When presented in a practical format, real-time transit information can improve sustainable travel methods by enhancing the transit experience. Larger shifts towards public transportation have cascading effects on the environment, health and urban form. The research will identify the positive shift realized by the continued development of a set of real-time transit information tools, specifically in the Seattle region. In addition, it will analyze real-time prediction errors and their effects on the rider experience. Three years after the development of location-aware mobile applications for OneBusAway - a suite of real-time information tools - a survey of current users was conducted by the author in 2012 in order to compare the results to a 2009 study. The results show significant positive shifts in satisfaction with transit, perceptions of safety and ridership frequency as a result of the increased use of real-time arrival information. However, the research will also provide a perspective of the margin of error riders come to expect and the negative effects resulting from inaccuracies with the real-time data. While riders on average will ride less when they have experienced errors, a robust issue-reporting system as well as the resolution of the error can mitigate the initial negative effects. In response, the research provides a framework for a crowd-sourced error reporting process in order to improve the level of accuracy by means of a Transit Ambassador Program. Finally, a pilot program developed by the author is assessed against this framework and insight is provided within the context of the real-time information system.

Recent research has posited that retributiveness is an individual level disposition that can help us understand foreign policy preferences (e.g. Liberman 2006, Liberman 2007, Liberman in press, Stein n.d.). However, previous research is limited in two related respects. First, previous research relies on correlational data, blunting our ability to make clear causal inferences. Also, retributiveness is not made theoretically distinct from general hawkishness. In this paper, I present results from two experiments to refine our understanding of how retributiveness can affect support for use of the military. In the first experiment, I examine how retributiveness affects support for greater military commitment across a number of potential missions. In the second experiment, I examine how retributiveness interacts with different rhetorical justifications for military endeavors (e.g. punishing transgressors versus eliminating a foreign policy threat).

No description available.

This dissertation explores the role of public opinion in U.S. presidential decisions to employ various alternatives in response to an international crisis. Presidents may choose from a range of force alternatives, including non-force alternatives, troop mobilizations, air strikes or ground assaults. Using the Poliheuristic Theory, I argue that public attitudes toward the use of force in a given crisis play a key role in the decision making process leading to such choices. The direction and intensity of public opinion is driven by a relative value assessment by which the public determines whether the benefits of a use of force are worth the costs. Presidents are aware of this relative value assessment and rule out crisis responses that are likely to violate the public's preferences in the first stage of the decision making process. In the second stage, presidents choose among the remaining alternatives by weighing the relative merits of each with respect to military and international-strategic implications. To test hypotheses following from this theoretical argument, I employ two methodological approaches. The first is statistical analysis. I develop a new data set of presidential crisis response choices and expand an existing data set on U.S. public attitudes toward the use of force, from 1949 to 2001. Using two extant data collections identifying international crises, I conduct Ordered Logit analyses, which produce results that are largely supportive of the hypotheses. The second methodological approach is the case study method. I conduct two detailed case studies of decisions to use force in Bosnia (1995) and Afghanistan (2001). These analyses are also supportive of the theoretical argument. I conclude that presidents are largely responsive to public opinion in the selection of crisis responses.

Thesis (M.A.)--York University (Canada), 2006. / Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Delaware, 2009. / Principal faculty advisor: Danilo Yanich, School of Urban Affairs & Public Policy. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Chicago, Department of History, 2001. / Includes bibliographical references. Also available on the Internet.

Thesis (M.S. in Information Warfare Systems Engineering)--Naval Postgraduate School, December 2009. / Thesis Advisor(s): Arquilla, John. Second Reader: Iatrou, Steve. "December 2009." Description based on title screen as viewed on January 27, 2010. Author(s) subject terms: Weapons of mass distruction, NES National Election Studies, public opinion, Vietnam war, Iraq war, President Johnson, Presisent Bush. Includes bibliographical references (p. 93-94). Also available in print.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Pennsylvania, 1936. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 381-383) and index.

Thesis (M.A.) -- University of Texas at Arlington, 2008.