Evaluation of Incident Management Techniques (Lexington, Kentucky)

The objective of this project was to evaluate and document the various incident management techniques used by the Lexington Fayette Urban County Government (LFUCG) to alleviate the impact of incidents on highways in Fayette County. Components included in the evaluation included: 1) establishment and use of traffic diversion routes, 2) use of variable message signs, 3) use of detour signing, 4) use of arrow board signs, 5) improvement of existing incident detection and verification through enhanced computerized mapping, 6) use of linked motion detection equipment, and 7) development of a public information program. The methods used to incorporate each of these components into an incident management program were described. The analysis of traffic diversion plans showed that congestion would be an extreme problem with many of the diversion routes; especially during peak hours. It was recommended that existing diversion routes be used only during off peak hours and alternate routes be developed for peak traffic flow periods

Intelligent Transportation Systems Strategic Plan (Phase I Report)

This interim report on an Intelligent Transportation Systems Strategic (ITS) Plan has been developed as documentation of the process of offering a vision for ITS and recommending an outline for organizational structure, infrastructure, and long-term planning for ITS in Kentucky. This plan provides an overview of the broad scope of ITS and relationships between various Intelligent Vehicle Highway Systems (IVHS) functional areas and ITS user service areas. Three of the functional areas of ITS have been addressed in this interim report with sections devoted to mission, vision, goals, and potential technology applications. Within each of the three areas, recommendations have been made for applications and technologies for deployment. A more formalized business plan for will be developed to recommend specific projects for implementation. Those three functional areas are 1) Advanced Rural Transportation Systems (ARTS), 2) Advanced Traveler Information Systems (ATIS), and 3) Commercial Vehicle Operations (CVO). A survey of other states was conducted to determine the status of the development of ITS strategic plans. Information received from the 11 states that had completed strategic plans was used to determine the overall approach taken in development of the plans and to evaluate the essential contents of the reports for application in Kentucky. Kentucky\u27s ITS Strategic Plan evolved from an early decision by representatives of the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet (KyTC) to formalize the procedure by requesting the Kentucky Transportation Center to prepare a work plan outlining the proposed tasks. Following several introductory meetings of the Study Advisory Committee, additional focus group meetings were held with various transportation representatives to identify ITS issues of importance. Results from these meetings were compiled and used as input to the planning process for development of the Strategic Plan components of ARTS and ATIS. The development of a strategic plan for Commercial Vehicle Operations originated from a different procedure than did the other functional areas of ITS. As part of well-developed commercial vehicle activities through the ITS-related programs of Advantage I-75 and CVISN, Kentucky has become a national leader in this area and has developed a strategic plan of advanced technology applications to commercial vehicles. The strategic plan for Commercial Vehicle Operations was developed out of the convergence of several parallel processes in Kentucky. Empower Kentucky work teams had met over a two-year period to develop improved and more efficient processes for CVO in Kentucky. Their conclusions and recommendations encouraged the further activities of the Kentucky ITS/CVO working group that first convened in the summer of 1996. In an effort to conceptually organize the various ITS/CVO activities in Kentucky, and as a commitment to the CVISN Mainstreaming plan, an inclusive visioning exercise was held in early 1997. Out of this exercise emerged the six critical vision elements that guided the CVO strategic plan. The remaining functional areas to be included in the ITS Strategic Plan will be addressed in the second phase of this study. Those areas are Advanced Traffic Management Systems (ATMS), Advanced Vehicle Control Systems (AVCS), and Advanced Public Transportation Systems (APTS). It is anticipated that a process similar to that developed for the first phase of this study will continue

Cost Estimate Modeling of Transportation Management Plans for Highway Projects, Research Report 11-24

