Against biblical odds, the baseball version of a stage mom and her grifting ex road trip their kids’ baseball team across the midwest in the name of life, liberty, and the little league world series.

Field trips are visits to an out-of-school setting designed for educational and academic purposes whereby as a result students gain firsthand knowledge and experiences. Historically, it was the potential for student learning that motivated teachers to utilize field trips. However, there is reasonable suspicion among scholars today that teachers are utilizing field trips less since the start of the new millennia; the common reasons being cited among others include a slumping economy, an increase in accountability due to high-stakes testing, and rising fuel costs. Unfortunately, there is no empirical evidence that can confirm or deny this suspicion. Therefore, the purpose of this survey research study is twofold. The first goal is to investigate what proportion of Florida K-12 public school teachers, within the field of social studies, science, mathematics, and language arts utilized a field trip during the 2012-13 academic school year; along with investigating the total number and frequency in which they used those field trips. The second goal is to identify if there were any significant differences in the number of field trips that those teachers utilized based on four independent variables (a) the grade level at which the teachers teach, (b) teachers' years of teaching experience, (c) the content focus of the field trips, and (d) whether teachers graduated from a teacher preparation program or not. The study utilized a non-experimental causal-comparative research design to conclude that there were some significant differences in the number of field trips teachers utilized as a result of two of the independent variables.

<p> This work trip study is part of the studies on King Street closure. The objectives are to examine the effect of changed traffic conditions on change in travel behaviour, and to identify variables for choice modelling. Some behavioural changes are observed, but none is related to the increased road congestion. The household survey data shows that people did not perceive a difference in travel times before and during closure. Thus the reliability of reported times on modelling is suspected. However, modelling on time of day in a multinomial legit framework using measured travel data does not help to explain the behavioural changes with either travel time or a congestion factor. It is concluded that the changes observed in this study represent random occurrences and the change in congestion is too moderate to effect behavioural changes. </p> / Thesis / Master of Arts (MA)

<p> The purpose of this study is to investigate the McMaster commuter distribution. The total analysis is carried out in two subanalyses. The first analysis examines the effect that different variables have on the mean trip length of various commuter groups. The variables examined in the first analysis are: residential tenure, occupation, duration of service or study, parking permit ownership and part-time versus full-time status of students. In general the first analysis is concerned with the mean trip length of on campus Faculty, Staff, and Students. The first analysis verified that residential tenure is an important variable in that students who commute from the homes of parents average a considerably greater mean trip length than students who commute from rented accommodation.</p> <p> The second analysis employs a disaggregate singly-constrained spatial interaction model to distribute trips between McMaster and student residential locations. The second analysis shows that: (i) the production-constrained model fits considerably better with observed data when the sample is partitioned into student renter and stay at home groups than when the sample is not partitioned. The attractiveness factors were varied between the two groups. Renters were considered to be attracted to renter occupied dwellings in a zone while students commuting from the homes of parents were considered to be attracted to the number of owner occupied dwellings in a zone. (ii) straight line distance as a surrogate for travel cost yields a better fit for the renter group while automobile travel-time facilitates a better fit for the stay at home group. Auto travel time yields a better fit for peripheral trips because of the tendency for these trips to be made by car. Given the understanding that student renters are predominantly bus users who have chosen to locate close to the campus, euclidean distance is apparently more reflective of the travel impedance experienced by this group. Future research should attempt to qualitatively link measures of travel cost with the client group they are attempting to model.</p> / Thesis / Bachelor of Arts (BA)

