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Effect Of Various Speed Management Strategies On Bicycle Crashes For Urban Roads In Central Florida, Jorge Ugan
Effect Of Various Speed Management Strategies On Bicycle Crashes For Urban Roads In Central Florida, Jorge Ugan
Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-
In recent years, cycling has become an increasingly popular transportation mode around the world. In contrast to other popular modes of transportation, cycling is more economic and energy efficient. While many studies have been conducted for the bicycle safety analysis, most of them were limited in terms of bicycle exposure data and on-street data. This study tries to improve the current safety performance functions for bicycle crashes at urban corridors by utilizing crowdsource data from STRAVA and on-street speed management strategies data. Speed management strategies are any roadway alterations that causes a change in motorists' driving behavior. In Florida, these …
Data Driven Methods For Large Scale Network Level Traffic Modeling, Rezaur Rahman
Data Driven Methods For Large Scale Network Level Traffic Modeling, Rezaur Rahman
Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-
Rapid growth in population along with urban-centric activities impose a massive demand on existing transportation systems, thus increasing traffic congestion and other mobility related challenges. To overcome such challenges, we need network-scale models to accurately predict real-time traffic demand and associated congestion. However, traditional network modeling approaches have shortcomings due to the complexity in traffic flow modeling, limited scope to incorporate real-time data available from emerging data sources and requiring excessive computation time to generate accurate estimation of traffic flows. Advancement in traffic sensing technologies with big data has created a new opportunity to overcome these challenges and implement deployable …
A Linear Dynamical Perspective On Epidemiology: Interplay Between Early Covid-19 Outbreak And Human Mobility, Shakib Mustavee
A Linear Dynamical Perspective On Epidemiology: Interplay Between Early Covid-19 Outbreak And Human Mobility, Shakib Mustavee
Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-
This research investigates the impact of human activity and mobility (HAM) in the spreading dynamics of an epidemic. Specifically, it explores the interconnections between HAM and its effect on the early spread of the COVID-19 virus. During the early stages of the pandemic, effective reproduction numbers exhibited a high correlation with human mobility patterns, leading to a hypothesis that the HAM system can be studied as a coupled system with disease spread dynamics. This study applies the generalized Koopman framework with control inputs to determine the nonlinear disease spread dynamics and the input-output characteristics as a locally linear controlled dynamical …
The Potential Of Location Data For Contact Tracing And Understanding Individual Mobility During The Covid-19 Pandemic, Marcus Figaro
The Potential Of Location Data For Contact Tracing And Understanding Individual Mobility During The Covid-19 Pandemic, Marcus Figaro
Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-
In this study, we first review contact tracing methods used during the COVID-19 pandemic and provide an analysis of the benefits and drawbacks of different data collection and privacy protection methods. Our findings provide the benefits and drawbacks of using GPS versus Bluetooth for contact tracing, as well as the different data collection and storage methods and their effectiveness in protecting user privacy. We then analyze Twitter data to understand individual mobility behavior and sentiment by using a Natural Language Processing tool on text content of user tweets and Tweet coordinate data. Social media's ability to provide data on location …
Investigating Topologic And Geometric Properties Of Synthetic And Natural River Networks Under Changing Climate, Shiblu Sarker
Investigating Topologic And Geometric Properties Of Synthetic And Natural River Networks Under Changing Climate, Shiblu Sarker
Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-
River networks are important landscape features that collect and transport water, sediment and nutrients from regions of higher elevation to lower elevations. These networks have been studied for several decades from a range of geomorphological and hydrological perspectives. Investigating the geometric and topological properties of river networks is important for developing predictive models describing the network dynamics under changing climate as well as for quantifying the physical processes operating upon them. Although these networks have been characterized for a wide range of geomorphic properties, topological properties, and in particular, spectral properties of river networks received limited attention. In this dissertation, …
Understanding Process Controls On Flow Duration Curves Through A Novel Framework, Saba Ghotbi
Understanding Process Controls On Flow Duration Curves Through A Novel Framework, Saba Ghotbi
Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-
Flow duration curve (FDC) is a hydrologically representation of the statistical distribution of daily streamflows. For a long time, hydrologists have sought deeper understanding of the process controls on the shape of FDC, which has been a challenge due to contrasting processes controlling the fast flow and slow flow components of streamflow and their interactions. This dissertation addresses the challenge by outlining a novel framework to explore the physical controls on FDC. The framework involves separating streamflow into fast flow and slow flow and studying their duration curves separately then combining them statistically to obtain FDC. Initially, the potential of …
