<p> Reclaimed wastewater contains trace anthropogenic compounds that are poorly removed during conventional wastewater treatment. Notable reclaimed wastewater applications include supplementing drinking water supplies and crop irrigation. This thesis aims to quantify <i>N-</i>nitrosodimethylamine (NDMA), NDMA precursors, and pharmaceuticals and personal care products (PPCPs) from reclaimed wastewater applications as an indication of anthropogenic impact. The applications include aquifer storage and recovery (ASR) and crop irrigation using gas chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (GC-MS/MS) analysis. NDMA and NDMA precursors were quantified in a treated wastewater effluent-fed recharge utility applying ASR in two sampling events from March 2017 and August 2018. Lagrangian sampling was applied for microfiltration effluent, reverse osmosis effluent, ultraviolet radiation (UV) feed, and UV product for both events in the recharge utility. Solid-phase extraction (SPE) was applied to concentrate NDMA and NDMA precursors. NDMA formation potential (FP) tests were performed to indirectly determine NDMA precursor concentration. NDMA and NDMA precursor concentration decreased after microfiltration across both events by greater than 93% and 89%, respectively. Permeate from older RO membranes contained 31% more NDMA and 14% more NDMA precursor concentration than newer membrane permeate. </p><p> Another reclaimed wastewater scheme studied was crop irrigation. This releases PPCPs to agricultural soils where they can be taken up by plants in the transpiration stream. Dry mass concentration of nine PPCPs were quantified in field-grown alfalfa irrigated with treated wastewater, groundwater-irrigated crops from private farms, and market-sourced produce. For the PPCPs quantified, field-grown alfalfa had a dry mass concentration range of 0.03-54 ng g^-1, groundwater-irrigated crops had a range of 0.03-62 ng g^-1, and market-sourced produce had a range of 0.04-162 ng g^-1. Neutral compounds more readily accumulated compared to compounds that were ionized at environmental pH, indicating that PPCP uptake was likely related to physicochemical properties. Preliminary health impacts associated with consumption of affected market produce were estimated from acceptable daily intake. Negligible health impacts were typically found due to low PPCP concentration in market produce. PPCP transport from crop irrigation to different environmental compartments was estimated using EPI Suite. Compounds with low sorption potential and long half-lives could transport to groundwater whereas compounds with intermediate to high sorption potential were predicted to accumulate in plants or remain in the soil. The approach implemented to quantify NDMA and PPCPs in different environmental media indicates that trace anthropogenic compound transport depends on the reclaimed wastewater application and compound physicochemical properties.</p><p>

abstract: Asphalt concrete is a non-homogenous viscoelastic material; its behavior depends on the properties of the asphalt binder and the aggregate skeleton. The two major distresses in flexible pavements, fatigue cracking and rutting, have different mechanisms in that the way binders and mixtures behavior are related differ. Further complicating the issues is that distresses in asphalt pavement are dependent on climate, pavement structure, and traffic loads, in addition to factors such as properties of the asphalt mixture itself. Hence, to characterize the multiscale mechanics associated with binder to mixture behaviors, researchers characterized the fatigue and rutting resistance of asphalt binders and mixtures in the laboratory, and established specifications related to how asphalt mixtures would perform in the field. This dissertation tackles the linkages across length scales with respect to rutting and cracking. Through the literature reviewed, studies regarding the linear and non-linear viscoelastic properties of asphalt mixture and the corresponding bitumen were identified. There was a wealth of data in this area. In addition, the relationship between the laboratory mixture short-term aging and the binder aging conditions were studied, characterized and analyzed. The literature review showed that there exists a shortage of knowledge that directly examines the relationships between the binder nonlinear viscoelastic damage behaviors and mixture performance. Addressing this knowledge gap is the basic objective of this research. Specifically, the relationships between the non-recoverable creep compliance at 3.2 kPa (Jnr3.2) and the percent of elastic recovery (R3.2) from the multiple stress creep and recovery (MSCR) test and mixture rutting; and between mixture fatigue and binder linear amplitude sweep (LAS) were studied. Finally, an aging study was performed to ensure that the binder tests properties reflect the condition of the binder during the mixture test when evaluating binder-to-mixture properties. The propensity to oxidize measured by calculating the aging ratio of various aged conditions (RTFO, PAV, and STOA) were gathered and analyzed. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Civil, Environmental and Sustainable Engineering 2019

