Digital Commons Network^™

Effect Of Opening Layout And Sheathing On Lateral Load Bearing Capacity In Wooden Shear Walls, Erdem Kazım Demirkıran, Nabi Volkan Gür

Journal of Sustainable Construction Materials and Technologies

Wood is preferred as building material in earthquake zones thanks to its light-weight. In countries with high seismic activity, wooden construction systems are required to be resistant to lateral and vertical loads. In traditional architecture, lateral load resistance is ensured with filled and unfilled walls which are strengthened with braces. In present day lateral load resistance is ensured with wooden shear walls formed by sheathings covered on the wall frame. Wooden shear walls may contain openings such as windows, doors and service channels. These types of openings reduce rigidity in wooden shear walls. The opening ratio, opening location, sheathing thickness …

Characterization Of Crack Healing Of Asphalt Mixtures Treated With Healing Agents, Martin Munene Rıara

Journal of Sustainable Construction Materials and Technologies

This study investigated the long-term crack healing of asphalt mixtures treated with healing agents (HAs). Five crack healing agents were applied on fractured surfaces of asphalt mixtures and the long-term healing performance was evaluated based on the restored peak strength and fracture energy. Long term healing of the mixtures was predicted using the Modified Wool and O’Connor model, a modified Avrami model and a long-term healing prediction model proposed in this study. Test results indicated that the proposed healing model and the modified Avrami model could predict the long-term healing of the asphalt mixtures. Crack healing comprised of an instantaneous …

Evaluation Of Valid Vo2max Criteria For Graded Exercise Testing In Cancer Survivors, Daniel Y.K. Shackelford, Jessica M. Brown, Rhianna N. Patel

International Journal of Exercise Science

International Journal of Exercise Science 18(5): 443-455, 2025. Cardiovascular fitness (VO_2max) predicts all-cause mortality and is vital to assess in cancer survivors (CS) for individualized exercise prescriptions. Metabolic carts confirm VO_2max with respiratory exchange ratio (RER) >1.10; other VO_2max criteria include ≤10 beats/minute of maximal predicted heart rate and/or a rating of perceived exertion (RPE) of >8 on the Modified Borg Scale. Another suggested criterion is respiratory frequency (Rf) > 40 breaths per minute. These criteria are assumed applicable for all populations, but due to cancer-related toxicities, frequency and validity of traditional VO_2max criteria usage in …

Sustainable Practices In Bridge Construction, Chandrasekaran Venkateswaran

Journal of Sustainable Construction Materials and Technologies

This paper throws light on the importance of sustainability in bridge construction projects and explains the methods to achieve sustainability in construction of bridges. The essential methods to achieve sustainability on various phases of a bridge project i.e., right from planning to maintenance of a bridge project during its service is also explained. The necessity of enacting laws to make sustainability as mandatory is outlined as conclusion.

Influence Of Marble Powder And Fly Ash On Rheological Properties And Strength Of Cementitious Grouts, Hikmet Sis, Tufan Kıyak, Cenk Fenerli, Mehmet Genç

Journal of Sustainable Construction Materials and Technologies

The usability of two environmentally important waste materials in cementitous fine grout production was investigated as partial replacement materials for cement and aggregate. The influence of replacement materials on flowability and strength of was investigated by rheological and compressive strength tests. The strength of 28 and 90 days grouts was determined. It was found that the flowability and strength of the mixes were heavily dependent on W/C ratio and affected by type and amount of replacement materials. Increasing W/C ratio and fly ash amount increased flowability, but inversely affected the strength of grouts. On the other hand, marble powder was …

Design Criteria Of Soil Structure Interaction: Marmara Forum Car Park In The Center Of The City, Süleyman Cem Divrik, Mehmet Fatih Altan

Journal of Sustainable Construction Materials and Technologies

The design of a three storey steel parking lot under permenant loadings is implemented on the context of the thesis. Suitable sizing of the construction in terms of current regulations is effort. It is an necessity that making evaluation of geotechnical and engineering of necessary support structure and definition of suitable excavation and support systems in terms of deformation and strength speciailities of the units that can be emerged on excavation phase. In this regard, design is realised on the parallel of remaining on limitation conditions of unit deplacement values within the executing of necessary braced system. The solution of …

Evaluation Of Sustainable Building Construction In The Kingdom Of Bahrain, Haya Alqahtani, Bahaaeddin Alareeni

