Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Changes In Service And Associated Ridership Impacts Near A New Light Rail Transit Line, Jeongwoo Lee, Marlon Boarnet, Douglas Houston, Hilary Nixon, Steven Spears

Faculty Publications, Urban and Regional Planning

Los Angeles (LA), for many years a city with limited rail transit, is substantially expanding its public transit system. This paradigm change in transportation policy and investment creates new requirements for monitoring. One area needing evaluation is whether new, high quality transit options, such as light rail, near existing transit services increase sustainable transportation mode shares and reduce car travel. Few studies have explored light rail’s role as a catalyst to increase overall transit use and achieve sustainability goals within an auto-oriented city like LA. Metro’s data show that trips taken on its bus and rail system dropped overall by …

An Engine For Army Learning: Army University’S Center For Teaching And Learning Excellence, Leonard Lira, Keith Beurskens

Faculty Publications

To develop adaptive and innovative professionals that can maintain focus on readiness in the near and far terms, the Army institutionalized learning by establishing Army University (ArmyU). The engine of this institutionalized learning is the Center for Teaching and Learning Excellence (CTLE). Modeled after similar centers of learning from civilian institutions of higher education, ArmyU’s CTLE facilitates learning in the Army in three ways. First, by “professionalizing” the core curriculum of its “profession.” Second, by developing a cadre of faculty through programs that go beyond the rhetoric of the label “world-class.” Lastly, CTLE facilitates an internal learning network with Centers …

Examining Accident Reports Involving Autonomous Vehicles In California, Francesca Favaro, Nazanin Nader, Sky Eurich, Michelle Tripp, Naresh Varadaraju

Faculty Publications

Autonomous Vehicle technology is quickly expanding its market and has found in Silicon Valley, California, a strong foothold for preliminary testing on public roads. In an effort to promote safety and transparency to consumers, the California Department of Motor Vehicles has mandated that reports of accidents involving autonomous vehicles be drafted and made available to the public. The present work shows an in-depth analysis of the accident reports filed by different manufacturers that are testing autonomous vehicles in California (testing data from September 2014 to March 2017). The data provides important information on autonomous vehicles accidents’ dynamics, related to the …

The California Linkages Program: Doorway To Housing Support For Child Welfare‐Involved Parents, Amy D'Andrade, James Simon, Danna Fabella, Lolita Castillo, Cesar Mejia, David Shuster

Faculty Publications

Housing instability can complicate parents’ efforts to provide for their children. Child welfare service agencies have had difficulty adequately serving parents’ housing needs due to limited and constrained funding streams. This article integrates the voices of four important stakeholders to illuminate how an innovative model of service system coordination called Linkages addresses housing needs for child welfare‐involved parents eligible for public assistance. Facilitated by Linkages, these parents can receive supportive housing services through programs affiliated with the California public assistance program CalWORKs. Personal narratives reflecting the diverse perspectives of stakeholders in the Linkages collaboration—the statewide program director, a child welfare …

Analyzing The Potential Of Hybrid And Electric Off-Road Equipment In Reducing Carbon Emissions From Construction Industries, Matthew Holian, Jae-Ho Pyeon

Mineta Transportation Institute

This report quantifies the likely impact recent improvements in emissions technology in the heavy construction equipment fleet will have on national and state-level carbon emissions from construction industries. Specific technologies examined in this report include hybrid and electric-powered off-road equipment. Innovation in the equipment manufacturing industry, and adoption of innovative technology by construction firms, is driven by a wide range of factors, some of which can be influenced by public policy. Therefore, this paper describes policies available to public decision makers at the local, state and national levels that impact equipment use and development decisions, including those that encourage the …

Branding India: Constructing A Reputation For Responsibility In The Nuclear Order, Karthika Sasikumar

Faculty Publications

Nation-branding professionals have the same goal as diplomats and politicians – the goal of endowing the nation with specific qualities in the minds of the target audience, so that it is identified with those qualities. In other words, they are constructing an identity for the country. Insights from the commercial practice of nation branding can illuminate the process of identity construction by states. As an illustration, the paper investigates the case of India’s branding/self-presentation as a responsible holder of nuclear weapons. In 1998, India declared itself a Nuclear Weapon State (NWS). Since India has not been granted NWS status under …

Feasibility Study Of A Campus-Based Bikesharing Program At Unlv, Hualiang Teng, Boniphace Kutela, Eneliko Mulokozi, Bingyi Hu, Yang Jiao, Haiqing Li

