Digital Commons Network^™

Small Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (Micro-Uavs, Drones) In Plant Ecology, Mitchell B. Cruzan, Ben G. Weinstein, Monica R. Grasty, Brendan F. Kohrn, Elizabeth C. Hendrickson, Tina M. Arredondo, Pamela G. Thompson

Biology Faculty Publications and Presentations

Premise of the study: Low-elevation surveys with small aerial drones (micro–unmanned aerial vehicles [UAVs]) may be used for a wide variety of applications in plant ecology, including mapping vegetation over small- to medium-sized regions. We provide an overview of methods and procedures for conducting surveys and illustrate some of these applications.

Methods: Aerial images were obtained by flying a small drone along transects over the area of interest. Images were used to create a composite image (orthomosaic) and a digital surface model (DSM). Vegetation classification was conducted manually and using an automated routine. Coverage of an individual species …

Single Mothers Of Young Children And Continuing Education, Jackiethsha Lynette Fluellen

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The number of households headed by single mothers living in poverty exceeds that of all other categories of poverty-stricken households, and poverty impacts the children negatively in various ways. When single mothers choose not to continue their education, they lessen their chances of finding higher paying jobs and raising their families out of poverty. The purpose of this phenomenological study was to better understand why some single mothers decided to continue into higher education. The study considered the decisions of 6 single mothers of young children in Montgomery County, Texas, and the obstacles they overcame while completing their education. The …

A Resource-Based Perspective On Financial Resource Strategies For Small Business Sustainability, Margaret N. Godwin-Opara

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Each year entrepreneurs start many new businesses, and some of these businesses will fail within the first 2 years. In addition, many owners will cite lack of adequate financial resources as a contributory factor to the failure. The purpose of this multiple case study was to identify the strategies that some small business owners used to obtain financial resources needed to operate a financially sustainable business. The population consisted of machine shops in South Central Kansas. A resource-based view theory served as the conceptual framework that grounded the study. The data collection process consisted of 9 interview questions. The data …

Strategies That Make Entrepreneurs Sucessful On A Second Business Launch, Willie Joseph Johnson

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Fifty percent of small businesses launched survive 5 years or more and about 33.3 percent continue operating for 10 years or longer. This transcendental phenomenological study included Cantillion's theory of entrepreneurship to explore strategies used by successful second-time business owners after a failed first launch. Face-to-face interviews took place with 12 successful second-time business owners in Fairfax County, Virginia, whose first business had failed. Interviews were transcribed and analyzed using a modified Van Kaam method to identify strategies small business owners used to succeed beyond 5 years after a failed first business venture. Data analysis revealed 4 themes: (a) owners …

Exploring The Lived Experiences Of Supervising Child Protection Social Workers, Kecia Rachel Freeman

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Social workers in child protective services often handle hundreds of cases regarding children traumatized by abuse and/or neglect. In time, social workers' experiences can become emotionally and psychologically challenging. A problem for supervising child protection social workers (SCPSWs) is that they might experience the same challenges; however, there was no research that described the lived experiences of SCPSWs. This phenomenological study explored the lived experiences of SCPSWs. Conceptually, constructivist self-development theory (CSDT) provided the framework for understanding how SCPSWs managed their lived experiences and the issues related to them. Ten SCPSWs volunteered their time for face-to-face interviews and provided data …

Factors Affecting Job Satisfaction In Nigerian International Oil Companies, Kingsley Chukwuemeka Onyebuenyi

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Leaders of Nigerian international oil companies (IOC) were facing challenges developing efficient strategies for motivating demographically diverse employees. Some IOC leaders possessed limited knowledge of the extent to which demographic variables influenced job satisfaction and affected employee productivity. The purpose of this correlational study was to examine the relationship between employee category (being a permanent or nonpermanent employee) and facets of job satisfaction after controlling for gender and nationality factors. Herzberg's motivation-hygiene theory was the theoretical framework for this study. A random sample of 104 senior employees (76 permanent and 28 nonpermanent employees) from 5 IOC located in Port Harcourt …

Examining The Cultural And Historical Impact Of The National Historic Site Designation In Nicodemus, Kansas, Ashley Adams Adams