Journal of Sustainable Construction Materials and Technologies

Sustainable buildings revolve around the concept of sustainability – to manage limited resources in order to meet the needs of the present generation without compromising the future generations. The present research aims to evaluate both practical and theoretical application levels of sustainable building constructions in the Kingdom of Bahrain via sustainability indicators. To carry out this research, the population size is based on architects, contractors, and policy and decision makers from the Kingdom of Bahrain, this research adopted a quantitative research approach by using survey questionnaires and the data analysis was performed with the statistical software Statistical Package for Social …

Evaluating The Importance Of Construction Activities For Sustainable Construction Practices In Building Projects In Nigeria, Peter Okoye, Isaac Odesola, Kevin Okolie

Journal of Sustainable Construction Materials and Technologies

Construction activities inherently impact the environment, economy and the society positively and negatively. Optimisation of these activities for attainment of sustainable construction and development is very essential. Therefore, this study categorised and evaluated the construction activities necessary for sustainable construction practices in building project delivery. It employed the distribution of questionnaires to the consultants, professional, and building contractors, including the relevant employees of different Government ministries, departments and agencies responsible for the delivery of building projects across the five states of South East Nigeria. Through the application of the relative importance index (RII) analysis, the study revealed that out of …

Potential Barriers To Sustainable Construction: A Model Proposal, Tülay Çivici, Resul Özlük

Journal of Sustainable Construction Materials and Technologies

In this study, it is aimed to identify potential barriers to sustainable construction in the Turkish Construction Industry. To this end, a survey was conducted covering architects, civil engineers and other (project manager, mechanical engineers, ets.) professionals working in the Turkish Construction Industry. Based on the data obtained from the survey, the scale of “Potential Barriers to Sustainable Construction” has been developed. Explanatory factor analysis was performed first to determine the factor structure of the research scale. As a result of the explanatory factor analysis, information deficiency barrier, education disability barrier, high investment cost barrier, awareness barrier, academic inadequacy barrier, …

Physical Characterization And Optimization Of Fineness Moduli Of Natural Sand From The North Region Of Cameroon Used In Construction, Bertin Kagonbé

Journal of Sustainable Construction Materials and Technologies

This paper deals with the physical characterization and the optimization of fineness moduli of some natural sand samples for their appropriate valorization in construction in North Cameroon. Five sands samples (SN5, SB1, SB2, SB3 and SB4) were selected from various locations. Tests conducted include Particle size analysis, Organic impurities, Sand Equivalent and Bulk density. Fineness Modulus (FM), Mean grain, Sorting index (Si), Skewedness index and Uniformity coefficient have been deducted mathematically. Results shown that the particle size distribution curves of the studied sands have an "S" shape. The sand equivalent values vary between 91.1 and 96.8 %, characteristic of very …

Maps For Planning And New Services To Open New Marketing And Working The Road, Mehmet Fatih Altan, Ali Gür

Journal of Sustainable Construction Materials and Technologies

This study has been examined what can be done to achieve the best in the state road planning process. It needs to be improved an existing highway. And the result should be predicted and applied. General traffic needs to meet, eliminate, and the negative effects caused by traffic or changes in land use are the main topics of planning. Part of the Policies and Procedures describes the minimum requirements and processes used. The country presents the results of its regular plans to the public for the development team to offer a development outcome. Country Programs, Regional Programs and Global Program. …

Rethinking Sustainability: A Research On Starch Based Bioplastic, Esen Gökçe Özdamar, Murat Ateş

Journal of Sustainable Construction Materials and Technologies

Based on the need to rely on sustainable feedstock, depend less on fossil resources and decrease carbon emissions, biomaterials and bioplastics as substitutes of conventional petroleum based plastics have been the focus of many material scientists, architects and industrial product designers. Therefore, this article is an experimentation on the possibilities of starch based bioplastic production. The focus of the article is to understand the limits of this new material and figure out whether starch based bioplastic material can be used in architecture, both as a facade material and an interior space furnishing. Based on Steven’s bioplastic formula, starch based bioplastic …

Infrastructure Projects In Turkey And Innovative Implementations In Project Management, İskender Eyüp Ekiz, Mehmet Fatih Altan

Journal of Sustainable Construction Materials and Technologies

In Turkey, transportation investments have taken the first number on the agenda on the last decades. Tremendeus projects like Kanalistanbul is mnetioned beside many airport projects in Anatolian cities that are existing many urban railway system projects in Istanbul and any other major cities beside high speed railway projects that connects the cities of Turkey by west to east and by south to north. Turkey continues the period of infrastructural establishment and renowation rapidly as a developing country which aims to being one of the biggest economy all over the world. Because of these, project management, management notions, usage of …

Cibali District; Investigation Of External Facing Material Selection In Architectural Structures, A. Bilge Işık, Yusuf Akyazıcı

