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An Improved Learnable Evolution Model For Solving Multi-Objective Vehicle Routing Problem With Stochastic Demand, Yunyun Niu, Detian Kong, Rong Wen, Zhiguang Cao, Jianhua Xiao

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

The multi-objective vehicle routing problem with stochastic demand (MO-VRPSD) is much harder to tackle than other traditional vehicle routing problems (VRPs), due to the uncertainty in customer demands and potentially conflicted objectives. In this paper, we present an improved multi-objective learnable evolution model (IMOLEM) to solve MO-VRPSD with three objectives of travel distance, driver remuneration and number of vehicles. In our method, a machine learning algorithm, i.e., decision tree, is exploited to help find and guide the desirable direction of evolution process. To cope with the key issue of "route failure" caused due to stochastic customer demands, we propose a …

Gp3: Gaussian Process Path Planning For Reliable Shortest Path In Transportation Networks, Hongliang Guo, Xuejie Hou, Zhiguang Cao, Jie Zhang

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

This paper investigates the reliable shortest path (RSP) problem in Gaussian process (GP) regulated transportation networks. Specifically, the RSP problem that we are targeting at is to minimize the (weighted) linear combination of mean and standard deviation of the path's travel time. With the reasonable assumption that the travel times of the underlying transportation network follow a multi-variate Gaussian distribution, we propose a Gaussian process path planning (GP3) algorithm to calculate the a priori optimal path as the RSP solution. With a series of equivalent RSP problem transformations, we are able to reach a polynomial time complexity algorithm with guaranteed …

A Deep Ensemble Method For Multi-Agent Reinforcement Learning: A Case Study On Air Traffic Control, Supriyo Ghosh, Sean Laguna, Laura Wynter, Laura Wynter, Hasan Poonawala

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

Reinforcement learning (RL), a promising framework for data-driven decision making in an uncertain environment, has successfully been applied in many real-world operation and control problems. However, the application of RL in a large-scale decentralized multi-agent environment remains a challenging problem due to the partial observability and limited communications between agents. In this paper, we develop a model-based kernel RL approach and a model-free deep RL approach for learning a decentralized, shared policy among homogeneous agents. By leveraging the strengths of both these methods, we further propose a novel deep ensemble multi-agent reinforcement learning (MARL) method that efficiently learns to arbitrate …

Incorporating The 10th Edition Institute Of Traffic Engineers (Ite) Trip Generation Rates Into Virginia Department Of Transportation Guidelines, Kun Xie, Mecit Cetin, Hong Yang, Xiaomeng Dong

Civil & Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications

The Institute of Transportation Engineers (ITE) released the Trip Generation (TG) 10th edition in 2017, which significantly updated its database, and some of its trip generation rates were substantially lower than those of earlier editions. This study aims to investigate the applicability of the TG 10th edition in various Virginia contexts and to recommend how to incorporate the TG 10th edition into state guidelines. The research team surveyed 31 state transportation agencies to obtain a clear understanding of current practices in the adoption of trip rates and trip estimation approaches. We systematically compared trip rates of TG 9th and 10th …

A Portrait Of Latino Children: The Gap With Non-Latinos In Massachusetts, Phillip Granberry, Alejandro Alvarez, Vishakha Agarwal, Fabián Torres-Ardila, Gaston Institute, University Of Massachusetts Boston

Gastón Institute Publications

Latino children are one of Massachusetts' fastest-growing segments of the population. However, evidence suggests that the social and economic context in which Latino children live does not adequately support their development and overall wellbeing. Nearly a third of Latino children in the United States live in very low-opportunity neighborhoods as defined by a scale of educational, health, environmental, and socioeconomic outcomes. Compared to non-Latino children, Latinos are more likely to grow up in households below the federal poverty threshold and less likely to have a mother with at least a Bachelor's degree. The research included in this report aims to …

Frontline Job Redesign Louisiana - Evaluation Overview, Quality Improvement Center For Workforce Development

Other QIC-WD Products

The QIC-WD evaluation was conducted with the support of the Louisiana Department of Children and Families to determine if a Job Redesign was effective in improving workforce and child welfare outcomes.

