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Articles 151 - 180 of 627

Full-Text Articles in Civil and Environmental Engineering

Assessment Of A Surface Water Supply For Source And Treated Distribution System Quality, Angela Rodriguez Jan 2019

Assessment Of A Surface Water Supply For Source And Treated Distribution System Quality, Angela Rodriguez

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study focused on providing a source to tap assessment of surface water systems with respect to (i) the use of alternative biomonitoring tools, (ii) disinfection byproduct (DBP) formation and control, and (iii) corrosion control. In the first study component, two water systems were microbiologically evaluated using adenosine triphosphate (ATP) bioluminescence technology. It was determined that microbial ATP was useful as a surrogate for biomonitoring within a surface water system when paired with traditional methods. Although microbial activity differed between distribution systems that used either chloramine or chlorine disinfectant, in both cases flowrate and season affected microbial ATP values. In …

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Design, Synthesis And Characterization Of Biomimetic, Bioinspired And Bio-Related Functional Polymers For Atmospheric Water Recovery, Abdullah Alqassar Jan 2019

Design, Synthesis And Characterization Of Biomimetic, Bioinspired And Bio-Related Functional Polymers For Atmospheric Water Recovery, Abdullah Alqassar

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Atmospheric water recovery in changing environments has received wide attention in environmental science and engineering communities due to rapid population growth and frequent droughts. This study is focused on the design, synthesis, and characterization of biomimetic, bioinspired, and bio-related functional polymers (b3p) to help resolve the water supply issue especially in arid or semi-arid regions. It is aimed to develop unique synthetic methods to access well-defined polymers with the aid of nanomaterials and metal to produce next generation polymer materials for better atmospheric water recovery. The design of such new b3p is bioinspired by some skin materials of biological species …

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Implications Of Groundwater Plume Transport And Analysis Of Karst Aquifer Characteristics In Central Florida, Daljit Sandhu Jan 2019

Implications Of Groundwater Plume Transport And Analysis Of Karst Aquifer Characteristics In Central Florida, Daljit Sandhu

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Groundwater aquifers make up the primary source of drinking water in Florida. It is imperative to protect and maintain water quality to ensure optimal drinking water conditions. Florida is known for being prone to sinkholes due to karst features. One sinkhole event occurred beneath a phosphogypsum stack, and leaked a large amount of radioactive waste in the Floridan aquifer, raising water quality concerns. To study the behavior of contaminant transport, the radioactive waste plume was modeled by coupling hydraulic and chemistry concepts. Adsorption was studied to see if it can serve as a potential remediation solution to the contaminant waste, …

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Long-Term Carbon And Copper Impact On Nutrient Removal Via Green Sorption Media In Dynamic Linear Ditch Environments, Diana Ordonez Jan 2019

Long-Term Carbon And Copper Impact On Nutrient Removal Via Green Sorption Media In Dynamic Linear Ditch Environments, Diana Ordonez

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Nutrient-laden stormwater runoff causes environmental and ecological impacts on receiving water bodies. Biosorption Activated Media (BAM) composed of the sand, tire crumb, and clay have been implemented in stormwater best management practices due to its ability to efficiently remove nutrients from stormwater runoff, such as in roadside linear ditches, via unique chemophysical and microbiological processes. In this study, a set of fixed-bed columns were set up to simulate some external forces in roadside linear ditches and examine how these external forces affect the performance of BAM. In our experiment, scenario 1 simulates the impact that animals such as tortoises, moles …

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Adsorption Capacity Assessment Of Advance Green Environmental Media To Remove Nutrients From Stormwater-Runoff, Hanan Elhakiem Jan 2019

Adsorption Capacity Assessment Of Advance Green Environmental Media To Remove Nutrients From Stormwater-Runoff, Hanan Elhakiem