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Rail and truck freight transportation systems provide vital logistics services today. Rail systems are generally used to transport heavy and bulky commodities over long distances, while trucks tend to provide fast and flexible service for small and high-value products. In this dissertation, we study two different distribution planning problems that arise in rail and truck transportation systems. In the railroad industry, shipments are often grouped together to form a block to reduce the impact of reclassification at train yards. We consider the time and capacity constrained routing (TCCR) problem, which assigns shipments to blocks and train-runs to minimize overall transportation costs, while considering the train capacities and shipment due dates. Two mathematical formulations are developed, including an arc-based formulation and a path-based formulation. To solve the problem efficiently, two solution approaches are proposed. The sequential algorithm assigns shipments in order of priority while considering the remaining train capacities and due dates. The bump-shipment algorithm initially schedules shipments simultaneously and then reschedules the shipments that exceed the train capacity. The algorithms are evaluated using a data set from a major U.S. railroad with approximately 500,000 shipments. Industry-sized problems are solved within a few minutes of computational time by both the sequential and bump-shipment algorithms, and transportation costs are reduced by 6% compared to the currently used trip plans. For truck transportation systems, trailer fleet planning (TFP) is an important issue to improve services and reduce costs. In this problem, we consider the quantities and types of trailers to purchase, rent, or relocate among depots to meet time varying demands. Mixed-integer programming models are developed for both homogeneous and heterogeneous TFP problems. The objective is to minimize the total fleet investment costs and the distribution costs across multiple depots and multiple time periods. For homogeneous TFP problem, a two-phase solution approach is proposed. Phase I concentrates on distribution costs and determines the suggested fleet size. A sweep-based routing heuristic is applied to generate candidate routes of good quality. Then a reduced mathematical model selects routes for meeting customer demands and determines the preferred fleet size. Phase II provides trailer purchase, relocation, and rental decisions based on the results of Phase I and relevant cost information. This decomposition approach removes the interactions between depots and periods, which greatly reduces the complexity of the integrated optimization model. For the heterogeneous TFP problem, trailers with different capacities, costs, and features are considered. The two-phase approach, developed for the homogeneous TFP, is modified. A rolling horizon scheme is applied in Phase I to consider the trailer allocations in previous periods when determining the fleet composition for the current period. Additionally, the sweep-based routing heuristic is also extended to capture the characteristics of continuous delivery practice where trailers are allowed to refill products at satellite facilities. This heuristic generates routes for each trailer type so that the customer-trailer restrictions are accommodated. The numerical studies, conducted using a data set with three depots and more than 400 customers, demonstrate the effectiveness of the two-phase approaches. Compared to the integrated optimization models, the two-phase approaches obtain quality solutions within a reasonable computational time and demonstrate robust performance as the problem sizes increase. Based on these results, a leading industrial gas provider is currently integrating the proposed solution approaches as part of their worldwide distribution planning software. / Ph. D.

The city of Richmond has practiced mixed land-use policies to encourage non-private-vehicle commuting for decades based on the successful examples or the empirical evidence of other cities. However, the idea violates one of common logical fallacy—“all things are equal.” Using the indices of land-use diversity, this study explores the correlation between land-use mixture and home-based trip for the city of Richmond. This paper calculates two common indices of land-use mixture—entropy, and dissimilarity. The results indicate that although Richmond’s land-use mixture and home-based trip do have a correlation, the correlation is weak. One possible reason is that socioeconomic actors have a stronger influence on transportation than land-use mixture. However, this assumption still needs further analysis in order to be verified.