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

America's National Historic Preservation Act promotes the conservation of irreplaceable sites such as Nicodemus, Kansas, an African American town founded by former slaves in 1877. The collaboration of the National Park Service (NPS) and civic partners is essential to meet the goal of preserving historic properties in Nicodemus and other minority communities. Although the NPS designated 5 Nicodemus buildings as a National Historic Site (NHS) in 1996, the few remaining residents struggle to preserve the site and attract visitors. The purpose of this ethnographic study was to explore the effects of NPS policies related to African American historic and cultural …

Chronic Disease Management Of The Uninsured Patient At Ohio Free Clinics, James Benedict

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Management of chronic disease requires a different service delivery model from that of acute illness. The uninsured population experience poorer health status and increased incidence of chronic disease than do the insured population. The purpose of this study was to identify the supports and barriers present in providing chronic disease management to patients at Ohio free clinics. Wagner's theory of chronic disease management served as the theoretical lens. The sequential, exploratory mixed methods study collected data from 13 free clinics belonging to the Ohio Association of Free Clinics (OAFC). Quantitative questions focused on processes in clinics with high and low …

Criminal Justice College Instructors' Experiences, Perceptions, And Teaching Strategies Related To Undergraduate Plagiarism, Mark William Bond

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The criminal justice program in a community college located in the southwestern United States had experienced an increase in student plagiarism. However, the current teaching practices of criminal justice instructors to prevent and manage the increased student plagiarism have not been effective. The purpose of this study was to explore criminal justice college instructors' experiences, perceptions, and teaching strategies related to undergraduate student plagiarism using Goleman's emotional intelligence theory and Daloz's mentoring theory. Employing a qualitative instrumental case study design, data were collected through semistructured interviews with 10 criminal justice college instructors. Member checking and reflective journaling ensured accuracy and …

Performance Of Warranted Asphalt Pavements: Smoothness And Performance Of Indiana Warranted Asphalt Pavements, Leila Sadeghi, Rebecca S. Mcdaniel, John E. Haddock

JTRP Technical Reports

In the early 1990s the Indiana Department of Transportation (INDOT) developed a five-year warranty specification for asphalt pavements with the first project being built in 1996. In 2004, results indicated that the asphalt pavements built with the warranty specification had improved performance over the conventional asphalt pavements.

Nineteen years have passed since the original asphalt pavement warranty project was placed in Indiana. It has been eleven years since the performance of the warranted asphalt pavements has been analyzed to determine the effectiveness of warranties. Therefore, it is prudent to reexamine the potential benefits of asphalt pavement warranties. Hence, the ultimate …

Verification Of The Enhanced Integrated Climatic Module Soil Subgrade Input Parameters In The Mepdg, Alain El Howayek, Daniel Muschett, Tommy Nantung, Jusang Lee, Marika Santagata, Antonio Bobet

JTRP Technical Reports

At the beginning of 2009, INDOT adopted the Mechanistic-Empirical Pavement Design Guide (MEPDG) method to study the tong-term pavement performance. The implementation of this new design approach led to difficulties for the pavement to pass the INDOT performance criteria; in particular pavement roughness (IRI) when A-6 or A-7-6 soils were considered as subgrade. This study focuses on investigating the influence of the soil input parameters in the Enhanced Integrated Climatic Model (EICM) on the prediction of the soil resilient modulus (M_R) in the MEPDG. A total of four sites located around the state of Indiana are used to …

Element Level Bridge Inspection: Benefits And Use Of Data For Bridge Management, Leslie E. Campbell, Chase N. Perry, Robert J. Connor, Jason B. Lloyd

JTRP Technical Reports

In 2012, Congress passed the Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21^st Century Act (MAP-21) and committed to the development of a data-driven, risk based approach to asset management in the United States. This law requires the collection and submission of element level bridge inspection data for all National Highway System bridges, in addition to the National Bridge Inspection condition rating data. Ultimately, the data collected during element level bridge inspections should satisfy the requirements of the Federal Highway Administration and MAP-21 and be utilized by INDOT to evaluate bridge condition, predict deterioration, and guide decision making.