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Best Management Practices (BMPs) in stormwater treatment are a suite of treatment alternatives to deal with pollutant removal problems from stormwater runoff. Biosorption-activated media (BAM) are green sorption media consists of recycled materials have shown excellent nutrient removal as an effective BMP by enhancing physicochemical and microbiological processes. In this study, Iron-Filling Green Environmental Media (denoted as IFGEM-3) and Advanced Green Environmental Media 1 and 2 (denoted as AGEM-1 and AGEM-2) were produced and tested for their adsorption capacities as well as removal and recovery potential for phosphate, nitrate, and ammonia against natural soil (baseline) collected from a stormwater retention …

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Optimal Recipe Screening And Applications Of Iron-Filings Based Green Environmental Media (Ifgem) For Stormwater Treatment, Andrea Valencia Jan 2019

Optimal Recipe Screening And Applications Of Iron-Filings Based Green Environmental Media (Ifgem) For Stormwater Treatment, Andrea Valencia

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The applications of green sorption media for stormwater treatment and nutrient removal benefit surface and ground water bodies by reducing non-point source pollution from stormwater runoff. To enhance nitrogen and phosphorus removal, a sequential study was performed to develop an improved green sorption media in this study by including the iron filings into the previous biosorption activated media (BAM). The iron-filings-based green environmental media (IFGEM) are thus composed of sand, tire crumb, clay and ground iron filings in which clay and iron particles are supposed to have salient interactions that cannot be present in BAM. However, the optimal ratio between …

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Modeling Of Wrong Way Driving Entries And Developing Innovative Approaches For Evaluating The Effectiveness Of Advanced Wrong Way Driving Countermeasures, Md Imrul Kayes Jan 2019

Modeling Of Wrong Way Driving Entries And Developing Innovative Approaches For Evaluating The Effectiveness Of Advanced Wrong Way Driving Countermeasures, Md Imrul Kayes

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Wrong-way driving (WWD) is a hazardous behavior on interstates, toll roads, and other high-speed limited access facilities. Since WWD crashes are rare, recent researchers have studied WWD events such as WWD 911 calls and WWD citations to understand the overall nature and trend of WWD. It is very difficult to build credible statistical models based solely on crashes due to the small sample size since these are only 3% of all crashes. Modeling of WWD non-crash events can result in more accurate models. A model was developed for Florida limited access facilities to identify roadway factors and traffic characteristics of …

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Investigation Of The Effect Of Edge-Oxidized Graphene Oxide (Eogo) On The Properties Of Cement Composites, Yousef Alharbi Jan 2019

Investigation Of The Effect Of Edge-Oxidized Graphene Oxide (Eogo) On The Properties Of Cement Composites, Yousef Alharbi

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The use of edge-oxidized graphene oxide (EOGO), produced by a mechanochemical process that allow to deliver a product suitable for large-scale production at affordable cost, as an additive in cement composites was investigated. Comprehensive experimental tests were conducted to investigate the effect of EOGO on the properties of cement composites. The experimental tests were designed for three subtasks: (1) investigation of the performance of EOGO and its mixing method on the strength, pore structure and microstructure of EOGO-cement composites, (2) evaluation of the rheological and fluidity behavior of EOGO-cement paste and mortar, and (3) investigation of the mechanism of the …

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Development Of Decision Support System For Active Traffic Management Systems Considering Travel Time Reliability, Whoibin Chung Jan 2019

Development Of Decision Support System For Active Traffic Management Systems Considering Travel Time Reliability, Whoibin Chung

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

As traffic problems on roadways have been increasing, active traffic management systems (ATM) using proactive traffic management concept have been deployed on freeways and arterials. The ATM aims to integrate and automate various traffic control strategies such as variable speed limits, queue warning, and ramp metering through a decision support system (DSS). Over the past decade, there have been many efforts to integrate freeways and arterials for the efficient operation of roadway networks. It has been required that these systems should prove their effectiveness in terms of travel time reliability. Therefore, this study aims to develop a new concept of …

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A System Dynamics Approach On Sustainability Assessment Of The United States Urban Commuter Transportation, Tolga Ercan Jan 2019

A System Dynamics Approach On Sustainability Assessment Of The United States Urban Commuter Transportation, Tolga Ercan