A crescente escassez dos recursos energéticos renováveis, bem como o contínuo aumento dos seus custos tem requerido nas últimas décadas uma redução drástica no consumo de energia utilizada para o transporte de cargas e passageiros. A indústria siderúrgica pode contribuir decisivamente neste contexto, disponibilizando no mercado aços de maior resistência mecânica, os quais podem ser utilizados em estruturas mais esbeltas. Os aços com elevados teores de Mn (15-30%) representam um desenvolvimento muito recente de ligas ferrosas puramente austeníticas, que reúnem resistência mecânica elevada e grande ductilidade. Além disso, trata-se de ligas de baixo custo devido à eliminação dos elevados teores de Ni necessários para a estabilização da austenita e ao reduzido tempo de processamento, que dispensa tratamentos térmicos e processamentos termomecânicos controlados. Por outro lado, a redução de peso estrutural no setor automobilístico requer não somente a pesquisa de novos aços, mas também a utilização de componentes híbridos, resultantes, entre outros, da união dos aços austeníticos alto Mn com aços comerciais estruturais de alta resistência e baixa liga (ARBL). Nesta dissertação, estudou-se, portanto, a soldabilidade pelo processo de fricção e mistura mecânica (SFMM) de aço austenítico alto Mn com efeito TRIP (plasticidade induzida por transformação martensítica) com aço ARBL processado termomecanicamente tipo XABO500 (ThyssenKrupp Steel, limite de escoamento > 460 MPa). As placas de aço TRIP foram fabricadas na EESC-USP com composição Fe-22.5% Mn-0.4% C através de fundição sob atmosfera protetora de argônio, tratamento térmico de homogenização e laminação a quente a 1150°C. As juntas dissimilares TRIP-ARBL foram produzidas com chapas de 3.5 mm de espessura. Os ensaios de soldagem SFMM foram conduzidos com ferramenta de compósito PCBN-WRe. O aporte térmico de soldagem foi variado através do uso de três velocidades de rotação da ferramenta: 300, 400 e 500 rpm, e o avanço foi de 100 mm/min. Dois deslocamentos (offsets) da ferramenta foram investigados: +1.0 e +2.0 mm em direção ao aço TRIP. Os resultados revelaram um acabamento superficial satisfatório das juntas soldadas com 300 e 400 rpm. A penetração de soldagem aumentou com a velocidade de rotação da ferramenta e com um maior deslocamento da ferramenta em direção ao aço TRIP devido ao crescimento do aporte térmico. A SFMM produziu em ambos os lados das juntas dissimilares uma microestrutura caracterizada apenas por zona de mistura (ZM) e zona termicamente afetada (ZTA), não sendo observada a formação de zonas termomecanicamente afetadas (ZTMA). Na ZM do aço ARBL, a SFMM produziu uma microestrutura polifásica, contendo misturas de ferrita acicular, bainita e martensita. O lado TRIP da ZM não exibiu sinais de transformação martensítica induzida por deformação e sofreu recristalização dinâmica com a formação de uma austenita refinada em comparação com o metal de base. A junta produzida com menor aporte térmico (300 RPM e Offset +1) apresentou os maiores picos de dureza na ZM do aço TRIP devido à maior taxa de resfriamento e, consequentemente, a microestrutura mais fina. Apesar dos maiores picos de dureza, a junta produzida com 300 RPM e Offset +1 apresentou o melhor desempenho no ensaio de tração, atingindo o maior percentual de alongamento a fratura e rompendo no metal de base ARBL. Isso se deve provavelmente à formação de ferrita acicular mais fina na ZM do aço ARBL com microestrutura entrelaçada e de maior tenacidade, se comparado com o metal de base ARBL. / The increasing scarcity of renewable energy resources and their continuously rising costs have required in the last decades a drastic reduction in the energy consumption for the transportation of goods and passengers. The steel industry can decisively contribute in this context by providing the market with steel grades of increased mechanical strength, which can be incorporated into light-weight structures. Steels with high Mn contents (15-30%) represent a recent development of austenitic ferrous alloys that combine elevated mechanical strength with high ductility. In addition, those steel grades correspond to low cost alloys due to the replacement of the high Ni contents necessary to stabilize the austenite as well as the reduced manufacturing time that does not involve subsequent heat treatments or controlled thermo-mechanical processing. On the other hand, the reduction of structural weight in the automotive sector does not only require the research on novel steels, but also the use of hybrid components that result among others from joining austenitic high-Mn steels to commercial structural high-strength low-alloyed (HSLA) steel grades. In this work, we studied therefore the friction stir weldability of an austenitic high-Mn steel with TRIP (transformation induced plasticity) effect to the thermomechanically processed HSLA XABO500 steel grade (ThyssenKrupp Steel, yield strength > 460 MPa). High-Mn TRIP steel plates were produced at the EESC-USP with the chemical composition of Fe-22.5% Mn-0.4% C by casting under protective argon atmosphere, followed by homogenization treatment and hot rolling at 1150°C. The dissimilar TRIP-HSLA joints were produced using 3.5 mm thick plates. The friction stir welding (FSW) experiments were carried out with a tool made of a PCBN-WRe composite. The heat input was varied by using three tool rotational speeds: 300, 400 and 500 rpm. The welding speed was set to 100 mm/min. Two different tool offsets were investigated: +1.0 and +2.0 mm towards the high-Mn TRIP steel. The results revealed that a satisfactory surface finishing is achieved for the butt-joints produced with 300 and 400 rpm. The welding penetration increased for higher tool rotational speeds and larger tool offsets towards the TRIP steel because of an increased heat input. FSW produced at both sides of the dissimilar joints a microstructure characterized by only stir zone (SZ) and heat-affected zone (HAZ). Thermo-mechanical affected zones (TMAZ) could not be observed. In the SZ of the HSLA steel, FSW produced a multiphase microstructure that contains a mixture of acicular ferrite, bainite and martensite. The TRIP side of the SZ did not exhibit traces of strain induced martensitic transformation and underwent dynamic recrystallization with the formation of a fine-grained austenite in comparison to the base material. The butt-joint produced with the lowest heat input (300 RPM and Offset +1) developed the highest hardness peaks in the SZ of the TRIP steel because of the increased cooling rate and, consequently, the more refined microstructure. In spite of the hardest zones, the butt-joint produced with 300 RPM and offset +1 achieved the best performance in the tensile tests by reaching the largest elongation to fracture and having the failure in the HSLA base material. This is likely promoted by the formation of a more refined acicular ferrite in the SZ of the HSLA steel with interpenetrated microstructure and enhanced toughness in comparison to the HSLA base material.

