Phd Dissertation

Matching Mechanisms for social good: case studies in transport congestion, low-income housing, and food surplus redistribution

Publication Date

August 1, 2022

Associated Project

PSR-UTC Fellowship: Julius Aguma

Author(s)

Julius Aguma

Areas of Expertise

Travel Behavior, Land Use, & the Built Environment

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Abstract

For several decades now, matching mechanisms have been deployed, sometimes implicitly, to solve economic and social problems with unprecedented efficiency. Most notably, the kidney transplant matching algorithm has been key in saving many lives, 39,000 donation in 2019 alone. Likewise, the National Residency Matching Program successfully employed in the United States today uses a matching mechanism that places medical students into hospital residencies. A similar mechanism is used in college and public school admissions around the United States, most famously, in the Boston and New York City. This dissertation will continue this long history of applying matching mechanisms towards efficiently solving social problems. We begin with a summary of relevant definitions and other terminology in chapter1, all of which will be applied in the chapters that follow. Chapter 2 will examine two concurrent social problems, over-production of resources that contributes to global waste, and lack of access to wasted resources by people living on the economic margin. We will contrast two possible solutions to both problems, that is, a decentralized vs a centralized matching solution. The feasibility of both solutions will be tested through theoretical investigation and two qualitative case studies in food surplus redistribution in the United Kingdom and allocation of housing to unhoused household in Los Angeles County during the pandemic. Chapter 3 will give a more detail examination of allocation of housing to the unhoused by examining the efficiency and robustness to manipulation of the algorithm that was employed by LA county vs a centralized matching mechanism. Whereas Chapter 4 will explore an online matching mechanism solution to the problem of traffic congestion pricing. The proposed solution combines a matching algorithm, which assigns drivers to routes at the time of travel, with an anticipatory pricing mechanism that determines how much each traveling driver pays if they choose to use a congested route. The conclusion will present open problems implied in the preceding three chapters.

Suggested Citation

Julius Aguma (2022) Matching Mechanisms for social good: case studies in transport congestion, low-income housing, and food surplus redistribution. PhD Dissertation. UC Irvine. Available at: https://escholarship.org/uc/item/4rz6d1mf.

published journal article

Stochastic adaptive control model for traffic signal systems

Transportation Research Part C: Emerging Technologies

Publication Date

August 1, 2006

Author(s)

Xiao-Hua (Helen) Yu, Will Recker

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Suggested Citation

X.-H. Yu and W.W. Recker (2006) “Stochastic adaptive control model for traffic signal systems”, Transportation Research Part C: Emerging Technologies, 14(4), pp. 263–282. Available at: 10.1016/j.trc.2006.08.002.

book/book chapter

Climate change: What it meansfor us, our children, and our grandchildren

Publication Date

January 1, 2014

Author(s)

Joseph Dimento, P. Doughman, S. Levesque

Suggested Citation

J.F.C. Dimento, P. Doughman and S. Levesque (2014) “Climate change: What it meansfor us, our children, and our grandchildren”, in Climate change: What it means for us, our children, and our grandchildren, second edition, pp. 295–318.

conference paper

Lightning talk: Enhancing truck activity monitoring through the integration of bluetooth and inductive loop signature data

Proceedings of the 99th annual meeting of the transportation research board

Publication Date

January 1, 2020

Author(s)

Yiqiao Li

Suggested Citation

Yiqiao Li (2020) “Lightning talk: Enhancing truck activity monitoring through the integration of bluetooth and inductive loop signature data”, in Proceedings of the 99th annual meeting of the transportation research board.

conference paper

A Fly on the Wall-Exploiting Acoustic Side-Channels in Differential Pressure Sensors

2024 Annual Computer Security Applications Conference (ACSAC)

Publication Date

January 1, 2024

Author(s)

Yonatan Gizachew Achamyeleh, Mohamad Fakih, Gabriel Garcia, Anomadarshi Barua, Mohammad Al Faruque

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Suggested Citation

Yonatan Gizachew Achamyeleh, Mohamad Habib Fakih, Gabriel Garcia, Anomadarshi Barua and Mohammad Abdullah Al Faruque (2024) “A Fly on the Wall-Exploiting Acoustic Side-Channels in Differential Pressure Sensors”, in 2024 Annual Computer Security Applications Conference (ACSAC). IEEE, pp. 240–256. Available at: https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/abstract/document/10917867/ (Accessed: August 21, 2025).

conference paper

Trajectory-based hierarchical defense model to detect cyber-attacks on transportation infrastructure

Proceedings of the 98th annual meeting of the transportation research board

Publication Date

January 1, 2019

Author(s)