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Transportation sector is one of the largest emission sources and is a cause for human health concern due to the high dependency on personal vehicle in the U.S. Transportation mode choice studies are currently limited to micro- and regional-level boundaries, lacking of presenting a complete picture of the issues, and the root causes associated with urban passenger transportation choices in the U.S. Hence, system dynamics modeling approach is utilized to capture complex causal relationships among the critical system parameters affecting alternative transportation mode choices in the U.S. as well as to identify possible policy areas to improve alternative transportation mode …

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Comparative Nutrient Removal With Innovative Green Soprtion Media For Groundwater And Stormwater Co-Treatment, Dan Wen Jan 2019

Comparative Nutrient Removal With Innovative Green Soprtion Media For Groundwater And Stormwater Co-Treatment, Dan Wen

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

As indicated by the National Academy of Engineering, the understanding of nitrogen cycle has been deemed as one of 14 grand challenges in engineering of the 21st century. Due to rapid population growth and urbanization, the stormwater runoff increased in quantity as well as its nutrient concentrations, which may trigger serious environmental issues such as eutrophication in aquatic systems and ecosystem degradation. This study focuses on stormwater and groundwater quality control via Biosorption Activated Media (BAM) which can be applied to enhance the nutrient removal potential as an emerging Best Management Practices (BMPs). BAM was tested in this study with …

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Developing A Traffic Safety Diagnostics System For Unmanned Aerial Vehicles Usingdeep Learning Algorithms, Ou Zheng Jan 2019

Developing A Traffic Safety Diagnostics System For Unmanned Aerial Vehicles Usingdeep Learning Algorithms, Ou Zheng

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis presents an automated traffic safety diagnostics solution using deep learning techniques to process traffic videos by Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV). Mask R-CNN is employed to better detect vehicles in UAV videos after video stabilization. The vehicle trajectories are generated when tracking the detected vehicle by Channel and Spatial Reliability Tracking (CSRT) algorithm. During the detection process, missing vehicles could be tracked by the process of identifying stopped vehicles and comparing Intersect of Union (IOU) between the tracking results and the detection results. In addition, rotated bounding rectangles based on the pixel-to- pixel manner masks that are generated by …

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Investigation Of Computer Vision Concepts And Methods For Structural Health Monitoring And Identification Applications, Chuanzhi Dong Jan 2019

Investigation Of Computer Vision Concepts And Methods For Structural Health Monitoring And Identification Applications, Chuanzhi Dong

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study presents a comprehensive investigation of methods and technologies for developing a computer vision-based framework for Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) and Structural Identification (St-Id) for civil infrastructure systems, with particular emphasis on various types of bridges. SHM is implemented on various structures over the last two decades, yet, there are some issues such as considerable cost, field implementation time and excessive labor needs for the instrumentation of sensors, cable wiring work and possible interruptions during implementation. These issues make it only viable when major investments for SHM are warranted for decision making. For other cases, there needs to be …

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Ultra-High Performance Concrete For Precast Seismic Bridge Column Connection, Titchenda Chan Jan 2019

Ultra-High Performance Concrete For Precast Seismic Bridge Column Connection, Titchenda Chan

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Accelerated bridge construction (ABC) utilizes prefabricated bridge elements constructed off-site, delivered, and assembled on-site to expedite construction time and reduce traffic disruption. ABC has been increasingly used for super- and sub-structure elements in low seismic regions. However, its application in medium and high seismic regions remain limited, particularly for precast columns where connections typically coincide with plastic hinge (PH) regions. Ultra-high performance concrete (UHPC), characterized by high compressive and tensile strength, and superior bond properties, is a potential material that can mitigate PH damage and enhance load transfer. This research proposes a new and simple damage tolerant precast column connection …

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Electrochemical Microsensors For In Situ Monitoring Of Chemical Compounds In Engineered And Natural Aquatic Systems, Jared Church Aug 2018

Electrochemical Microsensors For In Situ Monitoring Of Chemical Compounds In Engineered And Natural Aquatic Systems, Jared Church