Mineta Transportation Institute

Bikesharing systems have been deployed worldwide as a transportation demand management strategy to encourage active modes and reduce single-occupant vehicle travel. These systems have been deployed at universities, both as part of a city program or as a stand-alone system, to serve for trips to work, as well as trips on campus. The Regional Transportation Commission of Southern Nevada (RTCSNV) has built a public bikesharing system in downtown Las Vegas, approximately five miles from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV). This study analyzes the feasibility of a campus-based bikesharing program at UNLV. Through a review of the literature, survey …

Designing Road Diet Evaluations: Lessons Learned From San Jose’S Lincoln Avenue Road Diet, Hilary Nixon, Asha Weinstein Agrawal, Cameron Simons

Mineta Transportation Institute

This report analyzes traffic impacts from the 2015 implementation of a pilot “road diet” on Lincoln Avenue, in the City of San Jose, California, comparing data on traffic volumes and speeds from before and after the road diet was implemented. The analysis looks at impacts on both the road diet location itself and on surrounding streets likely to have been impacted by traffic diverted off the road diet segment. The results within the road diet zone were as expected, with falling volumes and numbers of speeders. The all-day data aggregated by street type (e.g., neighborhood streets, major streets) showed limited …

After Nuclear Midnight: The Impact Of A Nuclear War On India And Pakistan, Karthika Sasikumar

Faculty Publications

During the past decade, computer models have predicted that the physical impacts of a nuclear exchange between India and Pakistan, or even a single strike on a large city, would be devastating. The social, economic, and political impacts – although less well known – would also be crippling and would reverberate throughout the world. Efforts to use “Armageddon estimates” to scare the people of India and Pakistan have thus far not significantly reduced the risk of nuclear weapons use in this turbulent region. However, the increasing penetration of television and social media may give members of the public a better …

Reciprocity And Vernacular Statecraft: Andean Cooperation In Post-Disaster Highland Ecuador, A. J. Faas

Faculty Publications, Anthropology

Cooperative labor parties known throughout the Andes as mingas, although outwardly appearing to be the same cultural institution, are practiced quite differently and with varying meanings in different socioeconomic contexts. This article discusses how minga cooperation came to exhibit contrasting, yet intimately related, patterns of practice and social relationships in both a displaced, disaster-affected village and a disaster-induced resettlement. It describes actors in these groups appealing to ostensibly common repertoires of shared meaning and culture, while organizing themselves in distinct ways in order to access and control scarce resources. In one village, minga participation is largely sustained through traditional …

What Do Americans Think About Federal Tax Options To Support Public Transit, Highways, And Local Streets And Roads? Results From Year Eight Of A National Survey, Asha Weinstein Agrawal, Hilary Nixon

Mineta Transportation Institute

This report summarizes the results of the eighth year of a national random-digit-dial public opinion poll asking 1,201 respondents if they would support various tax options for raising federal transportation revenues, with a special focus on understanding support for increasing revenues for public transit. Ten specific tax options tested were variations on raising the federal gas tax rate, creating a new mileage tax, and creating a new federal sales tax. Other questions probed perceptions related to public transit, including knowledge and opinions about federal taxes to support transit. In addition, the survey collected data on standard sociodemographic factors, travel behavior …

Improving Livability Using Green And Active Modes: A Traffic Stress Level Analysis Of Transit, Bicycle, And Pedestrian Access And Mobility, Maaza C. Mekuria, Bruce Appleyard, Hilary Nixon

Mineta Transportation Institute

Understanding the relative attractiveness of alternatives to driving is vitally important toward lowering driving rates and, by extension, vehicle miles traveled (VMT), traffic congestion, greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, etc. The relative effectiveness of automobile alternatives (i.e., buses, bicycling, and walking) depends on how well streets are designed to work for these respective modes in terms of safety, comfort and cost, which can sometimes pit their relative effectiveness against each other. In this report, the level of traffic stress (LTS) criteria previously developed by two of the authors was used to determine how the streets functioned for these auto alternative modes. …

Assessing The Efficiency Of Mass Transit Systems In The United States, Hokey Min

Mineta Transportation Institute

Frustrated with increased parking problems, unstable gasoline prices, and stifling traffic congestion, a growing number of metropolitan city dwellers consider utilizing the mass transit system. Reflecting this sentiment, a ridership of the mass transit system across the United States has been on the rise for the past several years. A growing demand for the mass transit system, however, necessitates the expansion of service offerings, the improvement of basic infrastructure/routes, and the additional employment of mass transit workers, including drivers and maintenance crews. Such a need requires the optimal allocation of financial and human resources to the mass transit system in …

