Digital Commons Network^™

Structural Performance Of Distressed Cast-In-Place Concrete Bridge Retaining Wall, Karzan Ms Habeeb

Civil Engineering Dissertations - Archive

Cast-In-Place (CIP) concrete retaining walls have been used in the United States widely in the 20th century. CIP concrete walls have additionally proven to be structurally rigid and cost-effective for low backfill height. This type of wall is also sustainable with design service life of 75 years (TxDOT 2014). However, during service, the wall undergoes distressed movements, structural deficiency, and stability related problems. CIP cantilever concrete retaining walls often do not perform as expected, and the walls are affected by construction and/or structural deficiency, which sometimes leads to failure. The current study was inspired by distressed CIP walls located on …

Modeling Of Hydrogen Sulfide Generation And Rates Of Microbial Induced Concrete Corrosion In Manhole Shafts, Sunakshi Hada

Civil Engineering Dissertations - Archive

Manhole shafts can undergo infrastructure failure due to microbially induced concrete corrosion (MICC). Deterioration of the sewer systems by MICC process occurs due to the volatilization of hydrogen sulfide into the gas phase. The volatized hydrogen sulfide gas reacts with oxygen to form sulfuric acid, resulting in concrete corrosion. If optimum conditions are present, 24 mm of concrete loss can occur in 31 months, and the cost of fixing can range from $10-$30 per square foot. Also, if the manholes are not properly maintained, they can cause serious safety hazards, such as manhole lids falling through the structure, streets giving …

Effectiveness Of Recycled Plastic Pin For Improving Bearing Capacity Of Embankment Over Soft Soil, Md Azijul Islam

Civil Engineering Dissertations - Archive

Construction of embankment over soft foundation soils is incredibly a challenging task due to the risk of bearing failure and excessive settlement of foundation soil. Most of the available conventional methods for addressing these problems are either expensive or time-consuming or both. Therefore, research has been striving to develop a sustainable alternative to the current conventional methods. A noble approach to improve the soft foundation soil could be the use of Recycled Plastic Pins (RPP) in combination with geosynthetics. The load transfer efficiency of a geosynthetic-reinforced and RPP supported embankment is influenced by interactions among embankment fill, geosynthetics, and foundation …

Development And Comparison Of Prediction Models For Sanitary Sewer Pipes Condition Assessment Using Multinomial Logistic Regression And Artificial Neural Network., Daniel Ogaro Atambo

Civil Engineering Dissertations - Archive

Sanitary sewer pipes infrastructure system in good condition is essential in providing safe conveyance of the wastewater from homes, businesses, and industries to the wastewater treatment plants. For sanitary sewer pipes to deliver the wastewater to the treatment plants, they must be in good condition. Most of the water utilities have aged sanitary sewer pipes. Water utilities inspect sewer pipes to decide which segments of the sanitary sewer pipes need rehabilitation or replacement. The process of inspecting the sewer pipes is described as condition assessment. This condition assessment process is costly and necessitates developing a model that predicts the condition …

Performance Of Recycled Plastic Pins For Increasing Bearing Capacity Of Foundation Soil, Faria Fahim Badhon

Civil Engineering Dissertations - Archive

Mechanically Stabilized Earth (MSE) walls constructed on unsuitable foundation soil are prone to large deformation and bearing capacity failure. A variety of techniques can be applied to address this issue, such as removal and replacement of existing soil with competent soil, staged construction, dynamic compaction, stone columns, geosynthetic reinforcement. One common traditional approach followed by Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) for the improvement of unsuitable foundation soil is removal of the in-situ soil and replacement with suitable fill material. However, this method can be time-consuming and expensive. A pile-supported system in combination with geosynthetic reinforcement can provide a sustainable solution …

Agent-Based Model Simulation For Police Deployment Decision-Making In Patrol Operations, Yasaman Ghasemi