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The adaption of needle-type electrochemical microsensor (or microelectrode) techniques to environmental science and engineering systems has transformed how we understand mass transport in biotic and abiotic processes. Their small tip diameter (5-20μm) makes them a unique experimental tool for direct measurements of analytes with high spatial and temporal resolutions, providing a quantitative analysis of flux, diffusion, and reaction rate at a microscale that cannot be obtained using conventional analytical tools. However, their applications have been primarily limited to understanding mass transport dynamics and kinetics in biofilms. With the advancement of sensor fabrication and utilization techniques, their potential applications can surpass …

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Comparison Of A Modified And Traditional Rapid Infiltration Basin For Treatment And Control Of Nutrients In Wastewater Effluent, Jessica Cormier Aug 2018

Comparison Of A Modified And Traditional Rapid Infiltration Basin For Treatment And Control Of Nutrients In Wastewater Effluent, Jessica Cormier

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Rapid infiltration basins (RIB) have been historically used in Florida for groundwater recharge, effluent disposal, or a combination of both. However, this technique has proven ineffective in providing nitrogen control unless the RIB is modified in some manner. In this study, a traditional RIB was compared to a modified RIB constructed with manufactured biosorption activated media (BAM) to evaluate nitrate removal from reclaimed water. The RIBs are used for reclaimed and excess storm water disposal. Few, if any, studies have been published where BAM-modified RIBs have been used for this purpose. In this work, a mixture of clay, tire crumb, …

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A Framework For Assessing Sustainability Impacts Of Truck Routing Strategies, Haluk Laman Aug 2018

A Framework For Assessing Sustainability Impacts Of Truck Routing Strategies, Haluk Laman

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The impact of freight on our transportation system is further accentuated by the fact that trucks consume greater roadway capacity and therefore cause more significant problems including traffic congestion, delay, crashes, air pollution, fuel consumption, and pavement damage. Assessing the actual effects of truck traffic is a growing need to support the ability to safely and efficiently move goods and people in areas where roadway expansion is not the best option. On one hand, trucks need to efficiently serve commerce and industry, while at the same time their activities need not contribute to a decline in the quality or public …

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Nanofiltration Of Perfluorinated Compounds As A Function Of Water Matrix Properties, Hadi Toure Aug 2018

Nanofiltration Of Perfluorinated Compounds As A Function Of Water Matrix Properties, Hadi Toure

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Perfluorinated compounds (PFCs) have been manufactured and used in various industries including food packaging, paintings, and coating industries. Perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) and perfluorooctane sulfonic acid (PFOS) are the most commonly investigated PFCs that have bioaccumulative properties and a strong persistence in environment. Despite the growing interest in using membrane technology to remove PFOA and PFOS from water, little information is available on the impact of natural water matrices on the removal of PFOA and PFOS when using nanofiltration (NF). The presence of natural organic matter (NOM) and cations (Ca2+ and Mg2+) in water matrices and their interactions with the PFCs …

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Bio-Sorption Activated Media For Nitrogen Removal In A Rapid Infiltration Basin – Monitoring Project, Ni-Bin Chang, Martin Wanielista, Arvind Singh, Steven J. Duranceau, Dingbao Wang May 2018

Bio-Sorption Activated Media For Nitrogen Removal In A Rapid Infiltration Basin – Monitoring Project, Ni-Bin Chang, Martin Wanielista, Arvind Singh, Steven J. Duranceau, Dingbao Wang

BMP Trains Research and Publications

The Bent Oak City of DeLand pond (see Appendix A for the Environmental Resource Permit #76187-5) was increased in size and permitted in March of 2016 so that it could function to discharge both excess reclaimed water and excess stormwater to the ground. It was called in the permit a reclaimed water storage and recovery modification. Because of the discharge of treated sewage, it can be referred to as a rapid infiltration basin (RIB). However, it is used for the disposal of both reclaimed water and excess stormwater. The RIB was again modified in the fall of 2016 for additional …

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The Subject Librarian Newsletter, Engineering And Computer Science, Spring 2018, Buenaventura "Ven" Basco Mar 2018

The Subject Librarian Newsletter, Engineering And Computer Science, Spring 2018, Buenaventura "Ven" Basco

Libraries' Newsletters

No abstract provided.