Performance Measures To Assess Resiliency And Efficiency Of Transit Systems, Hani Nassif, Kaan Özbay, Devajyoti Deka, Peng Lou, Chaekuk Na, Sandeep Mudigonda, Yuan Zhu, Ender Faruk Morgul, Bekir Bartin, Ayman El-Awar

Mineta Transportation Institute

Transit agencies are interested in assessing the short-, mid-, and long-term performance of infrastructure with the objective of enhancing resiliency and efficiency. This report addresses three distinct aspects of New Jersey’s Transit System: 1) resiliency of bridge infrastructure, 2) resiliency of public transit systems, and 3) efficiency of transit systems with an emphasis on paratransit service.

This project proposed a conceptual framework to assess the performance and resiliency for bridge structures in a transit network before and after disasters utilizing structural health monitoring (SHM), finite element (FE) modeling and remote sensing using Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR). The public transit …

Transportation Construction Work-Zone Safety Impact On Time-Related Incentive Contracting Projects, Jae-Ho Pyeon, Do Kim

Mineta Transportation Institute

Work-zone safety on highway projects continues to be a national concern, and project safety performance is one of the indicators of project success. Many contractors and State Transportation Agencies believe that expedited construction time under incentive contracting contributes to reducing the safety risk of road users traveling through work zones. However, the truth of this belief has never been measured or supported by any statistical evidence. Therefore, this research investigates the statistical relationship between time-related incentive road construction projects and frequency of vehicle crashes in California to understand the impact of time-related incentive provisions on project safety performance. The research …

A Comparative Analysis Of High-Speed Rail Station Development Into Destination And Multi-Use Facilities: The Case Of San Jose Diridon, Anastasia Loukaitou-Sideris, Deike Peters, Paige Colton, Eric Eidlin

Mineta Transportation Institute

As a burgeoning literature on high-speed rail development indicates, good station-area planning is a very important prerequisite for the eventual successful operation of a high-speed rail station; it can also trigger opportunities for economic development in the station area and the station-city. At the same time, “on the ground” experiences from international examples of high-speed rail stations can provide valuable lessons for the California high-speed rail system in general, and the San Jose Diridon station in particular. This study identifies and draws lessons from European HSR stations that share similarities across several criteria with the San Jose area context. From …

The Challenge Of Protecting Transit And Passenger Rail: Understanding How Security Works Against Terrorism, Brian Michael Jenkins

Mineta Transportation Institute

Terrorists see transit and passenger rail as an attractive target. Designed for public convenience, trains and stations offer terrorists easy access to crowds of people in confined environments where there are minimal security risks and attacks can cause high casualties. This report examines the unique attributes of the terrorist threat, how security measures against terrorism have evolved over the years, and their overall effectiveness.

Does security work? Empirical evidence is hard to come by. Terrorist incidents are statistically rare and random, making it difficult to discern effects. The fact that terrorists focus most of their attacks on targets with little …

Book Review: Rewired: Research-Writing Partnerships Within The Frameworks, Ann Agee

Faculty and Staff Publications

On many campuses, writing skills and research skills are supported in separate instructional silos. When it comes to college composition assignments, however, writing and research are interdependent, and this close relationship is evident in the many common elements shared by the Council of Writing Program Administrators (WPA) Framework for Success in Postsecondary Writing and the ACRL Framework for Information Literacy for Higher Education. How the core concepts in these frameworks interconnect and how librarians and writing instructors can work together to implement them in the classroom is the focus of Rewired.

In The Green Classroom—Tax Policy Of Environmental Tax Rules And Incentives: New Directions In Teaching And Research, Annette Nellen

Faculty Publications

There is no shortage of tax rules that address energy and natural resources in some manner. There are taxes on most types of fuel, tax credits for energy saving devices, and various tax incentives to encourage specified activities such as use of LED lighting or energy efficient heaters. In addition, numerous proposals are offered annually by lawmakers at the federal, state and local levels that also address conservation, energy and innovation in conservation and energy-efficiencies.How do we know if existing rules and proposals are appropriate for a tax system? Principles of good tax policy can be applied to them to …