Industrial, Manufacturing, and Systems Engineering Dissertations - Archive

Police patrolling plays a key role in responding to 911 calls and reducing crimes. The effectiveness of patrol operations heavily depends on the deployment of police officers – e.g., the number of officers assigned to specific policing districts or beats. The complex nature of the policing system – dynamic and stochastic criminal behavior, compounded with limited policing resources, render current (traditional) police operations, which are often managed in a reactive and stationary manner – often makes it very challenging to manage and control. This study develops an agent-based simulation framework to address the dynamically changing environment in police operations and …

Kajian Hubungan Antara Iklim Keselamatan Psikososial (Psychosocial Safety Climate) Dengan Perundungan Di Tempat Kerja (Workplace Bullying) Di Pt Wid, Ika Wahyuningtias, Dadan Erwandi, Sjahrul Meizar Nasri, Abdul Kadir

National Journal of Occupational Health and Safety

This study aims to examine and analyze the correlation and influence of Psychosocial Safety Climate on the occurrence of workplace bullying at PT WID (a power generation company) involving six power plant work areas across Indonesia. Methods: This research employed a cross-sectional study design involving 100 workers from the Operational & Maintenance business line who were aged above 17 years and had a minimum of six months of work experience. Participants were asked to complete the Psychosocial Safety Climate (PSC-12) questionnaire to measure the level of psychosocial safety climate and the Negative Acts Questionnaire-Revised (NAQ-R) to determine the level of …

Hubungan Antara Iklim Keselamatan Dengan Perilaku Keselamatan Pada Pekerja Proyek Pln Pusmapro Pst Jateng I, Charisha Kumala, Doni Hikmat Hikmat Ramdhan

National Journal of Occupational Health and Safety

Background: A safety management system is essential for implementation in the construction industry to manage safety at project sites. The sustainability of the running system can be assessed by analyzing the relationship between safety climate and safety behavior without having to wait for an accident to occur. Objective: To analyze the relationship between safety climate and safety behavior among workers at PLN PUSMANPRO in the PST JATENG I electrical construction project. Methods: This cross-sectional study involved 120 workers at the PLN PUSMANPRO PST JATENG I Project. Primary data were obtained using a Likert scale questionnaire that referred to questionnaires …

Wavelength And Power Dependence On Multilevel Behavior Of Phase Change Materials, Gary A. Sevison, Joshua A. Burrow, Haiyun Guo, Andrew M. Sarangan, Joshua R. Hendrickson, Imad Agha

Electro-Optics and Photonics Faculty Publications

We experimentally probe the multilevel response of GeTe, Ge2Sb2Te5 (GST), and 4% tungsten-doped GST (W-GST) phase change materials (PCMs) using two wavelengths of light: 1550 nm, which is useful for telecom-applications, and near-infrared 780 nm, which is a standard wavelength for many experiments in atomic and molecular physics. We find that the materials behave differently with the excitation at the different wavelengths and identify useful applications for each material and wavelength. We discuss thickness variation in the thin films used as well and comment on the interaction of the interface between the material and the substrate with regard to the …

Interior Point Optimization Of Low-Thrust Spacecraft Trajectories, Jordan D. Frederiksen

Master's Theses

Low-thrust interplanetary spacecraft trajectory optimization poses a uniquely difficult problem to solve because of the inherent nonlinearities of the dynamics and constraints as well as the large size of the search space of possible solutions. Tools currently exist that optimize low-thrust interplanetary trajectories, but these tools are rarely openly available to the public, and when they are available they require multiple interfaces between multiple different packages. The goal of this work is to present a new piece of low-thrust interplanetary spacecraft trajectory optimization software that is open-source and entirely self-contained so that more people can have access to the ability …

Subclinical Atherosclerosis Quantified Through Cumulative Shear Measurement, Margaret Lynne Papka