The purpose of this thesis is to investigate the practicability of forecasting temperatures for the spring and summer snowmelt-runoff season. A successful temperature forecast for Logan, Utah, would be useful in studies of Logan River streamflow, as well as other related applications.

As the roadway networks have been developing gradually to improve transportation accessibility to various facilities, the probability of traffic crash occurrences has also increased consequently. With an increasing transportation demand, traffic safety needs to be improved in order to reduce the economic and societal expenses related to improper traffic safety measures. The identification and prediction of crash-prone regions is an essential task in highway safety management, particularly when highway officials have a limited budget for mitigations. Generally, implementing effective methods for the prediction of high crash risk locations can facilitate research on contributing factors in traffic crashes to mitigate them, resulting in the efficient employment of federal, state and local government resources for enhancing transportation safety. In this regard, developing non-biased and accurate models capable of predicting crash risk is a vital task in transportation safety research. Another transportation issue, believed to have a close relationship with traffic safety and operation, is drivers’ gap acceptance behavior. Given the steady rise in the percentage of aging roadway users in the United States and their over-represented engagement in fatal crashes, there is a growing need for understanding how this population differs from their younger counterparts in driving performance and crash involvement. The general objective of this research is to develop hybrid data mining models for risk and vulnerability analysis of traffic safety. This research examines the feasibility of different data mining models in predicting the priority of intersections needing improvement for aging drivers by comparing their results with traditional models. It also investigates how injury severity differs between drivers of various age and gender groups by developing cost-sensitive data mining models which consider the consequences (cost) of incorrect predictions. Moreover, it examines the effect of time-based accessibility to on-premise alcohol outlets on the severity of alcohol-related crashes. This research also conducts Geographical Information System (GIS)-based hotspot analyses to identify the crash-prone locations for various occupant age groups during different time intervals of a day and predict the location of these hotspots using statistical and machine learning models. Besides, it conducts a spatiotemporal analysis to quantify the exposure of population of different age groups to crash-prone locations and to statistically analyze the decision-making process for possible improvement. This study also aims to investigate the differences in drivers’ gap acceptance behavior while performing permissive left and right turn maneuvers at four-legged intersections using the data extracted from a driving simulator. The results showed that the implemented machine learning models were superior methodologies for predicting crash risk. Moreover, the cost-sensitive learning classifiers outperformed regular classifiers at accurately predicting injuries and fatalities of crashes. Results of the crash severity models displayed substantial differences in injury severity determinants across the age/gender cohorts. Also, it was concluded that more accessibility to on-premise alcohol outlets results in more severe alcohol-related crashes. The hotspot prediction models also revealed considerable differences in crash hotspot determinants and their coefficients across the occupants’ age groups and time intervals of a day. Moreover, among the residents, the aging population were shown to be more exposed to the risk of being injured in a crash compared to other age groups. The results of driving simulation experiment also illustrated that aging drivers are more conservative in performing left turns than younger drivers, and accepted gap size, number of lanes, and the presence of pedestrians were significantly correlated with drivers’ gap acceptance behavior. / A Dissertation submitted to the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. / Spring Semester 2019. / March 13, 2019. / Includes bibliographical references. / Yassir AbdelRazig, Professor Directing Dissertation; Walter Richard Boot, University Representative; Eren Erman Ozguven, Committee Member; Lisa Spainhour, Committee Member.