Research Questions

A key research question concerned the extent to which the job redesign reduced the amount of time caseworkers spent on administrative tasks and increased time spent on clinical work with children and families. The QIC-WD also tested questions related to the expected effects of the redesign on workers’ perceptions of their job complexity, role overload, and work-life balance, and how these perceptions relate to job satisfaction, case …

Competency-Based Personnel Selection Oklahoma - Intervention Overview, Quality Improvement Center For Workforce Development

Other QIC-WD Products

A Competency-based Personnel Selection process was the intervention designed as part of the QIC-WD project to address inconsistencies in hiring and to identify candidates with the desired competencies to be hired as Child Welfare Specialist (CWS) I/II with Oklahoma Human Services (OKDHS) (for more information see the Site Overview). The Competency-based Personnel Selection process is a standardized hiring procedure that includes a structured interview with behaviorally anchored rating scales, a typing assessment, and a writing assessment. Additionally, research was conducted on a set of academic and commercial hiring assessments to determine how well these measures of personality, cognitive skills, …

Onboarding Program Eastern Band Of Cherokee Indians - Evaluation Overview, Quality Improvement Center For Workforce Development

Other QIC-WD Products

The QIC-WD evaluation was conducted with the support of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians Family Safety Program (EBCI FSP) to determine if an Onboarding intervention was effective in improving workforce outcomes.

Research Questions

The evaluation of the newly developed onboarding program for the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians Family Safety Program (EBCI FSP) was designed to understand both implementation and early outcomes. Examples of primary implementation questions from the new employee’s perspective included:

• To what degree was the new employee’s workspace ready on their first day?
• Did the new employee have individual meetings with their supervisor in weeks 1-5? …

Below-Deck: The Specialist Sailor In World War Ii, Gregory Falcon

War, Diplomacy, and Society (MA) Theses

U.S. Navy ships were made up of many unexpected jobs during World War II. Traditional war histories say little about sailors who rarely saw direct combat below active war decks but instead worked skilled jobs. Specialized sailors were often unseen as they worked below the waterline as, for example, electrician’s mates and boiler room firemen. These jobs were pivotal to keeping the ship running and allowed men to make use of their valuable time in the navy. This thesis argues that, although evolving naval culture led men to enter for various reasons, many entered to enhance their future career during …

2021 August, Morehead State University. Office Of Communications & Marketing.

Morehead State Press Release Archive, 1961 to the Present

Press releases for August of 2021.

江門市居家養老需求研究報告 : 城市深度訪談 = The Needs Of Ageing In Place In Jiangmen City : In-Depth Interviews In Urban Area, 嶺南大學-五邑大學居家養老聯合研究創新中心

APIAS Research Report 研究報告

本次研究旨在調查江門市老年人居家養老的現狀，探索服務需要，提升江門市老年人的生活質素。研究採用定性研究方法，對21名城市老人進行了深度訪談，調查日期從2020年7月到2020年9月。在這21名受訪者中，女性是11人，男性是10人；60-74歲的老人有9名，12名老人在75歲以上；與他人同住的老人有10名，11位老人是獨居。

研究檢視了江門市老年人的健康狀況和居家養老方面的需求，包括住房滿意度、社區設施情況、患病者個人護理需要及生活水準、健康資訊獲取方式、社會支援途徑和方式、老年人喜歡的活動、上門服務的選擇情況、社會組織分佈情況、患病老人的經濟狀況、及智能設備使用情況。

根據被訪者的需要，本文從醫療費用、養老中心和活動、可承擔服務、資訊傳遞、智能設備、家用電器及家居維修等六個方面提出了幾點建議，希望可以提升老年人的生活質素，使他們可以在家安享晚年。

Which Financial Measures Can Be Leveraged To Help Close The Unfunded Liability Gap For State Pension Plans?, Selette M. Jemison

Doctoral Dissertations (DBA)

The main purpose of this study is to identify the key determinants of the unfunded liability (UL) for state and local public Defined Benefit (DB) pension plans. The UL is a measure of pension debt in plans across the U.S. This debt continues to rise while pension obligations to current and future retirees must also be satisfied. The UL is derived by subtracting the market value of plan assets from its accrued liabilities. If assets are less than liabilities, it signals a lack of funds set aside to cover all pension benefits and generates what is known as an unfunded …