Modeling Of Crash Risk For Realistic Artificial Data Generation: Application To Naturalistic Driving Study Data, Lauren Hoover
Modeling Of Crash Risk For Realistic Artificial Data Generation: Application To Naturalistic Driving Study Data, Lauren Hoover
Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-
Most safety performance analysis employs cross-sectional and time-series datasets, posing an important challenge to safety performance and crash modification analysis. The traditional safety model analysis paradigm relying on observed data only allows relative comparisons between analysis methods and is unable to establish how well the methods mimic the true underlying crash generation process. Assumptions are made about the data, but whether the assumptions truly characterize the safety data generation in the real world remains unknown. To address this issue, this thesis proposes the generation of realistic artificial data (RAD). In developing a prototype RAD generator for crash data, we mimic …
Combining Multivariate Statistical And Numerical Modeling For Coastal Hazards Analysis, Victor Malagon Santos
Combining Multivariate Statistical And Numerical Modeling For Coastal Hazards Analysis, Victor Malagon Santos
Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-
Increased population density along the world's coastlines is driven by the wide range of services provided by costal systems, such as transportation, fisheries, trade, and tourism. Despite offering fundamental services, coastal systems are exposed to a range of natural hazards such as riverine and/or coastal flooding, and erosion, thus robust risk analyses are needed to protect coastal ecosystems, infrastructure, and people dwelling in proximity to the shoreline. Numerical and multivariate statistical models have become crucial tools in coastal risk management to support robust risk analyses, and their combined use provides many benefits in the analysis of coastal hazards. This dissertation …
Improving Pedestrian Safety Using Video Data, Surrogate Safety Measures And Deep Learning, Shile Zhang
Improving Pedestrian Safety Using Video Data, Surrogate Safety Measures And Deep Learning, Shile Zhang
Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-
The research aims to improve pedestrian safety at signalized intersections using video data, surrogate safety measures and deep learning. Machine learning (including deep learning) models are proposed for predicting pedestrians' potentially dangerous situations. On the one hand, pedestrians' red-light violations can expose the pedestrians to motorized traffic and pose potential threats to pedestrian safety. Thus, the prediction of pedestrians' crossing intention during red-light signals is carried out. The pose estimation technique is used to extract features on pedestrians' bodies. Machine learning models are used to predict pedestrians' crossing intention at intersections' red-light, with video data collected from signalized intersections. Multiple …
Impact Of Climate Change On Storms And Coastal Morphodynamics, Kelsey Perez
Impact Of Climate Change On Storms And Coastal Morphodynamics, Kelsey Perez
Honors Undergraduate Theses
Storms have been impacting coastal morphodynamics directly due to its intensifying effects over the years. Climate change has caused an exponential impact on storms and therefore morphodynamic changes in the coasts. A specific land that has constantly been threatened is Dauphin Island, a barrier island in Alabama. Over time, it has experienced a total land loss of 100 ft of shoreline over the past of 3 decades and an overall 16% land loss of the island due to the intensifying effects of storms due to a changing climate. In this study, we use Hurricane Ivan as an example. In order …
The Roles Of Groundwater Table In Catchment Hydrology, Lili Yao
The Roles Of Groundwater Table In Catchment Hydrology, Lili Yao
Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-
The main goal of this dissertation research is to investigate catchment hydrological processes including infiltration and saturation excess runoff generation with consideration of groundwater table. For the infiltration process, an infiltration Péclet number was proposed to quantify the relative effects of gravity and capillary force on the evolution of infiltration capacity in the special case of the presence of a shallow water table, and a power law functional form of Time Compression Approximation was developed whose exponent was found to vary with the Péclet number. For the saturation excess runoff process, a new probability distribution model based on the SCS …
Ground Movements And Nonlinear-Inelastic Response Of Buildings Induced By Excavations In Glacial Clay Deposits, A. Felipe Uribe-Henao
Ground Movements And Nonlinear-Inelastic Response Of Buildings Induced By Excavations In Glacial Clay Deposits, A. Felipe Uribe-Henao
Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-
The analysis of ground movements and nonlinear response of buildings induced by excavations in glacial clay deposits is conducted using finite element models built in PLAXIS2D and OpenSees. PLAXIS2D was used to simulate the performance of an urban cofferdam excavation braced with a concrete bracing system. Measured ground movements were compared with the computed response, and the influence of the temperature, installation, and curing effects on the concrete bracing is evaluated. Concrete time-dependent effects contributed to 32% of the maximum lateral wall movements. The numerical studies are expanded in a second finite element analysis to characterize the coupled fluid-solid response …
Remediation Of Roadway Runoff Nutrients: Querying Sources Delivery Mechanism, Efficacy Of Stormwater Best Management Practices, And Stormwater Routing Through Karst Geology, Mohammad Shokri
Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-