Journal of Sustainable Construction Materials and Technologies

In this study, product selection and environmental effects were researched in the facade coatings forming the shells. The exterior wall coverings used in the buildings form the shell of the design. This makes the relationship between the shell of the builder and the outside of the builder. Preferable material properties, resistance to environmental factors, external damage to the environment during the production process and user preferences are important. It is a study to investigate the environmental compatibility and the results of material preferences to be used in accordance with these properties. In accordance with this purpose; Turkey It is a …

Investigating High-Speed Railways In Terms Of The Economy For Our Country And The Region, Onur Şahin, Mehmet Fatih Altan

Journal of Sustainable Construction Materials and Technologies

High-speed railways have a history of more than 40 years. Railways continued to be popular especially in various parts of Eastern Europe and Asia until the end of the 1980s. As of today, we can talk about a high-speed railway that continues to develop in the continents of Africa, Asia and the Americas around the world. At this point, one of the most significant factors in railways, in particular high-speed railways, is planning. Planning determines the effect of the railway on the economy, as well. Within this scope, with the proper planning of transportation investments, our country and the region …

Evaluation Of Risk In Turkish Construction Sector, Bilal Çelik, Mehmet Fatih Altan

Journal of Sustainable Construction Materials and Technologies

Construction projects, from feasibility and design abstract step is carried out, until a concrete step in the termination of operations contains a number of uncertainties and risks. day by day growing scale of our age and of various disciplines acquired a building complex with participatory projects require more professional methods of project risk management team and trained in this regard. Basically intuition, risk assessment and management in the construction industry, are based on judgment and experience in a logical manner. With risk assessment and the recognition was a major element of management applications for the building industry, industry response and …

Comparative Evaluation Of The Development, Current Situation And Investment Plans Of High Speed Railways On National, Regional And International Basis, Mehmet Fatih Altan, Mehmet Çağrı Kızıltaş

Journal of Sustainable Construction Materials and Technologies

Various investigations are aimed at creating more modern and efficient automobile and aircraft modes instead of railway passenger transport investments. However, the modal choice has an active role in social trends as well as technical developments. If the social system innovations can be applied and developed to the railway system, HSR can play a major role in the modern transportation system. There are many reasons to promote such a policy. The steel tyred rail system has a great effect. High-speed train technology has proven itself and is loved by the customer. It is available in a wide network of standard …

Economic And Technological Evaluation Of Transportation System, New Trends, Taha Vardar, Mehmet Fatih Altan, Sepanta Naimi

Journal of Sustainable Construction Materials and Technologies

Objective of the study is revealing developments year by year that has the faces of economical, technical, social, political and trying to clarify the relationship between different disciplines and transportation. On this context, with the affect of extension on informatics and technology on last decades, the type of development trends of transportation system is discussed within the frame of today’s necessities. On this context, it is known that transportation has a mutual and integrated relationship with urbanization and it has understood that transportation is impulsion of common civilization level of humanity. In this content, development period and continuing investments of …

Modeling Of Damage Evolution And Fracture In 5182 H111 Aluminum Alloy, Elamri Abdelouahid, Mounir El Yakhloufi Haddou, Elkhamlichi Abdelatif

Journal of Sustainable Construction Materials and Technologies

This paper presents results of a numerical modeling of ductile fracture and failure of elements made of 5182H111 aluminum alloys subjected to dynamic traction. The analysis was performed using Johnson-Cook model based on ABAQUS software. The aim of the research was to specify and test the mechanical properties during numerical simulations. The experimental test results for the mechanical properties of the studies for steel were presented with a large description of the testing facilities. The test results were used to determine the temperature dependencies of the mechanical properties, yield strength, modulus of elasticity and thermal elongation

The Overcome Project: Overall Perspective And Progress, Jean-Robert Courivaud, Mark W. Morris, Maxime Boucher, Laurent Del Gatto, Christophe Picault, Kamal El Kadi Abderrezzak, Rafael Morán Moya, Miguel Angel Toledo

5th International Seminar on Dam Protections Against Overtopping

The OVERCOME project is an applied research project that aims to provide the dam and dike engineering profession with an easy-to-use, physically based numerical tool that represents overtopping erosion and failure of homogeneous embankments made up of coarse-grained, gap-graded soils. This project began in 2018 and is scheduled for completion in 2028, and was initiated by EDF and CNR, who are the two main owners of embankment dams in France. To achieve this objective, the OVERCOME project is based on an extensive program of experimental tests of various dimensions. The interpretation of these tests will be used to define a …

Constitutional Loopholes To Freedom: Information Control In China, Audrey Nolen

Undergraduate Research and Engagement Symposium

My project, “Constitutional Loopholes to Freedom: Information Control in China,”explores how the leadership structure of China’s information control apparatus evolved from the Hu Jintao era to the Xi Jinping era—and what these shifts reveal about the Chinese Communist Party’s changing political priorities.