Exploration Of Corridor-Based Tolling Strategies For Virginia’S Express Toll Lanes, Shanjiang Zhu, Mecit Cetin, Hong Yang, Olcay Sahin, Atabak Mardan

Civil & Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications

Virginia has invested significant resources in the development of express toll lanes (ETLs), which adjust toll rates dynamically based on the level of toll lane usage. A tool is needed to investigate the potential impact of the I-66 Outside-the-Beltway (OTB) ETLs on regional traffic patterns. This study developed a microscopic traffic simulation model in TransModeler to evaluate a set of corridor-based tolling strategies for the I-66 ETLs in NOVA. This model also considered the changes in vehicle occupancy, mode split, and departure time among travelers because of tolls based on locally collected data. An interactive map-based analyzer based on the …

Monetary Policy Surprises, Stock Returns, And Financial And Liquidity Constraints, In An Exchange Rate Monetary Policy System, John M. Sequeira

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

This study examines the impact of monetary policy surprises on the stock price behaviour of a small developed economy, whose monetary policy is based on the exchange rate. We find that monetary policy surprises associated with all contractionary policy levers and a neutral policy lever, have a consistently significant and negative impact on stock returns. In comparison, only monetary policy surprises associated with a downward re-centering policy lever, has a significantly positive effect on stock returns. Using a recalibrated classification system, we also find that monetary policy surprises differ across sectors of the economy. Our results show how monetary policy …

Data Files: Green Waves, Machine Learning, And Predictive Analytics: Making Streets Better For People On Bikes, Stephen Fickas

TREC Datasets and Databases

The project builds on a prior app that was designed for Green Light Optimized Speed Advisory (GLOSA). This is more colloquially known as keeping a vehicle in the green wave: you are at a location and moving at a speed that will allow you to (theoretically) have a green light at each intersection you encounter along a corridor. Our long-term goal is to extend the FastTrack app described in the Background section to include actuated signals along a corridor. This project takes a first step by evaluating the effectiveness of machine-learning algorithms to predict the next phase of an actuated …

Data-Driven Mobility Strategies For Multimodal Transportation, Yao-Jan Wu, Xianfeng Terry Yang, Sirisha Kothuri, Abolfazl Karimpour, Qinzheng Wang, Jason Anderson

TREC Final Reports

Multimodal transportation systems (e.g., walking, cycling, automobile, public transit, etc.) are effective in increasing people’s travel flexibility, reducing congestion, and improving safety. Therefore, it is critical to understand what factors would affect people’s mode choices. With advanced technology, such as connected and automated vehicles, cities are now facing a transition from traditional urban planning to developing smart cities. To support multimodal transportation management, this study will serve as a bridge to connect speed management strategies of conventional corridors to connected vehicle corridors. This study consists of three main components. In the first component, the impact of speed management strategies along …

Using Deep Learning Algorithms To Give Bicyclists The “Green Wave” At Traffic Signals, Stephen Fickas

TREC Project Briefs

Led by Dr. Stephen Fickas of the University of Oregon (UO), transportation researchers are working to give bicyclists smoother rides by allowing them to communicate with traffic signals via a mobile app.

Opening Pandora’S Box From Readmissions To Transitional Care Patient-Centered Outcome Measures, Mathew J. Reeves, Michele C. Fritz, Ifeyinwa Osunkwo, Corita R. Grudzen, Lewis L. Hsu, Jing Li, Raymona H. Lawrence, Janet Prvu Bettger

Health Policy & Community Health: Faculty Publications

Background:

Measuring the effectiveness of transitional care interventions has historically relied on health care utilization as the primary outcome. Although the Care Transitions Measure was the first outcome measure specifically developed for transitional care, its applicability beyond the hospital-to-home transition is limited. There is a need for patient-centered outcome measures (PCOMs) to be developed for transitional care settings (ie, TC-PCOMs) to ensure that outcomes are both meaningful to patients and relevant to the particular care transition. The overall objective of this paper is to describe the opportunities and challenges of integrating TC-PCOMs into research and practice.

