The Gauss-Marquardt-Levenberg (GML) method of computer-based parameter estimation, in common with other gradient-based approaches, suffers from the drawback that it may become trapped in local objective function minima, and thus report optimized parameter values that are not, in fact, optimized...

The ability to predict the deterioration pattern of bridges can assist decision makers in determining when and whether to ignore, refurbish/rehabilitate, or replace a bridge. This dissertation formulates and applies two models, one deterministic and the other probabilistic, capable of predicting...

Many methods for highway cost allocation procedures have been adopted previously by all levels of government; local, state, and federal. However, they rarely address the issue of long span bridge allocation properly, simply treating these unique structures as the typical short span bridge. This...

The move towards commercialization and privatization has pressured airports to become more productive and competitive. The need to devise an overall (total) productivity measure is increasingly important in airport business. The dissertation made three major research contributions. First, it...

This thesis analyzes and compares the effects of different objectives and financial constraints on conventional and flexible route bus systems, with special emphasis on the relation between subsidy and social welfare. Social welfare is the sum of producer surplus (profit) and consumer surplus...

The aging of bridges and traffic volume increase result in deterioration of bridge conditions and consequently increased risks to bridges and users. Highway agencies in the United States face challenges because of lack of sufficient resources to maintain bridges in good conditions. Current...

In the electronic market place, the auction is known to be economically efficient, allowing players to maximize their own benefits. Through this mechanism, new spot markets are created, which connect buyers and sellers. In this new spot markets, many problem contexts give rise to competitive...

Projects are commonly over budget and behind schedule, to some extent because uncertainties are not accounted for in cost and schedule estimates. Research and practice is now addressing this problem, often by using Monte Carlo methods to simulate the effect of variances in work package costs and...

Logistics managers rely on increasingly sophisticated technologies to track demand and associated inventories, allowing rapid response to meet anticipated demand, avoid shortfalls while minimizing transportation and inventory carrying costs. This ability to respond gives rise to complex decision...

Due to special characteristics of Public Private Partnerships (PPPs), the ―transaction cost‖ in PPPs is more than other delivery methods. Although there have been some attempts to study transaction costs in PPPs in Europe, transaction costs of PPPs in the US has not been explored well, and...