The objective …

Laser Mobile Mapping Standards And Applications In Transportation, Steven D. Johnson, James S. Bethel, Chisaphat Supunyachotsakul, Scott Peterson

JTRP Technical Reports

This report describes the work that was done to support the development of a chapter for the INDOT Survey Manual on Mobile Mapping. The work includes experiments that were done, data that was collected, analysis that was carried out, and conclusions that were drawn about accuracy of Mobile Terrestrial Laser Scanning (MTLS) systems. The resulting Manual chapter, located in the appendix, defines standards and procedures for preparing, collecting, editing, delivering, exploiting, and archiving electronic mapping data that is created for Indiana Department of Transportation (INDOT). The purpose of the standards and procedures within this manual is to obtain statewide uniformity …

Algorithm And Software For Proactive Pothole Repair, Leila Sadeghi, Yaguang Zhang, Andrew Balmos, James V. Krogmeier, John E. Haddock

JTRP Technical Reports

Potholes are a common pavement distress, particularly appearing during the spring freeze-thaw period in northern climates. Potholes reduce ride quality, and if left unrepaired can lead to rapid pavement deterioration. Typically, when a pothole appears a repair crew is dispatched to place patch mixture in the hole with the hope that the patch will last until such time as a more permanent repair can be made. This reactive approach to potholes can often be too late to prevent further pavement damage and also makes it difficult for repairs crews to be scheduled in the most cost effective manner.

In this …

Long-Term Pavement Performance Indicators For Failed Materials, Jaehyun Park, Chenxi Yuan, Hubo Cai

JTRP Technical Reports

State Transportation Agencies (STAs) use quality control/quality assurance (QC/QA) specifications to guide the testing and inspection of road pavement construction. Although failed materials of pavement rarely occur in practice, it is critical to have a sound decision framework to assist in making data-driven, informed decisions regarding failed materials because such decisions have profound impacts on the long-term performance of the pavement and the operation and maintenance costs of the responsible highway agencies.

A performance-related specification (PRS) is a quality acceptance (QA) specification that specifies the acceptable levels of key acceptance quality characteristics (AQCs) that are directly related to fundamental engineering …

Lack Of Data For Predicting Storm Water Pollutant Removal By Post-Construction Best Management Practices, Andrew J. Whelton, Jeffrey Gill, Li Song, Bryce Froderman, Mahboobeh Teimouri, Hua Cai

JTRP Technical Reports

The project objective was to conduct a detailed literature review of storm water pollutants and mitigation technologies and synthesize the information so that INDOT can implement project results into standards. Because it is a municipal separate storm sewer system (MS4), INDOT is required to minimize storm water pollution. A literature review was carried-out to gauge pollutants examined by other transportation agencies, the pollutant’s relevance to Indiana roadways, and the effectiveness of storm water pollution minimization best management practices (BMP). A cost benefit analysis was also conducted for a few BMP devices used in Indiana. Results showed that a variety of …

Pre-Contract Project Scoping Processes: Synthesis Of Practices, Hamed Zamenian, Dulcy M. Abraham

JTRP Technical Reports

Scoping is the process of developing a project’s objectives, need, preliminary cost estimate, and preliminary schedule based on a recognized need that the project is intended to address. This study (INDOT/JTRP SPR-3944) was launched by the Indiana Department of Transportation (INDOT)/Joint Transportation Program (JTRP) to develop a synthesis of scoping processes in different State Highway Agencies (SHA). The study was conducted using a qualitative exploratory approach focusing on the review of project scoping practices across different SHAs. Focused interviews with personnel from State Highway Agencies (SHA) along with the review of documents gathered during the literature search and resources provided …

Performance Assessment Of Road Barriers In Indiana, Yaotian Zou, Andrew P. Tarko

JTRP Technical Reports

Road barriers have been used as an effective countermeasure to prevent exposure of errant vehicles to both vehicles travelling in the opposite direction and to roadside hazards. The objective of this study was to evaluate the in-service safety performance of three types of road barriers (concrete barriers, steel W-beam guardrails, and high-tension cable barriers) in Indiana using cross-sectional analysis based on crash data. The quantitative evaluation was comprised of three components: 1) the effect of the road, barrier scenarios, and traffic on the barrier-relevant (BR) crash frequency, 2) the effect of the road and the barrier scenarios on the BR …

Performance Of Concrete Pavement In The Presence Of Deicing Salts And Deicing Salt Cocktails, Prannoy Suraneni, Jonathan Monical, Erol Unal, Yaghoob Farnam, Chiara Villani, Timothy J. Barrett, W. Jason Weiss