Methods and Results:

This …

Implementation Of Complex Interventions Lessons Learned From The Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute Transitional Care Portfolio, Sabina B. Gesell, Janet Prvu Bettger, Raymona H. Lawrence, Jing Li, Jeanne Hoffman, Barbara J. Lutz, Corita R. Grudzen, Anna M. Johnson, Jerry A. Krishnan, Lewis Hsu, Dorien Zwart, Mark V. Williams, Jeffrey L. Schnipper

Health Policy & Community Health: Faculty Publications

Background:

Despite the well-documented risks to patient safety associated with transitions from one care setting to another, health care organizations struggle to identify which interventions to implement. Multiple strategies are often needed, and studying the effectiveness of these complex interventions is challenging.

Objective:

The objective of this study was to present lessons learned in implementing and evaluating complex transitional care interventions in routine clinical care.

Research Design:

Nine transitional care study teams share important common lessons in designing complex interventions with stakeholder engagement, implementation, and evaluation under pragmatic conditions (ie, using only existing resources), and disseminating findings in outlets that …

“Take My Word For It”: Group Texts And Testimonials Enhance State And Federal Student Aid Applications', Jason Jabbari, Stephen Roll, Sam Bufe, Jessica Mckay

Social Policy Institute Research

"As the cost of college continues to rise, it has become increasingly important for students to apply for financial aid. However, many students are unaware of the benefits of FAFSA. We launched a field experiment with a non-profit organization to explore the impact of text message interventions on FAFSA application rates. 2,236 potential students were randomized into three groups: a control group that focused on reminders for upcoming deadlines, a treatment group that focused on benefits-framed messaging, and a second treatment group that added social proofing and norming. Each group received 8 text messages from late September 2020 to early …

Gaps And Opportunities In Accessibility Policy For Autonomous Vehicles, William Riggs, Anurag Pande

Mineta Transportation Institute

Nearly 1 in 5 people in the US have a disability (more than 57 million) (U.S. Census Bureau), and people with disabilities use the automobile as a travel mode at significantly lower rates than people without disabilities (Bureau of Transportation Statistics). For example, people aged 18 to 64 with disabilities make 28% fewer trips per day (2.6 v. 3.6 trips) on average than people without disabilities. The disparity is even more significant for non-workers. These statistics highlight the notable technological, design, and policy failings in today’s transportation system - that disabled individuals have considerable suppressed demand for travel that is …

Spatio-Temporal Analysis Of The Roadside Transportation Related Air Quality (Startraq) And Neighborhood Characterization, Jaymin Kwon, Yushin Ahn, Steve Chung

Mineta Transportation Institute

To promote active transportation modes (such as bike ride and walking), and to create safer communities for easier access to transit, it is essential to provide consolidated data-driven transportation information to the public. The relevant and timely information from data facilitates the improvement of decision-making processes for the establishment of public policy and urban planning for sustainable growth, and for promoting public health in the region. For the characterization of the spatial variation of transportation-emitted air pollution in the Fresno/Clovis neighborhood in California, various species of particulate matters emitted from traffic sources were measured using real-time monitors and GPS loggers …

How Do Environmental Factors Affect Drivers’ Gaze And Head Movements?, Arash Tavakoli, Vahid Balali, Arsalan Heydarian

Mineta Transportation Institute

Studies have shown that environmental factors affect driving behaviors. For instance, weather conditions and the presence of a passenger have been shown to significantly affect the speed of the driver. As one of the important measures of driving behavior is the gaze and head movements of the driver, such metrics can be potentially used towards understanding the effects of environmental factors on the driver’s behavior in real-time. In this study, using a naturalistic study platform, videos have been collected from six participants for more than four weeks of a fully naturalistic driving scenario. The videos of both the participants’ faces …

Servant Leadership And Conflict Adaptivity In Local Government Leaders, June F. Mighty