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Econometric Modeling Analysis Of Public Transit Ridership: Application For Orlando Region, Moshiur Rahman Jan 2018

Econometric Modeling Analysis Of Public Transit Ridership: Application For Orlando Region, Moshiur Rahman

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Policy makers are considering several alternatives to counter the negative externalities of personal vehicle dependence. Towards this end, public transit investments are critical in growing urban regions such as Orlando, Florida. Transit system managers and planners mostly rely on statistical models to identify the factors that affect ridership as well as quantifying the magnitude of the impact on the society. These models provide vital feedback to agencies on the benefits of public transit investments which in turn act as lessons to improve the investment process. We contribute to public transit literature by addressing several methodological challenges for transit ridership modeling. …

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A Joint Econometric Approach For Modeling Crash Counts By Collision Type, Tanmoy Bhowmik Jan 2018

A Joint Econometric Approach For Modeling Crash Counts By Collision Type, Tanmoy Bhowmik

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In recent years, there is growing recognition that common unobserved factors that influence crash frequency by one attribute level are also likely to influence crash frequency by other attribute levels. The most common approach employed to address the potential unobserved heterogeneity in safety literature is the development of multivariate crash frequency models. The current study proposes an alternative joint econometric framework to accommodate for the presence of unobserved heterogeneity – referred to as joint negative binomial-multinomial logit fractional split (NB-MNLFS) model. Furthermore, the study undertakes a first of its kind comparison exercise between the most commonly used multivariate model (multivariate …

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Evaluating The Integration Of Chlorine Dioxide Into A Coagulation, Sedimentation, And Filtration Process Treating Surface Water, Martin Coleman Jan 2018

Evaluating The Integration Of Chlorine Dioxide Into A Coagulation, Sedimentation, And Filtration Process Treating Surface Water, Martin Coleman

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Methods of optimizing the coagulation, flocculation, sedimentation, and filtration (CSF) process at a conventional surface water treatment plant (WTP) were conducted to investigate opportunities for the reduction of disinfection by-product (DBP) precursor material. The research had two primary components: (1) optimize coagulant dosage and associated operating pH and (2) investigate pretreatment oxidation with chlorine dioxide (ClO2) and potassium permanganate (KMnO4). To accomplish the first component, jar tests were conducted at various pH and aluminum sulfate (alum) dosages to model current and potential treatment conditions during the CSF process at a WTP. Isopleths were developed to examine the removal efficiencies of …

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Harmful Algal Bloom Mitigating Using Recycled Concrete Aggregate Coated With Fixed-Quat., Ikenna Ezeodurukwe Jan 2018

Harmful Algal Bloom Mitigating Using Recycled Concrete Aggregate Coated With Fixed-Quat., Ikenna Ezeodurukwe

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Human activities generate surplus nutrients which may lead to algal bloom events in water resources along with serious ecological problems and thus substantial economic losses. Particularly, harmful algal blooms (HABs) represent toxic cyanobacterial blooms which produce cyanotoxins. The primary concerns of HABs are the exposures to a wide variety of cyanotoxins via ingestion of contaminated drinking water, inhalation during recreational activities, and consumption of contaminated fish and shellfish. However, conventional physical and chemical methods are not always possible to efficiently handle these HABs events. It is urgent to develop viable and rapid solutions to control HABs in field and mitigate …

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Understanding How, Where And How Much Freight Flows Using 2012 Commodity Flow Survey Data, Nowreen Keya Jan 2018

Understanding How, Where And How Much Freight Flows Using 2012 Commodity Flow Survey Data, Nowreen Keya

