Engineering Commons^™

Fundamental Investigation Of Interaction Between Moisture And Asphalt-Aggregate Systems, Rui Xiao

Doctoral Dissertations

Moisture-induced damage is one of the most common forms of flexible pavement distress which directly causes or exacerbates pavement failure. The intrusion of moisture into the asphalt pavements reduces the overall mechanical properties of the locking structures and gives rise to one or more of the visible forms of distress such as raveling, stripping, permanent deformation and fatigue cracking. This doctoral study is aimed at understanding the detrimental action of water on the asphalt-aggregate systems and the damage mechanism by multi-technique investigation. A thermodynamics framework was considered to characterize the properties of asphalt mix ingredients as well as the engineering …

Effects Of Diabetes And Aging On Posture And Acceleration Thresholds During Lateral Translations, Samantha Jean Richerson

Doctoral Dissertations

Research objectives. One source of falls in the elderly may be an inability to sufficiently adjust to transient postural perturbations or slips. Identifying useful predictors of fall potential, as well as factors that affect the ability of an individual to detect a movement of the standing support surface may provide insight into postural stability and methods to increase stability in elders. To do this, acceleration thresholds to short, precise, lateral platform translations and the resultant psychophysical responses of adults with early Type 2 diabetes to age-matched controls and young adults were measured.

Methods. Using an innovative SLIP-FALLS platform, …