Stormwater road runoff is a widespread non-point source of contaminants such as nutrients, which endangers water bodies, especially in vulnerable karst areas such as Florida. While roadside vegetated filter strips (VFSs) and stormwater basins are generally accepted best management practices (BMPs) for stormwater management, uncertainties about VFS nutrient removal are reported and stormwater basins are concerned of facilitating contaminant transport. In this dissertation, the application and efficacy of engineered infiltration media was tested as a subgrade for the enhanced nutrient removal from roadway runoff. Results of field-scale laboratory testing indicated that a VFS with engineered biosorption activated media (BAM) outperformed …
Evaluation Of Unconventional Signalized Intersections On Arterial Roads And A Proposition For A Novel Intersection Design, Ma'en Al-Omari
Evaluation Of Unconventional Signalized Intersections On Arterial Roads And A Proposition For A Novel Intersection Design, Ma'en Al-Omari
Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-
Several unconventional intersection designs were proposed and implemented to enhance traffic safety and operation at intersections. The efficiency of these intersection designs was not sufficiently evaluated in the previous research because of the limited implementation of such designs. However, with the growing interest in the implementation of unconventional intersections by municipalities and transport agencies, it has become a need for a comprehensive evaluation of their safety and operational benefits. Therefore, this dissertation aims to evaluate the safety and operational aspects of unconventional intersection designs by employing different research approaches: crash analysis, microscopic simulation, and driving simulation. Firstly, this dissertation evaluated …
Crash Analysis And Development Of Safety Performance Functions For Florida Roads In The Framework Of The Context Classification System, Ma'en Al-Omari
Crash Analysis And Development Of Safety Performance Functions For Florida Roads In The Framework Of The Context Classification System, Ma'en Al-Omari
Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-
Nowadays, technology is employed in many safety applications and countermeasures that would enhance traffic safety by influencing some crash-related factors. Therefore, crash-related factors must be determined for every roadway element by the development of safety performance functions. Safety performance functions (SPF) are employed to predict crash counts at the different roadway elements. Several SPFs have been developed for the various roadway elements based on different classifications such as functional classification and area type. Since a more detailed classification of roadway elements leads to more accurate crash predictions, multiple states have developed new system to categorize roads based on a comprehensive …
Ground Movements And Vibrations Caused By Impact Pile Driving Of Prestressed Concrete Piles In Central Florida, Jorge Enrique Orozco Herrera
Ground Movements And Vibrations Caused By Impact Pile Driving Of Prestressed Concrete Piles In Central Florida, Jorge Enrique Orozco Herrera
Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-
The process of pile driving has been a commonly used method for the installation of deep foundations in Central Florida due to the soil conditions that consist mainly of medium-dense silty sands. Pile driving can generate large vibration levels that might potentially trigger ground deformations in the surrounding soils and cause damage on nearby structures. Currently, design and construction standards provide guidance in terms of ground vibration levels expected during pile driving and establish vibration thresholds to avoid damage on important infrastructure. However, little insight has been given into the amount of ground deformations that soils experience due to pile …
Identifying The Links Between Mental Frameworks, Context Features, And Driver Attention In Complete Streets Environments, Patricia Tice
Identifying The Links Between Mental Frameworks, Context Features, And Driver Attention In Complete Streets Environments, Patricia Tice
Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-
Complete street systems integrate a wide range of users in the same space, with unequal risks and responsibilities. This makes driver attention a critical factor in assuring the safety of vulnerable users. The Conditioned Anticipation of People psychological model of driver attention proposes that drivers reflexively reengage their metacognitive processes when they anticipate visually interacting with the human face or form due to the neurological priority that the brain places on human recognition. To test this model, an eye-tracking tabulation was generated from the SHRP2 Naturalistic Driving Study that measured midsegment percent of time on-task and multitasking behavior for 200 …
The Use Of Physically Based Models And Ensemble Forecasting For Storm Surge Risk Assessment In A Changing Climate, Jeane Camelo
The Use Of Physically Based Models And Ensemble Forecasting For Storm Surge Risk Assessment In A Changing Climate, Jeane Camelo
Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-
Storm surge has been the deadliest and costliest hurricane induced hazard in the coastal United States. In order to save property and lives, emergency managers must issue advisories guided by numerical models in a timely manner. However, these surge models are highly dependent on weather forecasts which contain uncertainties themselves as hurricanes traverse through the waters before making landfall. This dissertation aims to understand the contribution of uncertainties in hurricane properties, particularly the wind intensity which can contribute to uncertainties in storm surge models. Investigating these properties through numerical modeling is both computationally and time intensive. However by developing a …