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In recent years, with increased economic globalization, growing e-commerce and internet based shopping, freight movement patterns are undergoing a transformative change. The shipment size distribution is moving towards a higher share of smaller size shipments affecting transportation mode and vehicle type requirements. In addition, freight transportation mode is closely affected by the destination location (and its attributes). In our dissertation, we contribute to freight research by developing a comprehensive framework to examine the how, where and how much freight flows in US. Specifically, we study the following dimensions of freight flow: (1) transportation mode, (2) mode and shipment weight choice …

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Treatment Of Leachate Organic Matter Through Sunlight Driven Processes, Duncan Lozinski Jan 2018

Treatment Of Leachate Organic Matter Through Sunlight Driven Processes, Duncan Lozinski

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The ability to manage leachate during post-closure care (PCC) of a landfill may be increasingly difficult as leachate organic matter (LOM) becomes recalcitrant when a landfill ages, requiring advanced and costly treatment technologies. This research investigated the ability to treat LOM through sunlight driven processes, with a focus on photolysis, to provide insight to landfill owners and operators on the potential of wetlands treatment as a means for reducing long-term risks and costs associated with leachate treatment during PCC. The study was completed in eight batch tests, where leachate was exposed to natural sunlight in central Florida for a period …

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Performance Predication Model For Advance Traffic Control System (Atcs) Using Field Data, Masood Mirza Jan 2018

Performance Predication Model For Advance Traffic Control System (Atcs) Using Field Data, Masood Mirza

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Reductions in capital expenditure revenues have created greater demands from users for quality service from existing facilities at lower costs forcing agencies to evaluate the performance of projects in more comprehensive and "greener" ways. The use of Adaptive Traffic Controls Systems (ATCS) is a step in the right direction by enabling practitioners and engineers to develop and implement traffic optimization strategies to achieve greater capacity out of the existing systems by optimizing traffic signal based on real time traffic demands and flow pattern. However, the industry is lagging in developing modeling tools for the ATCS which can predict the changes …

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Investigation Of Factors Contributing To Fog-Related Single Vehicle Crashes, Jiazheng Zhu Jan 2018

Investigation Of Factors Contributing To Fog-Related Single Vehicle Crashes, Jiazheng Zhu

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Fog-related crashes continue to be one of the most serious traffic safety problems in Florida. Based on the historical crash data, we found that single-vehicle crashes have the highest severity among all types of crashes under fog conditions. This study first analyzed the contributing factors of the fog-related single-vehicle crashes' (i.e., off road/rollover/other) severity in Florida from 2011 to 2014 using association rules mining. The results show that lane departure distracted driving, wet road surface, and dark without road light are the main contributing factors to severe fog-related single vehicle crashes. Some suggested countermeasures were also provided to reduce the …

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Hierarchical Corridor Safety Analysis Using Multiple Approaches, Saif Alarifi Jan 2018

Hierarchical Corridor Safety Analysis Using Multiple Approaches, Saif Alarifi

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Traffic crashes are a major cause of concern globally. Extensive efforts from transportation professionals have been made to investigate new methods to identify the contributing factors to crashes at various locations on the road network. Corridors, among other road network's components, play a vital role in moving people and goods between primary zones in different areas, and the safety and operational improvements of them have been the focus of many studies since they carry the most traffic on the road network. Corridors contain mainly intersections and segments, and previous corridor studies have focused on a sole type of road entity. …

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Investigating And Facilitating The Transferability Of Safety Performance Functions, Ahmed Tarek Ahmed Farid Jan 2018

Investigating And Facilitating The Transferability Of Safety Performance Functions, Ahmed Tarek Ahmed Farid

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Safety performance functions (SPFs) are essential analytical tools in the road safety field. The SPFs are statistical regression models used to predict crash counts by roadway facility type, crash type and severity. The national Highway Safety Manual (HSM) is a generic guidebook used for road safety evaluation and enhancement. In it, default SPFs, developed using negative binomial (NB) regression, are provided for multiple facility types and crash categories. Roadway agencies, whether public or private, may opt to not invest their resources in data collection and processing to develop own localized SPFs. Instead, the agencies may adopt the HSM's. However, the …

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