Probabilistic Graph Circuits Deep Generative Models For Tractable Probabilistic Inference Over Graphs

Defensive Publications Series

Deep generative models (DGMs) have recently demonstrated remarkable success in capturing complex probability distributions over graphs. Al though their excellent performance is attributed to powerful and scalable deep neural networks, it is, at the same time, exactly the presence of these highly non-linear transformations that makes DGMs intractable. Indeed, despite representing probability distributions, intractable DGMs deny probabilistic foundations by their inability to answer even the most basic inference queries with out approximations or design choices specific to a very narrow range of queries. To address this limitation, we propose probabilistic graph circuits (PGCs), a framework of tractable DGMs that provide …

Offline Model-Based Optimization Comprehensive Review

Defensive Publications Series

Offline optimization is a fundamental challenge in science and engineering, where the goal is to optimize black-box functions using only offline datasets. This setting is particularly relevant when querying the objective function is prohibitively expensive or infeasible, with applications spanning protein engineering, material discovery, neural architecture search, and beyond. The main difficulty lies in accurately estimating the objective landscape beyond the available data, where extrapolations are fraught with significant epistemic uncertainty. This uncertainty can lead to objective hacking (reward hacking)—exploiting model inaccuracies in unseen regions—or other spurious optimizations that yield misleadingly high performance estimates outside the training distribution. Recent advances …

The Tax Redistribution Gap, Eric Baudry

Fellow, Adjunct, Lecturer, and Research Scholar Works

The tax revenue gap—the difference between how much the IRS collects in tax revenue and how much it should collect based on the text of the Internal Revenue Code—is both well-defined and well-studied. But raising revenue is just one purpose of taxation; the tax code also operates to redistribute wealth. Drawing from the tax revenue gap and redistribution literatures, this article coins a parallel concept, the tax redistribution gap, to map the extent to which the tax system falls short of its redistributive goals.

Introducing a tax redistribution gap measure challenges background assumptions in current tax discourse: first, it would …

Motion For Leave And Brief Of Amici Curiae 1129 Law Students And 51 Law Student Organizations In Support Of Plaintiff's Motion For Summary Judgment, Jordan Merson, Spencer J. Pahlke

Student Amicus Briefs

Amici are 1129 law students and 51 law student organizations from law schools across the United States. They are diverse geographically, economically, socially, and politically. They study law for different reasons. They will go on to represent a wide range of clients and causes. Yet amici are united in one fundamental respect. They have dedicated themselves to the idea that we are a society governed by laws, not by raw power. They recognize that the executive order attacks their chosen profession. It attacks the values that cause law practice to be meaningful in American life. Amici ask this Court to …

The Role Of The U.S. In South Korean Democratization: A Contemporary Analysis, Michael Garifales

Honors Program Theses and Projects

The United States has faced significant criticism on its role in South Korea’s democratization due to its involvement with both democratic movements and authoritarian regimes. What was the official role that the U.S. played in South Korean democratization, and what are the perceptions of this policy today? This paper explores the role of the U.S. in different periods of South Korea's democratization, including modernization and student/social movements as case studies. It analyzes a range of academic journals and books to assess the merit of different perspectives on U.S. involvement. Furthermore, the paper applies primary sources, such as newspapers and news …

Media Quiteracy: Why Digital Disconnection Belongs In The Media Literacy Curriculum, Katie Day Good

University Faculty Publications and Creative Works

In this essay, we introduce media quiteracy, which we use to conceptualize and describe the valuable learning that can happen through the refusal to take up new media or the act of pausing or ceasing its use. We see media quiteracy as an active and generative approach to learning and argue for its inclusion in the media literacy curriculum. We trace the history of critical engagement with technologies within education and then articulate what media quiteracy can look like in practice. We surface and discuss three potential obstacles to teaching media quiteracy, which include the ways in which it problematizes …

Andre Howerton V. Visa

2025 Decisions

USDC for the Middle District of Pennsylvania

Bobby Williamson V. Brian Bolton

2025 Decisions

USDC for the Middle District of Pennsylvania

Gerard Bornemann, Iii V. Atlantic County Department Of Public Safety

2025 Decisions

USDC for the District of New Jersey