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TransLighting Group, Inc. consists of two companies all centered around the transportation industry. The original company, TransLighting, was started in 1962 by Henry Phillips. Henry was an engineer with Ford Motor Company specializing in braking wiring systems. Over an eight-year period, he designed and patented several wiring and harness systems that are used in cars as of the 2006 model year. Back in the 1950s Henry had the opportunity to learn about and use LED technology. He even came up with a process using this technology to increase brake light visibility (i.e., the third or middle brake light on most cars). In June 1961 over dinner with another engineering buddy, Bill Acken, Bill figured that they could use this same technology to display roadside messages for motorists. Following license approval from Ford, Bill and Henry started TransLighting in White Lake, Michigan.

This essay studies disconnections between the macrolevel societal problems of a state and more microlevel political alignments.

Using a dataset composed of macrolevel measures of state problems and microlevel responses to a 2008 election survey, this essay applies multilevel statistical models to explain the state-to-state variance between the states on anti-abortion and pro-gun sentiments. This analysis uncovers the macro- and microlevel factors that disconnect a state’s neglect-of-children indicators from its citizens’ sentiments about abortion, and the factors that disconnect a state’s crime indicators from its citizens’ sentiments about guns.

The initial associations between a state’s indicators of neglect of children and anti-abortion sentiments are explained by the state’s lower human development (HD) and social attributes, especially religious beliefs, which predict social conservatism. The initial associations between a state’s indicators of crime and incarcerations are also explained by a state’s lower HD and the social attributes, especially religious beliefs, which predict social conservatism. Considering both abortion and guns as key indicators of social conservatism, the voters’ political choices exhibit a moralistic axiological rationality rather than a more pragmatic instrumental rationality.

The moral absolutism associated with sentiments about abortion and guns suggests that social conservatism and authoritarianism are intertwined but separate conceptions, which have similar consequences and determinants. Both may be influenced by the same changes in social and educational policies, especially the quality of education.

When port authorities or terminal operators set the free time or increase storage density, the decision is often made without a clear understanding of their effects on throughput and rehandling productivity. This is partly because practical methods that deal specifically with the effect of dwell time on throughput and productivity are limited in the literature; hence the motivation for this work. This paper introduces simple methods to evaluate the effect of container dwell time and storage policies on import throughput, storage density, and rehandling productivity. The analysis considers two import storage strategies 1) non-mixed - no stacking of new import containers on top of old ones, and 2) mixed - stacking of new import containers on top of old ones. The results highlight the effect dwell time has on throughput and rehandling productivity. For the non-mixed storage policy, the increasing container dwell time lowers throughput and average stack height - resulting in an increase in rehandling productivity. On the other hand, for the mixed storage policy, the increasing container dwell time raises throughput and average stack height - resulting in a decrease in rehandling productivity. Using the presented methods, port authorities and terminal operators are able to assess and quantify the benefits of their decisions regarding container free time and subsequently make an informed decision.

While traumatic brain injury (TBI) became a special education category within the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) in 1990, societies have dealt with TBI far back in history. According to Granacher (2007), there have been writings about the examination of skulls from battlefields in which a hole was drilled into the skull using a trepanning tool apparently to provide some physical relief for the injured soldier. Interestingly, Levin, Benton, and Grossman (1982) stated that this tool continued to be part of Medieval and Renaissance surgeons' practice. At that time, the surgeons believed that trepanation was a vital procedure to improve the brain pulsations and hence the overall well-being of the person with a TBI; however, the medical effectiveness of this procedure did not materialize and it was replaced by brain surgery in the 20th century (Levin et al., 1982).

The paper aims to explore the penetration of power in Mexico by drug cartels and the attendant policy challenges to address the problem.

The history of unlawful activity and cartels is discussed as well as the policy solutions being explored by the Mexican Government and its partners like the USA.

The challenges are longstanding, complex and defy simple solutions. Concerted problem solving can change conditions on the ground.

The impact of longer term initiatives to strengthen the rule of law merits further study.

Drug cartels are taking a huge toll on Mexico, particularly in terms of violence; this threatens not only Mexico but neighbouring countries as well.

The problems Mexico faces are placed in historical context and in the context of the larger international trade in illicit drugs.

Prior research suggests that collaboration is key to sustainable community development and environmental management, and peer-to-peer learning (P2PL) may facilitate community building and collaborative learning skills. This study aims to examine the effect of P2PL on the enhancement of environmental management and sustainable development skills, community building and social capital (i.e. connectedness) and understanding of course learning objectives.

Quantitative and qualitative longitudinal survey data was collected in a sustainable development focused course offered at a large American public university that uses P2PL to explicitly facilitate community building and collaborative skills. Safety precautions and changing locational course offerings due to the COVID-19 pandemic in years 2020, 2021 and 2022 provided an opportunity to evaluate the impact of P2PL on these skills during both virtual and in-person formats. Additionally, this study compared in-course student evaluations with students taking other sustainable development-related courses with collaborative learning aspects to understand the wider effectiveness of this course structure.

This study finds that course format (virtual vs in-person) overall made no difference in either connectedness or conceptual understandings, and that students in both formats felt more connected to others than students taking other courses with P2PL. Scaffolding P2PL and supplemental peer support can yield improved connectedness and learning among students taking environmental coursework.

Sustainable development requires group collaboration and partnership building skills. Issues are consistently raised about the challenges to teaching these skills in higher education. The students and instructors in this research study identify P2PL strategies to address these challenges for in-person and virtual classroom settings.