Master's Theses

With the high mortality rate of cardiovascular disease, it is important to study the early signs. The early detection of cardiovascular disease can lead to saved lives. Currently the most prevalent detection methods are the Framingham Risk Score and the carotid intima media thickness, both of which are insufficient. The necessary tool for early detection requires a uniform quantification system. The stimulus leading to endothelial dysfunction, the most significant predictor of a major adverse cardiovascular event (MACE)—and subsequently subclinical atherosclerosis—is reduced shear stress. Increased surface relative roughness affects the flow profile transition from laminar to turbulent resulting in reduced shear …

Snr: Software Library For Introductory Robotics, Spencer F. Shaw

Master's Theses

This thesis introduces "SNR," a Python library for programming robotic systems in the context of introductory robotics courses. Greater demand for roboticists has pressured educational institutions to expand robotics curricula. Students are now more likely to take robotics courses earlier and with less prior programming experience. Students may be attempting to simultaneously learn a systems programming language, a library API, and robotics concepts. SNR is written purely in Python to present familiar semantics, eliminating one of these learning curves. Industry standard robotics libraries such as ROS often require additional build tools and configuration languages. Students in introductory courses frequently lack …

Nonlinear Model Development And Validation For Ball And Plate Control System, Zachary Richter

Master's Theses

Ball and plate balancing control systems are commonly studied due to the complex dynamics associated with the instability of the system in open-loop. For simplicity, mathematical models describing the ball and plate dynamics are often linearized and the effects of complex motion are assumed to be negligible. These assumptions are rarely backed with evidence or explanations validating the simplified form of the dynamical equations of motion. This thesis focuses on developing a nonlinear model that more accurately defines the dynamics of the system, in order to quantify the error of linear and nonlinear models when compared to a Simscape physical …

Take The Lead: Toward A Virtual Video Dance Partner, Ty Farris

Master's Theses

My work focuses on taking a single person as input and predicting the intentional movement of one dance partner based on the other dance partner's movement. Human pose estimation has been applied to dance and computer vision, but many existing applications focus on a single individual or multiple individuals performing. Currently there are very few works that focus specifically on dance couples combined with pose prediction. This thesis is applicable to the entertainment and gaming industry by training people to dance with a virtual dance partner.

Many existing interactive or virtual dance partners require a motion capture system, multiple cameras …

A Study Of Critical Thinking Dispositions Of Undergraduates In Foreign Language Discipline At One Private College In Mainland China, Yuanyuan Zheng

Education (PhD) Dissertations

Critical thinking (CT) has been one of the most important goals of higher education since the 1990s. However, foreign language majors in China have been criticized for the lack of CT and considered inferior to other majors. Despite studies conducted to disprove this belief, less research has explored the CT of undergraduates at private universities. This study investigated the status of undergraduates’ CT dispositions at a private college in China, particularly among foreign language majors representing various demographic or academic groupings and with different learning experiences. An online survey was distributed to 5,000 undergraduates at a private college; 1,642 completed …

Fighting An Uphill Battle: Black Undergraduate Women Navigating Higher Education While Acknowledging And Challenging Media Portrayals Of Black Women, Kandace Branch

Education (PhD) Dissertations

The stereotypes present in popular television shows often become barriers that limit Black women in higher education, influencing the ways in which they experience college campuses, including how they are treated by faculty and peers and how they interact with others in these spaces. This study examined the perspectives of Black women regarding how media portrayals of Black women and specific popular characters influence their learning opportunities and sense of belonging as undergraduates in college campuses. Black Feminist Theory was employed to analyze the experiences of the participants, Black women, and Critical Race Theory aided in understanding how these women …

Tribology And Precision Manufacturing Of Biomaterials, Quentin Allen

BYU Research Development Office Research Networking Conference

Surface texturing; lubrication; joint replacements; biomaterials; precision manufacturing