Wai Wong, Shihong Huang, Yiheng Feng, Qi Alfred Chen, Z. Morley Mao, Henry Liu

Abstract

The development of connected vehicles (CVs) provides a great opportunity for new vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I) applications, such as optimizing traffic signal in real-time based on CV data. However, such connectivity at transportation infrastructure also implies potential vulnerability in cyber-attacks. This paper proposes a generic trajectory-based hierarchical defense (TBHD) framework to protect transportation infrastructure under trajectory spoofing attacks. The trajectory spoofing attacks are indirect cyber-attacks in which falsified Basic Safety Messages (BSMs) from CVs are sent to roadside units to influence V2I applications. Based on the knowledge of vehicle dynamics and trajectory cross-validation, the TBHD framework aims at detecting and filtering falsified trajectory data (i.e., BSMs) from compromised CVs. The TBHD framework consists of three levels of defenses. Level 1 is a pointwise checking that checks if data elements in the received BSMs fall within their feasible ranges. Level 2 is a multiple-point checking that checks if the consecutive BSMs of a CV obey the laws of physics. Level 3 is a multiple-trajectory checking that checks if two CVsâ?? trajectories overlap with each other. Three sets of simulation studies were conducted to evaluate the performance of the defense framework at each level with different traffic demands and defense frequencies. Results reveal that the proposed defense framework can filter most of the data spoofing attacks. The development of a generic defense system is necessary to safeguard the transportation infrastructure in a connected environment.

Suggested Citation

Wai Wong, Shihong Huang, Yiheng Feng, Qi Alfred Chen, Z. Morley Mao and Henry X. Liu (2019) “Trajectory-based hierarchical defense model to detect cyber-attacks on transportation infrastructure”, in Proceedings of the 98th annual meeting of the transportation research board, p. 5p.

published journal article

A bridge between travel demand modeling and activity-based travel analysis

Transportation Research Part B: Methodological

Publication Date

June 1, 2001

Author(s)

Will Recker

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Abstract

The focus of this paper is on the demonstration that some rather well-known network-based formulations in operations research, that have heretofore largely gone unnoticed in activity-based travel research, offer a potentially powerful technique for advancing the general development of the activity-based modeling approach. These formulations can provide an analytical framework that unifies the complex interactions among the resource allocation decisions made by households in conducting their daily affairs outside the home, while preserving the utility-maximizing principles presumed to guide such decisions. A mathematical programming formulation is developed and used to identify the similarities and differences between traditional trip-based modeling methodologies and those pertaining to an activity-based approach. It is demonstrated that the two approaches are directly related. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.

Suggested Citation

W.W. Recker (2001) “A bridge between travel demand modeling and activity-based travel analysis”, Transportation Research Part B: Methodological, 35(5), pp. 481–506. Available at: 10.1016/s0191-2615(00)00006-0.

conference paper

Efficient path and sub-path storage data structures for network travel analysis with route behavioral elements

The 86th annual meeting of the transportation research board

Publication Date

January 1, 2006

Author(s)

Yu Zhang, James Marca, CR Rindt, R. (Jay) Jayakrishnan, Michael McNally

Suggested Citation

Yu Zhang, JE Marca, CR Rindt, R Jayakrishnan and Michael G McNally (2006) “Efficient path and sub-path storage data structures for network travel analysis with route behavioral elements”, in The 86th annual meeting of the transportation research board.

conference paper

Estimating the benefits of urban forests - an application to the Los Angeles (CA) single family housing market

Proceedings of the 50th anniversary ACSP conference, in crystal city, virginia

Publication Date

October 1, 2009

Author(s)

Jean-Daniel Saphores, Wei Li

Suggested Citation

J. Saphores and W. Li (2009) “Estimating the benefits of urban forests - an application to the Los Angeles (CA) single family housing market”, in Proceedings of the 50th anniversary ACSP conference, in crystal city, virginia.

working paper

Small City and Rural Transportation: A Review

Publication Date

September 5, 1977

Author(s)

Timothy Tardiff, Tenny M. Lam, James P. Dana

Working Paper

UCI-ITS-WP-77-3

Areas of Expertise

Travel Behavior, Land Use, & the Built Environment

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Abstract

The goals and objectives of providing public transportation services in small cities and rural areas are different from those of metropolitan regions. For the small cities and rural areas, the primary purpose is supplying transportation services to meet basic needs of people who do not have any convenient means of transportation. This group can be classified collectively as the carless. Carless simply implies that automobile transportation is not available. This group includes the poor, handicapped, elderly, and youth, as well as, members of households that do not own an automobile or do not have access to an automobile. The mobility needs of the carless are examined in this review. The characteristics of the special mobility groups are studied. The emphasis of the review is on the planning process and operation of public transportation services in the small cities and rural areas. A summary of the characteristics of existing nonmetropolitan transportation services is also presented. The state of the art in nonmetropolitan transportation planning is one of considerable disjointed effort. Although there has been careful planning related to the implementation of public transportation operations in the rural areas and small cities, little systematic development of goals, objectives, policies, and criteria could be found. The high per capita costs of providing transportation services to a small disadvantaged group require careful analyses with respect to the equity and efficiency of costs and benefits. In view of increasing competition of various public and social services for very limited funds, there will be greater demand for careful accounting and justification of public transportation services in small cities and rural areas.

Suggested Citation

Timothy J. Tardiff, Tenny M. Lam and James P. Dana (1977) Small City and Rural Transportation: A Review. Working Paper UCI-ITS-WP-77-3. Institute of Transportation Studies, Irvine. Available at: https://escholarship.org/uc/item/6q2156bd.