Seismic Soil-Structure Interaction Effects In Tall Buildings Considering Nonlinear-Inelastic Behaviors, Jaime Mercado
Seismic Soil-Structure Interaction Effects In Tall Buildings Considering Nonlinear-Inelastic Behaviors, Jaime Mercado
Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-
Soil-structure interaction (SSI) effects are relevant for the seismic analysis of tall buildings on shallow foundations since the dynamic behavior of structures is highly affected by the interaction between the superstructure and supporting soils. As part of earthquake-resistant designs of buildings, considering SSI effects in the analysis provides more realistic estimates of its performance during a seismic event, particularly when both the structure and soil undergo large demands that can compromise serviceability. Oversimplifications of structural or soil modeling in the analysis introduces variability and biases in the computed seismic response. The main goal of this dissertation is to investigate the …
Monitoring Of Microscopic Traffic Behavior For Safety Applications Using Temporal Logic, Mariam Wessam Hassan Mohamed Nour
Monitoring Of Microscopic Traffic Behavior For Safety Applications Using Temporal Logic, Mariam Wessam Hassan Mohamed Nour
Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-
Smart cities are revolutionizing the transportation infrastructure by the integration of technology. However, ensuring that various transportation system components are operating as expected and in a safe manner is a great challenge. One of the proposed solutions is traffic monitoring systems which collect and analyze traffic data for the safe operation and management of the overall system. Even though traffic safety analysis has been tied to crash data, surrogate safety measures (SSM) have recently emerged as a replacement. SSM can provide a convenient alternative for understanding the impact of conflicts on overall road safety. Traditionally, conflicts were studied through manual …
Econometric Frameworks For Energy Prediction, Naveen Chandra Iraganaboina
Econometric Frameworks For Energy Prediction, Naveen Chandra Iraganaboina
Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-
Global warming and associated role of energy consumption across various sectors is a well-researched topic in recent years. Understanding current urban energy consumption patterns will allow us to understand how future energy consumption patterns will evolve. With electrification of vehicles and potentially altering culture of work from home, the energy usage at regional level would see a significant change in the future. The current PhD dissertation contributes to energy consumption analysis of a region by analyzing residential energy consumption, commercial energy consumption and transportation energy use by households. The aggregation of these energy consumption within a region contributes to the …
Real-Time Traffic Safety Evaluation In The Context Of Connected Vehicles And Mobile Sensing, Pei Li
Real-Time Traffic Safety Evaluation In The Context Of Connected Vehicles And Mobile Sensing, Pei Li
Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-
Recently, with the development of connected vehicles and mobile sensing technologies, vehicle-based data become much easier to obtain. However, only few studies have investigated the application of this kind of novel data to real-time traffic safety evaluation. This dissertation aims to conduct a series of real-time traffic safety studies by integrating all kinds of available vehicle-based data sources. First, this dissertation developed a deep learning model for identifying vehicle maneuvers using data from smartphone sensors (i.e., accelerometer and gyroscope). The proposed model was robust and suitable for real-time application as it required less processing of smartphone sensor data compared with …
Safety And Operations Of Urban Arterials Incorporating The Context Classification System, Nada Mahmoud
Safety And Operations Of Urban Arterials Incorporating The Context Classification System, Nada Mahmoud
Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-
Urban arterials connect multiple areas in the city and encourage non-motorist activities. Hence, the safety and operations on urban arterials is vital as they improve the mobility of daily commuters and road users. This research aims to facilitate traffic operations on urban arterials by proposing multiple mythological approaches to estimate and predict turning movement counts at signalized intersections using traffic data from adjacent intersections. Further, it aims to improve the safety by developing crash prediction models, identifying the hotspots for multiple crash types, and indicating the factors contributing to operating speed as well as non-motorist crashes. The analyses included tuning, …
Applying Machine Learning Techniques To Improve Safety And Mobility Of Urban Transportation Systems Using Infrastructure- And Vehicle-Based Sensors, Zubayer Islam
Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-
The importance of sensing technologies in the field of transportation is ever increasing. Rapid improvements of cloud computing, Internet of Vehicles (IoV), and intelligent transport system (ITS) enables fast acquisition of sensor data with immediate processing. Machine learning algorithms provide a way to classify or predict outcomes in a selective and timely fashion. High accuracy and increased volatility are the main features of various learning algorithms. In this dissertation, we aim to use infrastructure- and vehicle-based sensors to improve safety and mobility of urban transportation systems. Smartphone sensors were used in the first study to estimate vehicle trajectory using lane …