published journal article
working paper
As public funds become ever more scarce and demands on them ever greater, public scrutiny of their use increases. Means are sought to determine exactly how such funds are being used, and to determine where and how they could be better allocated. The quantitative evaluation of performance provides some measure of rational justification for political and policy decisions. Public transit is today in this position of stabilized or decreasing funds and increasing demands, yet there exist no readily applicable means of evaluating transit performance. Transit must adapt the evaluation techniques and learn from the experience of other public fields. Performance evaluation has long been an issue in the fields of public education, housing, and health. Many volumes of research are available discussing evaluation theory and experience with techniques ranging from performance contracts and peer ratings to subjective ratings of “satisfaction”. Performance evaluations are also conducted in many other public service fields, e.g. fire and police services. Yet, the fields of education, housing, and health are similar to public transit in that they: (1) must be provided on a continuous basis; (2) cannot be nor mally justified on a public safety basis, as can police and fire ser vices; and (3) are not utilized by the entire population on a regular basis. This paper will investigate each of the fields (public education, housing, and health) in turn, discussing the predominant evaluation techniques used or suggested for that field and the problems inhibit ing’ evaluation. For each area, appropriate parallels will be drawn to the evaluation of public transit.
conference paper
Phd Dissertation
This is the first study that analyzes two-worker and single-worker households’ commuting behavior in the Los Angeles Metropolitan Areas. This study uses “Excess commuting” to test how important commuting distance is for urban workers to choose their residential and job locations in Los Angeles area. Individual location data used are from the Transit Panel Study Survey, 1991. The results show that commuting distance is still an important factor for urban workers to make location decisions, contrary to other study results. I find that if two-worker households’ commuting distance optimization process is restricted by their members job locations, two-worker households’ excess commute is smaller than single-worker households’. Also, the results suggest that spatial mismatch restricts unskilled workers in single-worker households more than it restricts workers from other groups. Further, the results show that the commuting distances of two-worker households are affected more by jobs-housing balance in the region than are the commuting distances of single-worker households. I find that two-worker household males behave differently from two-worker household females, and that two-worker household females behave differently from single-worker household females. I also find that there are sharper gender differences among whites than among nonwhites.
Phd Dissertation |
Jun 1995
Phd Dissertation |
Jun 1995
Phd Dissertation |
Jun 1996
conference paper
published journal article
Background: Investigating human exposure to toxic contaminants through dietary consumption is critical to identify disease risk factors and health guidelines. Methods: In this study, we developed a cross-sectional online survey to collect information about dietary patterns and related food consumption habits among adults (age ≥ 18) and adolescents (ages 13–17) in Southern California, focusing on popular staple foods and/or those targeted most commonly under California’s Proposition 65 law for lead and acrylamide exposure. Results: Results identified root vegetables, rice, leafy greens, pasta/noodles, tea, juice, and seafood to be among the most heavily consumed foods by mass, while the daily intake of many foods such as stuffed grape leaves, tamarind/chili candy and herbs/spices varied by age and race/ethnicity, suggesting that many of Proposition 65’s pollution allowances may be exacerbating issues of health inequity and environmental injustice. Moreover, findings from this study indicate that the methods of exposure assessment often applied under Prop 65, especially relating to herbs/spices, are likely to underestimate single-day exposures, thus allowing unsafe products on the market without warning labels. Conclusions: Study outcomes are broadly relevant to environmental health and nutrition science, with particular relevance to public health practitioners and California’s Prop 65 regulators and other stakeholders.
conference paper
conference paper
Phd Dissertation
published journal article