Dans la pratique de la planification urbaine, la prévision de la demande de transport fait en général appel au modèle à quatre étapes (génération, distribution, répartition modale et affectation), malgré des avancées théoriques considérables dans le domaine. Cette persistance s’explique par une facilité relative de mise en oeuvre, liée notamment à la forme des données disponibles et susceptibles d’alimenter les modèles. Cependant, la nature statique de l’approche pose des interrogations quant à sa pertinence pour faire des prévisions de moyen-long terme. Cette thèse étudie, la validité de l’hypothèse de stabilité temporelle des trois premières étapes du modèle de prévision. Pour ce faire, en prenant l’agglomération lyonnaise comme terrain d’étude, nous avons codifié des réseaux routiers et de transports en commun à différentes dates (1985, 1995 et 2006). Cette donne, généralement indisponible, combinée aux enquêtes ménages déplacements correspondantes, nous permet de calibrer les trois premières étapes du modèle traditionnel et de tester leur capacité prédictive. Pour les modèles de génération, on note des prévisions acceptables à un horizon de 10 ans. À 20 ans, certaines évolutions dans les styles de vie se sont traduites par une baisse du nombre moyen de sorties pour le motif travail, que les modèles traditionnels ne permettent pas de prévoir complètement. Au niveau de la distribution, l’allongement des distances entre lieux de réalisation de certaines activités et le lieu de domicile peut être relativement bien reproduit par des modèles gravitaires avec des paramètres stables dans le temps. Au niveau de la répartition modale, les paramètres ne sont pas stables et les modèles estimés n’auraient pas permis de prévoir le regain de parts de marché des transports en commun observé ces dernières années. / In the practice of urban planning, travel demand forecasts are generally obtained by using the four-step model (generation, distribution, modal split and assignment), despite considerable theoretical advances in the field. This persistence can be explained by the relative ease of implementation of the four-step modelling sequence, which is related, in particular, to the kind of data available that could be used as an input in a model. However, the static nature of the approach raises questions as it pertains to its relevance in producing medium and long range forecasts. This thesis investigates the validity of the hypothesis of temporal stability of the parameters of the first three stages of the traditional forecasting sequence. To do this, taking the Lyon conurbation as our case study, we coded the road and transit networks at different points in time (1985, 1995 and 2006). We then combine this temporal data, which is generally unavailable, with the corresponding household travel surveys in order to calibrate the first three steps of the traditional model and test their predictive ability. For the generation models tested, we note acceptable performance for a 10-year forecast. For a 20-year forecast, some changes in lifestyles have resulted in a decrease in the average number of work trips that traditional models do not predict accurately. Regarding trip distribution, the increase in travel distances observed for certain purposes is reproduced fairly well by the gravity model. At the modal split level, the parameters are not stable and the estimated models would be unable to predict accurately the recent increase in the market share of public transport.