Browsing by Subject "transportation"
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Item Integrating Walking for Transportation and Physical Activity for Sedentary Office Workers in Texas(2010-10-12) Wieters, Kathleen M.The workplace is considered a strategic location for health promotion. According to the Texas Workforce Commission, office workers represent up to 40% of the workforce in Texas and the general nature of the type of work is sedentary. Additional study is needed on how the built environment near the worksite area impacts walking behaviors and to determine interventions effective in increasing walking as part of daily routines among office workers. The two aims of this dissertation were: 1) investigate the differences that urban and suburban settings may have on walking behavior (walk trips, walk duration, total step count) of office workers in Texas and 2) to examine the impact of a simple intervention in increasing walking within the respective land use settings. This study utilized on-line survey and travel diary, pedometer, and Geographic Information System to capture the study variables, which included personal, social and cultural, organizational, and built environmental factors. Results showed that urban office workers walk, on average, 600 steps more per day than the suburban office workers. Office workers in both land use settings on average have not met the recommended level of walking steps per day of 10,000 steps per day (Urban Mean=4,932 steps per day, Suburban Mean=4,347 steps per day). Post-intervention step count averaged 5,734 steps per day for urban office workers in contrast to 4,257 steps per day for suburban office workers. This translated to a 16% increase and 2% decrease in walking steps for urban and suburban office workers, respectively. The built environment in terms of land use setting, urban versus suburban, and availability of land use destinations showed associations with walking behavior for office workers. Destinations positively associated with the number of walking trips, including access to bookstores and coffee shops. Access to convenience stores and food establishments for suburban office workers were more relevant for walking duration. Significant destinations for the urban office workers' walking duration per week included the number of banks and food establishments within one fourth mile from their office building. The results for the second aim, testing the tailored information intervention, were informative, though not significant. The intervention did not yield a significant change in walking step count, but provided insight on opportunities for future studies.Item The Relationship Amongst Stress, Temperament, and Immune Function in Brahman Cattle(2011-10-21) Burdick, Nicole CassandraThe studies described herein were designed to determine the influence of temperament on stress hormones and the immune system in response to various stressors. These stressors included transportation, lipopolysaccharide (LPS) challenge, and adrenocorticotropin (ACTH) challenge. In the first transportation study, bulls (8 Calm, 8 Intermediate, and 8 Temperamental) were loaded into a trailer and transported for 9 hr. Rectal temperature (monitored via indwelling recorders) increased within 0.5 hr of transportation, with greater peak rectal temperature in Temperamental than Calm bulls. Pre- and post-transport concentrations of cortisol and epinephrine were not affected by transportation, but were greater in Temperamental than Calm bulls. A second transportation study utilized 2 automatic sampling devices to allow the recording of rectal temperature and collection of blood samples, respectively. Rectal temperature was not affected by transportation or temperament in response to 4-hr of transport. Average heart rate oscillated between 60 and 130 bpm in Temperamental bulls, but remained around 100 bpm in Calm bulls. Transportation did not affect concentrations of epinephrine, although concentrations were greater in Temperamental bulls than Calm bulls. Cortisol concentrations increased in Calm bulls but not in Temperamental bulls in response to transportation. Additionally, there were limited effects of transportation on peripheral blood mononuclear cell proliferation, IgM production, and cytokine gene expression. Specifically, proliferation tended to be greater post-transport. Expression of the glucocorticoid receptor was, and the expression of toll-like receptor 4 tended to be, reduced post-transport, as analyzed by quantitative real-time RT-PCR. In a study utilizing a LPS challenge, basal stress hormone concentrations during the pre-challenge period were greater in Temperamental bulls than Calm bulls. However, in response to the LPS challenge, only the epinephrine response was influenced by temperament. Additionally, Temperamental bulls exhibited a smaller increase in rectal temperature and sickness behavior than Calm bulls. In the last study, change in gene expression in peripheral blood mononuclear cells in response to acute increases in cortisol was assessed. Plasma cortisol and gene expression of cytokines and the glucocorticoid receptor tended to increase in response to placement of jugular cannula. Additionally, administration of ACTH significantly increased plasma concentrations of cortisol and the gene expression of some cytokines (interleukin-4 and interleukin-10). This suggests that acute increases in cortisol may have positive effects on immune function in Brahman calves. Through an increased understanding of the interaction between the stress response and animal temperament, as well as how stress hormones and temperament influence immune function, animal management practices can be modified to reduce negative impacts on growth and productivity.Item The transporter's impact on channel coordination and contractual agreements(Texas A&M University, 2006-10-30) Mutlu, FatihThis dissertation focuses on the recent supply chain initiatives, such as Vendor Managed Inventory (VMI) and Third-Party Logistics (3PL), enabling the coordination of supply chain entities; e.g., suppliers, buyers, and transporters. With these initiatives, substantial savings are realizable by carefully coordinating inventory, transportation, and pricing decisions. The impact is particularly tangible when the transporter's role and the transportation costs are explicitly incorporated into decision mechanisms that aim to coordinate the supply channel. Furthermore, expanding the perspective of channel coordination by introducing the transporter as an individual party in the channel provides tangible benefits for each member of the channel. Recognizing the need for further analytical research in the field of multi-echelon inventory and channel coordination, we developed and solved a class of integrated inventory and transportation models with explicit shipment consolidation considerations. Moreover, we examined transporter-buyer and supplier-transporter-buyer channels and solved centralized and decentralized models for these channels with the aim of investigating the impact of transporters on channel performance. In this dissertation, we also developed efficient coordination mechanisms between the transporter and the other parties in the channel.Item Visitor perceptions of alternative transportation systems and intelligent transportation systems in national parks(Texas A&M University, 2004-09-30) Dilworth, Virginia AnnThis dissertation examines the potential use of intelligent transportation systems (ITS) and alternative transportation systems (ATS) in national parks. Visitors at two of the national park units in California, Golden Gate National Recreation Area (GOGA) and Sequoia and Kings Canyons National Parks (SEKI), were surveyed during May and July 2002 regarding their attitudes and intentions toward a variety of transportation and travel planning items (including ITS and ATS tools). There were three principal areas of inquiry: attitude toward transportation and travel planning tools, likelihood of using transportation and travel planning tools, and the difference between intentions for using tools before arriving at the study parks and while at the study parks. The results revealed several key findings. First, there was substantial support for the relationship between attitudes and intentions. Furthermore, both experience with technology and attitude toward technology were predictive of intention to use technology in the study parks. Third, there was a significant difference between the attitudes and intentions of visitors to an urban park (GOGA) and visitors to a rural park (SEKI). In particular, GOGA respondents perceived alternative transportation (e.g. shuttle, public bus, park and bike) as more appropriate than did SEKI respondents. Fourth, while some support was found for a relationship between one of the ITS goals, safety, and attitude toward ITS tools in national parks, there was no support for the relationship between other ITS and ATS goals (e.g. reduction of congestion) and attitudes toward or intent to use these tools in national parks. Finally, there was a significant difference between the types of tools respondents would use before arriving at and while at the study parks. Technology such as the Internet was more likely to be used before arriving at the parks. Following from diffusion of innovations theory, changes in perception toward these tools, as well as possible changes in the likelihood that they will be used in national parks, may be monitored by future research.