Highway rehabilitation and reconstruction projects frequently cause road congestion and increase safety concerns while limiting access for road users. State Transportation Agencies (STAs) are challenged to find safer and more efficient ways to renew deteriorating roadways in urban areas. To better address the work zone issues, the Federal Highway Administration published updates to the Work Zone Safety and Mobility Rule. All state and local governments receiving federal aid funding were required to comply with the provisions of the rule no later than October 12, 2007. One of the rule’s major elements is to develop and implement Transportation Management Plans (TMPs). Using well-developed TMP strategies, work zone safety and mobility can be enhanced while road user costs can be minimized. The cost of a TMP for a road project is generally considered a high-cost item and, therefore, must be quantified. However, no tools or systematic modeling methods are available to assist agency engineers with TMP cost estimating. This research included reviewing TMP reports for recent Caltrans projects regarding state-of-the-art TMP practices and input from the district TMP traffic engineers. The researchers collected Caltrans highway project data regarding TMP cost estimating. Then, using Construction Analysis for Pavement Rehabilitation Strategies (CA4PRS) software, the researchers performed case studies. Based on the CA4PRS outcomes of the case studies, a TMP strategy selection and cost estimate (STELCE) model for Caltrans highway projects was proposed. To validate the proposed model, the research demonstrated an application for selecting TMP strategies and estimating TMP costs. Regarding the model’s limitation, the proposed TMP STELCE model was developed based on Caltrans TMP practices and strategies. Therefore, other STAs might require adjustments and modifications, reflecting their TMP processes, before adopting this model. Finally, the authors recommended that a more detailed step-by-step TMP strategy selection and cost estimate process be included in the TMP guidelines to improve the accuracy of TMP cost estimates

Development of a Work Zone Training Program

Safety in highway work zones has been a major concern for many decades. Over the years, government agencies and highway industry have developed work zone safety training programs to educate general public, professionals, and government employers. Existing training programs are conducted in the old fashion classroom setting which has some disadvantages such as high travel costs and locations far away from jobs. The objective of this research project was to develop a web-based training program for highway work zone safety. The developed program was built on advanced computer science technologies and delivered via Internet so that a trainee can access the training materials at any time and at any location as long as there is an Internet service. Training topics cover sign, marking, highway traffic signal, and temporary traffic control. At the end of training, a trainee will have an opportunity to take an on-line quiz with 50 questions. A certificate will be sent to the trainee via e-mail if that person’s test score is higher than the passing grade. The developed web-based training program has several advantages. First, using the developed program will eliminate the travel costs for the instructors and trainees. Second, both the instructors and trainees will spend less time away from their jobs. Third, the developed program can be easily modified and updated with any new information. Finally, trainees can learn the training materials at their own pace. The self pace format can be easily fitted in a busy working schedule

Patterns-based Evaluation of Open Source BPM Systems: The Cases of jBPM, OpenWFE, and Enhydra Shark

In keeping with the proliferation of free software development initiatives and the increased interest in the business process management domain, many open source workflow and business process management systems have appeared during the last few years and are now under active development. This upsurge gives rise to two important questions: what are the capabilities of these systems? and how do they compare to each other and to their closed source counterparts? i.e. in other words what is the state-of-the-art in the area?. To gain an insight into the area, we have conducted an in-depth analysis of three of the major open source workflow management systems - jBPM, OpenWFE and Enhydra Shark, the results of which are reported here. This analysis is based on the workflow patterns framework and provides a continuation of the series of evaluations performed using the same framework on closed source systems, business process modeling languages and web-service composition standards. The results from evaluations of the three open source systems are compared with each other and also with the results from evaluations of three representative closed source systems - Staffware, WebSphere MQ and Oracle BPEL PM, documented in earlier works. The overall conclusion is that open source systems are targeted more toward developers rather than business analysts. They generally provide less support for the patterns than closed source systems, particularly with respect to the resource perspective which describes the various ways in which work is distributed amongst business users and managed through to completion

