The University of St. Thomas Doctorate in Leadership Program: Impact on Graduates

The purpose of this case study was to explore with a sample of doctoral graduates their perceptions of the impact of the University of St. Thomas Doctorate in Leadership Program on their lives. Major research questions were: 1) How did the program affect the graduates’ views of self? 2) How did the program affect the graduates’ roles in the world? 3) How did features of the program affect the graduates? 4) How were the graduates able to stay motivated and complete their degrees? Qualitative information was gathered from in-depth interviews of 21 graduates selected for a balance of gender, year graduated, and occupation. Themes emerged and added meaning to the collective graduate experiences. The program changed the graduates’ sense of self, specifically increasing self-confidence, improving self-understanding, enhancing critical thinking abilities and research skills, and opening participants to multiple perspectives and diversity. Graduates reported an increased focus on relationships and ability to collaborate with others, enhancing their ability to offer leadership to others. The program’s non-traditional format and schedule fit the needs of the adult learner. The faculty performed facilitation and support roles, the cohort was a comfortable and secure forum, and experiences of cohort members were powerful sources of learning. The result was transformational learning among study participants

Burglary: an Ecological and Aerial Photographic Analysis

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Greater Representation for California Consumers–Fluid Recovery, Consumer Trust Funds, and Representative Actions

California statutes provide elaborate protections for consumers from abuse by deceptive, unlawful, and unfair business practices. However, in practice, consumers do not receive optimal protection. Law enforcement agencies often have inadequate resources, and the private bar is hampered by the futility of small individual claims and the complexity and expense of class actions. This Article details early use of the class action procedure in consumer protection litigation and outlines problems with the procedure, such as the expense and impracticality of notice provisions and distributing judgments. The authors explore the California courts\u27 recent development of procedures for class actions and representative actions that should encourage the private bar to pursue consumer protection litigation. These procedures include fluid recovery, consumer trust funds, and representative actions. Fluid recovery and consumer trust funds are mechanisms for distributing judgments to large numbers of consumers when all injured parties are difficult to identify or contact. Representative actions permit representation of consumers injured by sharp business practices without having to obtain the consent of consumers and without having to show that each consumer was aware of the practice. The authors conclude that these emerging procedures, underutilized currently by the private bar, should encourage practitioners to bring consumer protection litigation and ultimately enhance protection for California consumers

Assessing Longitudinal Arterial Performance and Traffic Signal Retiming Outcomes

Agencies often find it difficult to justify investments in active traffic management. Historically, it has been a challenge to obtain data that would help make the case for those investments. Although new data sources have emerged recently, there remains very little documentation of the potential long-term benefits from signal retiming using associated performance measures. This paper presents a use case for an active traffic management strategy on a signalized corridor over a 5-year period, during which traffic volumes increased by approximately 36% and offset optimization was performed every 2 to 3 years. Despite the considerable volume growth, the number of vehicles arriving on green increased by more than 41%, and the percentage of vehicles arriving on green increased by 10%, a gain of 6 percentage points. Furthermore, drivers experienced an average of 5% reduction in travel time and travel time reliability costs after each optimization. The retiming resulted in a 5-year net present value of approximately $3.7 million and a benefit–cost ratio of 52. Agencies can use these strategies to quantitatively assess how traffic performance and signal timing degrade over time, in a manner similar to physical infrastructure assets. The results highlight the benefits and associated business case of adopting a long-term active traffic management strategy that is based on data-driven performance monitoring and decision making. </jats:p

Evaluation of Alternative Intersections and Interchanges: Volume II—Diverging Diamond Interchange Signal Timing

This report presents findings from field studies of operations at diverging diamond interchanges (DDIs) in Salt Lake City, Utah and Fort Wayne, Indiana. These discuss optimization of signal offsets both within the DDI, and with the DDI integrated as part of an arterial corridor. Optimization of Fort Wayne, Indiana corridor comprising the DDI and three neighboring intersections yielded an annualized user benefit of $564,000, when assessing origin-destination paths both along the arterial and for movements to and from the freeway. This is the first field study of DDI offset optimization with neighboring intersections. Additionally, a pilot study was carried out in Salt Lake City on a new phasing scheme that incorporated a “holdback” phase into the signal sequence that delayed vehicles exiting the ramp in order to better coordinate their arrival at the downstream intersection, increasing the percent on green from 53% to 92%. The report concludes with a discussion of practical issues pertaining to DDI signal timing and provides a series of guidelines to assist in the design of new signal timing plans for future DDI deployments

High-Resolution Event-Based Data at Diamond Interchanges: Performance Measures and Optimizing Ring Displacement

This poster corresponds to the following article: Hainen, A.M., A.L. Stevens, R.S. Freije, C.M. Day, J.R. Sturdevant, and D.M. Bullock, “High-Resolution Event-Based Data at Diamond Interchanges: Performance Measures and Optimization of Ring Displacement,” Transportation Research Record: Journal of the Transportation Research Board, No. 2439, Transportation Research Board of the National Academies, Washington, D.C., pp. 12–26, October 2014. http://dx.doi.org/10.3141/2439-02 This article can be found here: http://docs.lib.purdue.edu/civeng/13