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Government organizations’ focus on public service provides a fertile ground for conflict due to competing interests and goals. Conflicts exist and persist because of workplace pressures such as unstable political climates, budget restrictions, technological advances, a diverse workforce, disruptive change, and organizational transformation. Although typically risk-averse, these organizations need flexible and adaptive leaders who exhibit the appropriate behaviors in the best interests of the organization and the community. Servant-leaders seem likely to demonstrate conflict adaptivity due to their focus on serving the needs of followers and other stakeholders, which may require different conflict styles at different times and in different …

Dynamic Lane Traffic Signal Control With Group Attention And Multi-Timescale Reinforcement Learning, Qize Jiang, Jingze Li, Weiwei Sun, Baihua Zheng

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

Traffic signal control has achieved significant success with the development of reinforcement learning. However, existing works mainly focus on intersections with normal lanes with fixed outgoing directions. It is noticed that some intersections actually implement dynamic lanes, in addition to normal lanes, to adjust the outgoing directions dynamically. Existing methods fail to coordinate the control of traffic signal and that of dynamic lanes effectively. In addition, they lack proper structures and learning algorithms to make full use of traffic flow prediction, which is essential to set the proper directions for dynamic lanes. Motivated by the ineffectiveness of existing approaches when …

Integrating Empirical Analysis Into Analytical Framework: An Integrated Model Structure For On-Demand Transportation, Yuliu Su, Ying Xu, Costas Courcoubetis, Shih-Fen Cheng

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

On-demand transportation services have been developing in an irresistible trend since their first launch in public. These services not only transform the urban mobility landscape, but also profoundly change individuals’ travel behavior. In this paper, we propose an integrated model structure which integrates empirical analysis into a discrete choice based analytical framework to investigate a heterogeneous population’s choices on ownership, usage and transportation mode with the presence of ride-hailing. Distinguished from traditional discrete choice models where individuals’ choices are only affected by exogenous variables and are independent of other individuals’ choices, our model extends to capture the endogeneity of supply …

Cities Leading The Way: Municipal Climate Policy In The Us, Naomi Bick

Dissertations

Understanding cities is a key feature for understanding responses (or lack thereof) to a collective action problem like climate change. In the absence of federal climate change policies in the United States, many city and state governments have adopted and implemented policies to mitigate and adapt to climate change. As mayors, city managers, and city councils increasingly become central actors, scholars have shifted their studies to focus on city climate change policy (Yi et al. 2017a, Hughes 2017). Descriptive case studies have identified a broad range of factors; however, the causal mechanisms of whether cities adopt and implement climate change …

Associations Between Exposure To Air Pollution After A Dust Event And Hospitalizations., Estrella De Jesus Herrera-Molina

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

The Southwestern region has been identified as one of the most persistent dust producing regions of North America. Exposure to inhalable particulate matter (PM10) originating from desertic landscape during dust events/dust exposures (DEs) can reach hazardous levels. El Paso, Texas’s ambient air has reached hazardous levels of PM10 above 4000 μg/m3 with near zero visibility due to these natural events. There are very few prior studies in the southwestern United States pertaining to the associations between exposure to atmospheric aerosol after DEs and hospitalizations, nor are there many epidemiological studies globally in dusty environments where most of the atmospheric aerosol …

Embodying Equity: Change Management Strategies For Addressing Racial Equity In Environmental Nonprofits, Brittany Jezouit

School of Professional and Continuing Studies Nonprofit Studies Capstone Projects

Recent social movements and the urgency of the climate crisis have heightened awareness of the exclusion of people of color within the environmental movement. While many environmental nonprofits are working to address racial equity within their organizations, they are often not well-equipped with the tools, tactics, and change management strategies to successfully execute their goals. Using data from case studies via qualitative interviews with local Richmond, VA environmental nonprofit leaders, this study aims to combine insights from nonprofit leaders doing racial equity work with key theories of change from the ProSci ADKAR model, John Kotter’s 8-Step Process for Leading Change, …

Dr Ishrat Explains Why He Has Quit, Mushtaq Ghumman

Faculty Research - Newspaper and Magazine Articles

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister’s Advisor on Institutional Reforms and Austerity, Dr Ishrat Husain, has confirmed that he has submitted his resignation with effect from September 1, 2021 as per understanding reached at the time of joining the government.