Global state, local decisions: Decentralized NFV for ISPs via enhanced SDN

The network functions virtualization paradigm is rapidly gaining interest among Internet service providers. However, the transition to this paradigm on ISP networks comes with a unique set of challenges: legacy equipment already in place, heterogeneous traffic from multiple clients, and very large scalability requirements. In this article we thoroughly analyze such challenges and discuss NFV design guidelines that address them efficiently. Particularly, we show that a decentralization of NFV control while maintaining global state improves scalability, offers better per-flow decisions and simplifies the implementation of virtual network functions. Building on top of such principles, we propose a partially decentralized NFV architecture enabled via an enhanced software-defined networking infrastructure. We also perform a qualitative analysis of the architecture to identify advantages and challenges. Finally, we determine the bottleneck component, based on the qualitative analysis, which we implement and benchmark in order to assess the feasibility of the architecture.Peer ReviewedPostprint (author's final draft

A Multidimensional Model of Project Leadership

According to ASCE’s Vision 2025 Report (ASCE, 2009), in order “To lead and execute complex projects that involve many and varied stakeholders and meaningful collaboration, civil engineers will have to command the multidisciplinary, multi-cultural, team-building, and leadership aspects of their work.” In the traditional Iron Triangle of project management, the project leader’s responsibility is to balance cost, schedule, and quality constraints to meet the owner’s needs, which defines the scope of the project (Lewis, 2005). The Iron Triangle has lost much of its validity because it assumes only three dimensions of constraints, when in fact constraints can arise from multiple dimensions (PMI, 2008). Therefore, in addition to managing multi-disciplinary, multi-cultural teams, civil engineers will have to optimize constraint tradeoffs arising from multiple dimensions

Transportation Operations Master Plan

This document outlines a long-range vision of transportation operations for the DVRPC region. It presents transportation operations goals, objectives, and operational strategies to achieve them. An operations vision establishes a plan of where ITS infrastructure, emergency service patrols, and incident management task forces, should be deployed in the region. A series of plans and programs are identified to accomplish the regional goals and vision. Lastly, a financial analysis was conducted to estimate the costs to construct, operate, and maintain these projects

When The Cat\u27s Away: Techlash, Loot Boxes, And Regulating Dark Patterns In The Video Game Industry\u27s Monetization Strategies

Part I of this Comment briefly overviews dark patterns and demonstrates how parties have needlessly focused on loot boxes\u27 similarity to gambling rather than addressing dark patterns, the actual source of the video game industry\u27s consumer exploitation. Part II summarizes the video game industry\u27s techlash, showcasing ways that the industry has abused its consumers and how consumers have responded, as well as arguing why governmental intervention is necessary to stop the industry from exploiting end users. Part III first analyzes the Protecting Children from Abusive Games Act ( PCAGA ), a bill introduced in 2019 to regulate loot boxes, and explains why this bill would be an ineffective solution for preventing manipulative game design. Additionally, Part III evaluates the Deceptive Experiences To Online Users Act-also known as the DETOUR Act-another bill introduced in 2019 that specifically targets dark patterns. Part III concludes by explaining how a regulatory model based upon the DETOUR Act would be the most effective solution for combatting predatory practices within the video game industry and supporting consumer welfare. Finally, Part IV proposes elements to be included within an effective legislative model for regulating dark patterns in the video game industry

A Smartphone-Based Prototype System for Incident/Work Zone Management Driven by Crowd-Sourced Data

This project develops a smartphone-based prototype system that supplements the 511 system to improve its dynamic traffic routing service to state highway users under non-recurrent congestion. This system will save considerable time to provide crucial traffic information and en-route assistance to travelers for them to avoid being trapped in traffic congestion due to accidents, work zones, hazards, or special events. It also creates a feedback loop between travelers and responsible agencies that enable the state to effectively collect, fuse, and analyze crowd-sourced data for next-gen transportation planning and management. This project can result in substantial economic savings (e.g. less traffic congestion, reduced fuel wastage and emissions) and safety benefits for the freight industry and society due to better dissemination of real-time traffic information by highway users. Such benefits will increase significantly in future with the expected increase in freight traffic on the network. The proposed system also has the flexibility to be integrated with various transportation management modules to assist state agencies to improve transportation services and daily operations