Smart Seeds - A Platform For Wide Area Land Management, Brian Mazzeo

BYU Research Development Office Research Networking Conference

Micropower Circuits Laboratory

3d Printing For Lab-On-A-Chip, Gregory P. Nordin

BYU Research Development Office Research Networking Conference

3D printed microfluidics, biological and chemical sensors, nanophotonics and integrated optics, micro- and nanofabrication, MEMS, and microfluidics

Usf Women's Club Yearbook, 2021–2022, Usf Women's Club

USF Women’s Club Collection

Yearbook of the USF Women's Club. Inside is a list of past presidents, officers, committee chairmen, and members for 2021–2022. The booklet also includes a tribute to Grace Allen, interest groups, calendar of events, and a copy of the constitution and by-laws from the handbook.

Multi-Scale And Multi-Group Modeling Techniques Applied To Cholera And Covid-19, Conrad Ratchford

Masters Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

Cholera is an acute intestinal illness caused by infection with the Vibrio cholerae bacteria. The dynamics of the disease transmission are governed by human-human, environment-human, and within-human sub-dynamics. Specifically, the within-host dynamics incorporate virus and immune cell interaction with the vibrios. One model is presented to incorporate all three of these dynamical components. This model is extended to consider the case of a sub-divided population interacting in a spatially heterogeneous environment. In particular, we find that the between-host reproduction number is shaped by the collection of the disease risk factors from all the individual host groups. These multi-patch techniques are …

Quantification Of Compound And Cascading Hydroclimatic Extreme Events, Sourav Mukherjee

All Dissertations

Compound and cascading hydroclimatic extreme events have garnered much attention in recent studies. The combined effects of interconnected extremes can cause widespread damage, with a higher potential impact than individual extremes. Both anthropogenic warming and natural climate variability affect these extremes, which is why detecting past extreme events, understanding the underlying mechanisms, and assessing their future impacts can aid in mitigation efforts to reduce their overall impact. However, thus far, identifying such events is oversimplified and the propagation of their impact as cascades from the physical to human systems remains partly explored.

The overreaching goal of this thesis is to …

Computational Analysis To Study The Efficiency Of Shear Activated Nano-Therapeutics In The Treatment Of Atherosclerosis, Nicholas Jefopoulos

Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects

Strokes are the fifth leading cause of death in the United States and can cause long-term disabilities in patients who survive a stroke. The vast majority of these strokes are ischemic, primarily caused by intracranial atherosclerosis. Most therapies to combat intracranial atherosclerosis simply manage it and do not remove the buildup of plaque. Targeted shear-activated nanotherapeutics are currently being developed to remove these plaques. We discuss the roles that aggregate particle density, aggregate particle diameter, vessel geometry, stenosis shape and breakup threshold play in the efficiency of this new technology. Computational studies were performed to test these parameters in three …

A Survey Of Language Shaming Experiences In Interpreter Education, Dawn M. Wessling, Suzanne Ehrlich

International Journal of Interpreter Education

Problems of practice (Henriksen & Richardson, 2017) are the impetus for change across many disciplines and result in a myriad of solutions toward best practices. Teaching American Sign Language/English interpreting is no different than other genres in higher education in seeking continuous improvement. Signed language interpreters in teaming situations may engage in self- and peer critique in the process of creating an interpretation (Russell, 2011). As a result, interpreters are cognizant of corrections they may receive from their peers, whether new to the field or long-term practitioners. The action of being monitored by peers and the related behavior are not …

A Fire Protection Life Safety Analysis Of Multipurpose Building, Dalower Hossain

Fire Protection Engineering: Culminating Experience Project Reports

The following report is a fire and hazard protection analysis of a new building. This new building is a multi-purpose building called MPB locates in Gazipur, Dhaka, Bangladesh. The prescriptive requirements set by the codes and standards used at time of construction of the building have been met. The building has been properly classified with respect to occupancy as S1, Group B and F-1 and construction Type I A Sprinklered. Appropriate designs for interior partitions and exterior wall have been identified. Interior finish requirements have been analyzed for a better understanding of aesthetics guidelines. Based on the sprinkler drawing calculations, …

