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Workshops & Presentations (continued)
TLN Features Two Graduate-Level Courses
The Transportation Learning Network (TLN) is hosting two graduate credit courses for the Spring 2008 semester. The network is an interactive learning network among states in the western United States.
"Airport Planning and Design," originates at South Dakota State University with Hesham Mahgoub as instructor. The course is oriented to engineering students who would like to understand how airports are designed and planned. The 3-credit course provides information on aircraft vehicle performance and airport interaction; airport planning; and analysis methods in airport engineering.
"Public Transportation" originates at North Dakota State University with Jill Hough, director of the Small Urban and Rural Transit Center as instructor. The 3-credit course includes concepts and models used in the transit industry, for both rural and urban settings. Policy issues, government's role in transit, transit planning, demand forecasting, performance evaluation, and system costing are also discussed.
Offering the courses on the TLN makes them available to students across the country. The network's technology also allows instructors to tap the expertise of leaders at various locations. For instance, the public transportation course will include guest lectures from transit officials and experts from the Federal Transit Administration and industry associations.
The graduate courses complement TLN's variety of workshops, short courses, seminars and other offerings designed to enhance communication, education, professional development, technology transfer, and research.
UGPTI Hosts Seminar Series at NDSU
For the second year, the Upper Great Plains Transportation Institute at North Dakota State University is hosting a transportation seminar series for students, faculty and others interested in the topics. The series has been sponsored by the MPC.
There were 14 seminars in the fall series and topics included metropolitan freight modeling; demand and cost models for small urban and rural transit; alternative fuel use and regulation; exploring the travel behavior of elderly women in rural and small urban North Dakota; and longer-term forecasting of commodity flows in the Mississippi River. Presenters included NDSU staff, faculty members, and students.
Guest presenters included Patricia Mokhtarian from the University of California, Davis, who presented on the positive utility of travel; Richard Kasper, president of Global Electric Motorcars, discussed his 10 years in the neighborhood electric vehicle industry; and Wade Kline, community planner for the Fargo-Moorhead Area Metropolitan Council of Governments, discussed transit planning in the region.
"The seminars are an opportunity for faculty and staff to learn about each others' research and activities as well as a chance for us to introduce some new concepts and ideas," says Jill Hough, advanced research fellow at the UGPTI. Hough helped plan and organize the seminars. Another series of seminars is being planned for the spring semester.
Papers Accepted for Publication
"Integration of Mathematical and Physical Simulation to Calibrate Car-Following Behavior of Unimpaired and Impaired Drivers" was accepted for publication in a special issue of the World Review of Intermodal Research on computer simulations in transportation research. Authors are Ivana Vladisavljevic, Peter Martin, and Aleksandar Stevanovic, all of the Utah Traffic Lab.
Stevanovic and Martin also wrote "An Assessment of the Suitability of Microsimulation as a Tool for the Evaluation of Macroscopically Optimized Traffic Signal Timings." The paper (TE23469) was accepted for publication in the Journal of Transportation Engineering, published by the American Society of Civil Engineers.
"Influences of Repeated and Sustained Loading on the Performance of Layered Wood-Concrete Composite Beams" (ST/2007/025562) was accepted for publication in the Journal of Structural Engineering published by the American Society of Civil Engineers. Authors are Jeno Balogh, Metropolitan State College of Denver; Massimo Fragiacomo, University of Sassari, Italy; and Richard M. Gutkowski and R.S. Fast from Colorado State University.
"FRP Z-Spike Repairing of Wood Railroad Crossties" ST/2007/025449 was accepted for publication in the Journal of Structural Engineering published by the American Society of Civil Engineers. Authors are Richard Gutkowski, T J Schilling, Jeno Balogh and Donald Radford. Gutkowski, Schilling and Radford are at Colorado State University. Balogh is at Metropolitan State College of Denver.
"Repair of Full-Scale Timber Bridge Chord Members by Shear Spiking" (BE/2006/023206) was accepted for publication in the Journal of Bridge Engineering published by the American Society of Civil Engineers. Authors are Travis Burgers, Richard Gutkowski, Jeno Balogh and Donald Radford. Burgers, Gutkowski and Radford are at Colorado State University. Balogh is at Metropolitan State College of Denver.
Wyoming Faculty Present on Gravel Road Performance
George Huntington and Khaled Ksaibati, MPC program director at the University of Wyoming, presented a paper on gravel roads performance at the 7th national conference on transportation asset management which was held in New Orleans, November 6-8, 2007.
