Theses and Dissertations - Department of Civil, Construction & Environmental Engineering

Permanent URI for this collection

https://ir.ua.edu/handle/123456789/89

Browse

Browsing Theses and Dissertations - Department of Civil, Construction & Environmental Engineering by Author "Appiah-Opoku, Seth"

Now showing 1 - 2 of 2
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Exploratory applications of epidemiological methods in transport safety and mobility
    (University of Alabama Libraries, 2017) Adanu, Emmanuel Kofi; Jones, Steven L.; University of Alabama Tuscaloosa
    Evident similarities and links between the outcomes of traffic crashes and stranded (or constrained) mobility have been identified and are reported in this research. Generally, a high level of travel activities is an indicator of high crash exposure. However, studies have shown that the highest rates of traffic fatalities occur in low- and middle-income regions, where many citizens experience relatively low levels of motorized travel. This ironic observation reveals serious challenges facing transport mobility systems in the less privileged regions of the world. Studies on traffic crashes and mobility constraints also reveal that they both have individual and regional variations in their occurrence, effects, and severities. Consequently, the outcomes of traffic crashes and constrained mobility are serious public health concerns worldwide. As public health problems, their study is analogous to the study of diseases and other injuries and thus, suitable for the application of epidemiological techniques. This dissertation therefore explores the use of epidemiological techniques to analyze traffic crashes and mobility/accessibility constraints from a human-centered perspective. The dissertation therefore consists of two major focus areas. The first part of the study applies widely used epidemiology/public health – based statistical tools to analyze traffic crashes with the aim of gaining better understanding of the human-centered causes and factors that influence these causes, and how these ultimately affect the severity of crashes. This part is further divided into two sub-sections. The first sub-section used latent class analysis to identify homogeneous clusters of human-centered crash causal factors and then applied latent class logit and random parameters logit modeling techniques to investigate the effects of these factors on crash outcomes. The second sub-section of the first part of the dissertation applies multilevel regression analysis to understand the effects of driver residential factors on driver behaviors in an attempt to explain the area-based differences in the severity of road crashes across sub-regions. Both studies are necessary to develop potential human-centered mitigations and interventions and for the effective and targeted implementation of those countermeasures. The second part of the study provides an epidemiological framework for addressing mobility/accessibility constraints with a view to diagnosing symptoms, recommending treatment, and even discussing the idea of transmission of constrained mobility among city dwellers. The medical condition, hypomobility, has been used to connote constrained mobility and accessibility for people in urban areas. In transportation and urban studies, hypomobility can result in a diminished ability to engage in economic opportunities and social activities, hence deepening poverty and social exclusion and increasing transport costs, among other negative outcomes. The condition is especially pronounced in poor urban areas in developing countries. The framework proposed in this study is expected to help identify and address barriers to mobility and accessibility in the rapidly growing cities throughout the developing world, with particular applicability to the rapidly developing cities in Sub-Saharan Africa. Ultimately, this dissertation explores the application of epidemiological techniques to two major transportation problems: traffic safety and constrained mobility. The techniques presented in this dissertation provide policy makers, agencies, and transport professionals with tools for evidence-based policies and effective implementation of appropriate countermeasures.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Framework for integrating indigenous and scientific knowledge for transportation planning in developing countries
    (University of Alabama Libraries, 2012) Tefe, Moses Kwame; Jones, Steven L.; University of Alabama Tuscaloosa
    Conventional transportation planning is developed based on theories that originate from industrialized countries and is based on the rational/comprehensive model, which is an exercise in data manipulation. The basic requirements of the process are the availability of large amounts of good data and analytic capabilities. These are readily available in industrialized countries, but often lacking in developing countries, hence the need to explore other non-traditional methods for project evaluation. This research documents a framework suggested for screening urban transportation projects in developing countries to reflect local issues relevant to sustainability. The framework is based on the integration of indigenous and scientific knowledge to reflect the sustainability of candidate projects. This is achieved through a transactive or dialogical instrumentalism and social learning, to integrate inputs from system users and providers to produce a term defined as the Localized Sustainability Score (LSS). This is a method that readily identifies with the consensus building tradition of local communities in developing countries. The LSS of the projects are then used to produce a relative ranking of potential projects, for use as a decision support for project screening and selection. The proposed method was developed through a case study in Accra, Ghana and the results indicate that the framework adequately represented local sustainable transportation needs, priorities and perceptions. The LSS determined for some selected projects maintained the original relative rankings that were already derived using conventional methods. The LSS also has the added advantage of evaluating projects of different scales.