Configurational Paths To Generating Knowledge Benefit Through Customer Participation, Woojung Chang

Asia Marketing Journal

Involving customers in the new product development process has been found to create knowledge benefit for the firm. However, the different roads leading to a firm’s knowledge benefit through configurations of which new product development stage customers are engaged in, a firm’s internal co-creation-related capabilities, and the external environment have yet to be specified. To explore the alternative configurational paths to generating knowledge benefit through customer participation, a state-of-the-art fuzzy set qualitative comparative analysis is applied to a sample of 181 new product development projects. The results reveal six different configurations to generate knowledge benefit in the new product development …

Effectiveness Of Softening Agents For Enhancing Properties Of Asphalt Mixes With High Rap Contents, Zahid Hossain, Ashraf Elsayed, Sumon Roy

Data

A high percentage of reclaimed asphalt pavement (RAP) in new asphalt concrete can lead to developing premature failure of asphalt pavements due to fatigue or low-temperature cracking. The use of softening agents in asphalt binders can resolve these problems. The aim of this study is to evaluate the effectiveness of softening agents for enhancing the properties of asphalt mixes with high RAP contents. Two waste products, namely, waste cooking oil (WCO), and engine bottom oil (EBO) along with a commercially produced rejuvenator were investigated in this study. The following three types of Performance Grade (PG) binders, each collected from two …

Development Of Cost-Effective High-Modulus Asphalt Concrete (Hmac) Mixtures Using Crumb Rubber And Local Construction Materials In Louisiana, Momen R. Mousa, Marwa Hassan, Ibrahim A.I.E Elnaml

Data

One of the emerging solutions to enhance the durability of asphalt pavements is the use of a French asphalt mix known as “High-Modulus Asphalt Concrete (HMAC).” This mix uses a hard asphalt binder, high binder content (about 6%), and low air voids content as compared to Superpave mixtures. The key objective of this study was to develop a cost-effective HMAC mixture using crumb rubber and local materials in Louisiana. To achieve this objective, four HMAC mixtures were prepared using two asphalt binders (PG 82-22 and PG 76-22 plus 10% crumb rubber) and two Reclaimed Asphalt Pavement (RAP) contents (20% and …

Evaluation Of Alternative Sources Of Supplementary Cementitious Materials (Scms) For Concrete Materials In Transportation Infrastructure, Gabriel A. Arce, Miladin Radovic, Zahid Hossain, Marwa Hassan, Sujata Subedi

Data

Fly ash is the most utilized supplementary cementitious material (SCM) in the US. Nonetheless, rapid decline in coal-fired power generation threatens its supply. The objective of this study was to evaluate alternative SCMs for concrete transportation infrastructure in Region 6. SCMs investigated included reclaimed fly ash (RFA), reclaimed ground bottom ash (GBA), metakaolin (MK), and conventional Class F fly ash (FA) as a reference. SCMs were characterized and the fresh and hardened properties of concrete incorporating different dosages (i.e., 10, 20, and 30% cement replacement by mass) of the individual SCMs (i.e., binary systems) and blended SCM systems of RFA-MK …

Feasibility Assessment Of Warm Mix Asphalt In Arkansas, Zahid Hossain, Ashraf Elsayed, Mohammad Najmush Sakib Oyan

Data

The future of Warm Mix Asphalt (WMA) technologies is promising in the U.S. However, the Arkansas Department of Transportation (ARDOT) does not have any specific guidelines to implement them in the field. This research aims to provide necessary baseline data for WMA as a proof of concept. In this study, three ARDOT approved Performance Grade (PG) binders namely PG 64-22, PG 70-22, and PG 76-22 were investigated. Each of these binders was obtained from two different sources. They were modified by varying doses of four selected additives: Sasobit®, Advera®, Evotherm®, and Rediset®. Additionally, four different types of aggregates (sandstone, limestone, …