JTRP Technical Reports

Deicing salts are widely used for anti-icing and de-icing operations in pavements. While historically sodium chloride may have been the deicer most commonly used, a wide range of deicing salts have begun to be used to operate at lower temperatures, to "stick to the road better" and to improve other aspects of performance such as environmental impact or corrosion resistance. It has been observed that some chloride based deicing salts can react with the calcium hydroxide in the mixture resulting in the formation of calcium oxychloride an expansive phase that can damage concrete pavements, especially at the joints. This report …

Updating Roadhat: Collision Diagram Builder And Hsm Elements, Andrew P. Tarko, Mario Romero, Jose Thomaz, Jorge Ramos, Afia Sultana, Raul Pineda, Erdong Chen

JTRP Technical Reports

In order to minimize the losses resulting from traffic crashes, Indiana developed its road safety management methods before the Highway Safety Manual and the SafetyAnalyst became available. This study includes two related but distinct components: (1) comparison of the HSM-based and Indiana methods of safety management, and (2) development of a Collision Diagram Builder (CDB) to improve current Indiana safety management tools.

This study concluded that the HSM SPFs would need to be calibrated to the Indiana conditions before they could be used. Calibrating the SPFs for so-called base conditions would lead to an insufficient number of roads and, consequently, …

A Mobile Concrete Laboratory To Support Quality Concrete, Technology Transfer, And Training, Cameron Wilson, Nathan Todd, Timothy J. Barrett, Alex Coyle, Robert Spragg, Miguel A. Montoya, John E. Haddock, W. Jason Weiss

JTRP Technical Reports

This report is a summary of work performed by the Mobile Infrastructure Materials Testing Laboratory (MIMTL) as a part of the Joint Transportation Research Program (JTRP) through SPR-3858. The development of the MIMTL began in February of 2014 and became fully operational by June of 2014. The MIMTL was deployed in the field for a total of 46 days. This report describes the activities of the MIMTL as of December 2015. The MIMTL was involved in the field testing of concrete bridges, concrete pavements, and asphalt pavements. This report describes the development of the mobile testing laboratory and provides some …

Indot-Jtrp Lpa Process Improvement, Jon Padfield, Ted Boehm, Jim Handy

JTRP Technical Reports

The Indiana Department of Transportation (INDOT) administers the INDOT Local Public Agency Program (LPA Program) to provide funds to local public agencies for transportation related improvement projects. The funds distributed through this program are federal funds and they are provided on a reimbursement basis (i.e., LPAs spend their own money on project related expenses then submit an LPA invoice-voucher for reimbursement). LPAs typically receive 80% reimbursement of allowable expenses.

This project ran concurrent with a number of changes already taking place within INDOT to improve the LPA Program. The purpose of this project was to take a systematic look at …

Sulfates In Indiana Substrates, Tracy Branam, Robin Green, Oliver Wittman, Anne Ayre

JTRP Technical Reports

This study was undertaken to develop modifications for improving cost and time efficiencies without sacrificing accuracy and precision to the current method employed by the Indiana Department of Transportation (INDOT) for determining sulfate content in soils. In addition, GIS maps of Indiana were prepared for displaying the distribution of sulfate concentration in soils and shallow groundwater to provide guidance where high sulfate areas might exist and to show where gaps occur in available data.

The IGS study confirmed that the current INDOT test method using 1:20 soil/water ratio and turbidimetric method for analyzing sulfate are optimal. A conductivity screening test …

Ecologically Aware Design Of Waterway-Encapsulating Structures, Dennis A. Lyn, Nikhil Sangwan

JTRP Technical Reports

Aquatic organism passage (AOP) in waterways-encapsulating structures, particularly culverts, is of growing concern to environmental regulatory agencies, and the Indiana Department of Transportation (INDOT) is seeking systematic responses to this concern in the hydraulic design of such structures. This study reviews design approaches to enhance or accommodate aquatic organism passage through culverts, and proposes a simplified design procedure that requires less data input and analysis, and yet results in a structure complying with the current regional general permit (RGP) conditions. It also makes as much use of already existing INDOT standard specifications for riprap and coarse aggregates that would be …

Safety And Cost Performance Of Intersection Lighting, Guangyuan Zhao, Shuo Li, Yi Jiang

