as excellent transport and thermo-physical properties, being neither toxic nor flammable, and having a low price and high availability around the world. However, the high critical pressure and low critical temperature of CO2 often lead to transcritical operation, resulting in lower efficiency due to the additional compressor power necessary to achieve transcritical operation relative to subcritical HFC cycles. Therefore, …

Boilermakers Travel With Care, Jonathon Day

Tourism Insights

No abstract provided.

Animal Inventions, Sarah Carroll

1st Grade

No abstract provided.

Shaping Engineering Technology Students’ Perceptions Of Manufacturing Through Experiential Learning In A Flipped Classroom – A Case Study, Rustin Webster

School of Engineering Technology Faculty Publications

This study examined how an introductory, survey-based manufacturing systems and processes course – which uniquely integrated a flipped classroom structure and multiple experiential learning elements – influenced engineering technology (ET) students’ perceptions of careers, workforce expectations, workplace dynamics, and essential industry skills within manufacturing. Pooled qualitative data from 52 ET student’s pre- and post-course reflection surveys, administered across four cohorts, were analyzed using topic modeling, sentiment analysis, comparative assessments, keyword frequency analysis, and/or impact assessment. The data offered valuable insights into students understanding of essential job skills, definitions of a good job, and perceptions of factory work. Before the course, …

The Current State Of Dimensioning And Tolerancing Pedagogy In United States Post-Secondary Engineering And Engineering Technology Programs, Jaime Berez, Rustin Webster, Rudy Ottway

School of Engineering Technology Faculty Publications

Dimensioning and tolerancing (D&T) is understood to be a crucial element of the engineering product lifecycle and has been documented as an important skill for various careers, e.g., engineering, design, manufacturing, and metrology. Even so, there is a widely perceived skills gap in today's workforce. In response to this perceived misalignment between employer expectations and student preparation, a survey of post-secondary engineering and engineering technology (ET) degree programs in the United States was conducted to quantitatively characterize the current state of D&T pedagogy. Respondents (n = 67) who identified as being the instructor-of-record for a course(s) that required students to …

Indiana Stem Teachers’ Perceptions Of The Shift From In-Person To Virtual Training During The Covid-19 Pandemic, Steve Heinold

Indiana STEM Education Conference

The COVID-19 pandemic brought uncertainty to Indiana teachers in 2020. School closings caused disruptions to teachers’ classroom settings, ongoing training, and social and mental well-being (Pozo-Rico et al., 2020). Indiana GEAR UP’s commitment to teacher professional development for STEM educators led to a shift from their in-person summer teacher training sessions to virtual, just months after the school shutdowns in spring 2020. Participant evaluations showed that teachers appreciated the virtual training options and were able to learn new strategies to apply to their new virtual learning spaces. The online training sessions also had drawbacks. This research brief describes recommendations to …

Cultivating Ethical Data Stewardship For Undergraduate Research: A Framework And Toolkit Duo, Wei Zakharov, Senay Purzer, Carla Zoltowski

Libraries Faculty and Staff Scholarship and Research

Data drives nearly every aspect of research today, from the earliest stages of problem definition to the final dissemination of results. Undergraduate students—often at the beginning of their research journeys—are increasingly working with complex, data-intensive projects. Yet many enter these environments without sufficient training in how to manage, share, and use data responsibly. They may know how to run code or analyze a dataset, but questions of ethics, reproducibility, preservation, and stewardship are rarely an explicit part of this preparation. To address this gap, our interdisciplinary research team at Purdue University launched a multi-year, NSF-funded project entitled Prioritizing Data Life …

In-Situ Tests Of Transport Properties Of Near-Surface Concrete, Kai Yang, P.A. Muhammed Basheer, Fengyuan Yang, Da Xia, Basilios Tsikouras

International Conference on Durability of Concrete Structures

Determining the water permeability of concrete in structures remains a conundrum because of difficulties in removing the influences of moisture. This study describes the extended flow-net theory developed on the basis of the two-pressure head concept, which provides a means of measuring permeability under the partially saturated condition. Surface mounted tests and the standard laboratory water penetration tests were carried out to verify this approach. Before determining the water permeability, steady state flow rates at two different pressure levels were evaluated and the effects of initial moisture conditions on flow behaviour were investigated. The results indicate that the proposed approach …

2025 Personal-Sized Seedless Watermelon Cultivar Evaluation In Indiana, Wenjing Guan, Dennis Nowaskie, Cesar Escalante

Midwest Vegetable Trial Reports

Indiana ranks fifth in the United States for watermelon production in 2024. Most of the state’s production consists of red-flesh seedless cultivars with fruit weighing 9 lbs and above. A small portion of watermelon production devoted to mini seedless types. Meanwhile, interest in watermelon production among small and diversified vegetable farms is increasing, where smaller-sized watermelons are likely fit better at these farms. In this report, we summarize the performance of 12 personal-sized watermelon cultivars evaluated at the Southwest Purdue Agricultural Center (SWPAC) in Vincennes, IN, during the 2025 season.

202502-02, 02/13/2025, I-65 S, Mm 126.8, Marion Co., Myles W. Overall, Rahul Suryakant Sakhare, Justin Mukai, Jairaj Desai, Deborah Horton, Darcy M. Bullock

After-Action Reports for Traffic Incident Management (TIM)

No abstract provided.

202501-06, 01/17/2025, I-65 S, Mm 75.7, Bartholomew Co., Myles W. Overall, Rahul Suryakant Sakhare, Justin Mukai, Jairaj Desai, Deborah Horton, Darcy M. Bullock

After-Action Reports for Traffic Incident Management (TIM)

No abstract provided.