JTRP Technical Reports

It has been reported that nationwide, about one quarter of the roadway travel commonly occurs after dark and half of the roadway traffic fatalities occurred at night. The nighttime traffic crash fatality rate is about three times the daytime traffic crash fatality rate. The problem may become worse at unlit or poorly lit critical roadway safety spots such as interchange, intersections, and railroad and highway crossing, particularly in adverse weather conditions. This study was conducted to investigate the lighting effects on crashes at Indiana intersections. The analysis of Indiana nighttime crash data to identify the contributing factors was conducted. The …

Best Practices For Maximizing Driver Attention To Work Zone Warning Signs, Satish V. Ukkusuri, Konstantina Gkritza, Xinwu Qian, Arif Mohaimin Sadri

JTRP Technical Reports

Studies have shown that rear-end crashes in the advance warning area for a work zone are the most common type of work zone crashes. Driver inattention (or distraction) is reported as the most common issue and a major contributing factor to those types of crashes. As such, there is a need to identify the technologies that are successful in alerting drivers when approaching work zones.

Bridge Deterioration Models To Support Indiana’S Bridge Management System, Milhan Moomen, Yu Qiao, Bismark R. Agbelie, Samuel Labi, Kumares C. Sinha

JTRP Technical Reports

An effective bridge management system that is equipped with reliable deterioration models enables agency engineers to carry out monitoring and long-term programming of bridge repair actions. At the project level, deterioration models help the agency to track the physical condition of bridge elements and to specify when bridge maintenance, rehabilitation and replacement can be expected. Also, with reliable deterioration models, the agency can customize bridge repair or replacement schedules that incorporate element condition, functional obsolescence, and pre-specified performance thresholds. At the network level, component-specific deterioration models are useful for system-wide needs assessment over a specified future time horizon, and to …

Chemical Modification Of Uniform Soils And Soils With High/Low Plasticity Index, Fei Tao, Xuanchi Li, Antonio Bobet, Nayyar Zia Siddiki

JTRP Technical Reports

The addition of chemicals into the subgrade has been widely used during construction to improve the soil properties. The chemicals, often Lime Kiln Dust (LKD) and Portland cement, are added to the soil to improve its workability, compactability and engineering properties. Many DOTs have been using chemical modification for more than 20 years. In fact, 90% of the current subgrade is treated. Despite the wide experience-based in treating subgrade soils, several problems still exist. The INDOT (Indiana Department of Transportation) design manual states that subgrade clays with low plasticity (PI< 10) must be treated with cement and that high plasticity clays (Density < 95 pcf, or PI ≥ 25) in the subgrade must be replaced with suitable soils. Uniform granular soils do not stabilize with lime products or with low dosage of cement. Current knowledge does not provide information about stabilization of these soils. This research explores LKD, combinations of LKD and Portland cement to treat high and low plasticity clayey soils (problem soils, e.g. expansive and organic soils are not considered in the research) and treatment with Portland cement of uniform granular soils. A comprehensive laboratory testing program has been undertaken to investigate the potential for the treatment and to report the changes in mineralogy and engineering properties of the treated soils with time. Unconfined compression tests performed over time, as well as XRD tests, show that treatment is possible and that it remains over time since the strength of the treated soil improves with time and its mineralogy does not change.

Simplified Construction Scheduling For Field Personnel, Rana Khallaf, Soojin Yoon, Makarand Hastak, Tommy Nantung

JTRP Technical Reports

The main purpose of this research is to determine the issues that INDOT faces with respect to schedule review/monitoring and determine the best practices by other DOTs in order to suggest improvements to INDOTs practices. Two questionnaire surveys and six interviews were conducted to gather this information. The two questionnaires were divided into four areas: (1) scheduling specifications, (2) enforcing issues, (3) field personnel skill set and understanding of the specs and scheduling methods/commercial software, and (4) ideas for scheduling technologies/tools/software. Results from these questionnaires were used to target five DOTs that showed good practices as well INDOT to gather …

Factors Involved In The Retention Of American Red Cross Disaster And Emergency Services Volunteers, Suzanne Marie Moravick

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

According to the Corporation for National and Community Service (2007), 33% of workers who volunteer in one year do not volunteer the next year. Retention of disaster and emergency services volunteers is a problem because permanent disaster volunteers save governments and society millions of dollars each year. The purpose of this quantitative, cross-sectional study was to address the problem of retention of American Red Cross disaster and emergency services volunteers. The primary research question for this study examined the predictive strength of positive emotions, resiliency, coping, and post-traumatic growth, in the retention of disaster and emergency services volunteers. The broaden-and-build …