The objectives of the thesis are twofold: (a) validation of trip generation rates for land use 846 (LU-846) published in ITE's Trip Generation Manual, and (b) the generation of trip generation models for a newly introduced land use, the gasoline station with convenience market, quick service restaurant and car wash. Data was collected at five sites representative of the new land use and the number of trips produced by the sites were compared with estimates made using the ITE rates for LU-846. The ITE rates were found to underestimate trip generation by 50% to 400%. Additionally, Multiple regression was performed using average daily trips and trips generated during the PM peak of the adjacent street as dependent variables and gross floor area of the convenience store and number of driveways as the independent variables. The models that resulted from the regression analysis are as follows: PMTRIPS = 82.75 + 0.0537GFA + 7.23DRW, R2 of 0.84, and DTRIPS = 2135.7 + 0.239GFA +381.4 DRW, R2 of 0.70.

A computer simulation model for temperature data was developed in order to generate synthetic daily temperature. The model consists of two components: a deterministic component represented by a Fourier series fit, and a stochastic component represented by an autoregressive model . The simulation model was proven to be able to preserve the main statistics of the historical series. The data generated by the above temperature model were used as an input to an irrigation water requirements simulation model. This model incorporates the probabilistic nature of these requirements. The irrigation system of Abo Raya area in Egypt was used to demonstrate the model application. The main components of the model are evapotranspiration, crop water requirements, stream size and its theoretical probability distribution. The evapotranspiration component of the model estimates the reference evapotranspiration for the irrigated area using Hargreaves method. By applying FAO crop coefficients, the crop water requirements -

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Civil Engineering, 1989. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 227-232). / by Constantine A. Stamatopoulos. / Thesis (Ph. D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Civil Engineering, 1989.

The construction industry has, for sometime, suffered from stagnant productivity, high accident rate, project delays, and poor quality. Research studies have shown that the major cause of these performance problems is the lack of effective communication. This research was launched to investigate the usefulness of a comprehensive information logistics model on construction process performance. In order to test and validate key components of the model, a prototype network system named Visual-based Integrated Wireless Site (V-IWS) was developed and tested on a mid-size building construction project. The system was designed to allow every project participant access to real-time visual images of the jobsite and share information interactively with each other as well as with a central database through the Internet. It was developed and evaluated for 7 months in 2003. During the same time, the communication channels adopted by the general contractor, R.N. Rouse, and on-site meetings were observed and analyzed. This analysis indicated that most of the information shared among participants of this project could be handled electronically by the V-IWS. It was demonstrated that the V-IWS: a) reduces production waste and non value-added activities such as material delivery time, b) eliminate the need for unnecessary site visits and meetings, c) adds significant value to project participants by automatically creating visual as-built and picture archives, d) provides operational how-to training for crew, and e) increases site safety and security through automated monitoring. The system is scaleable and more network devices can be added as the building grows. While this study proved technical feasibility of the V-IWS, it became evident that trust, collaboration and information sharing among participants were critical success factors. Due to the industry?s traditional low-bid competition and aversion to change, it is crucial to understand how costs and benefits be distributed. Value sharing as well as technology adoption process need to be studied in order to ensure successful implementation of the system.

The purpose of the paper is to identify relationships between international trade and air quality, and to identify principles and practices to mitigate the air quality impacts of trade growth. The focus is on container trade. The primary modes examined are trucking, rail, and marine. After a brief background on the magnitude of U.S. international container trade, the paper identifies trends in international and domestic container transportation. Freight contributions to national and regional emissions are described. Air quality at major gateways and hubs is examined. Current and proposed emission and fuel standards are discussed and compared across modes. Projections of future freight emissions and modal contributions are discussed. Principles are described to guide the evaluation of mitigation practices. A list of practices is compiled for each mode, including technology, operational, institutional, and infrastructure approaches. Recommendations are given for mitigation strategies and for further research.

Modifications to conventional composite floor systems have been made to increase span lengths and decrease structural depths. The competitive market has also led to the development of systems to improve the ease and speed of construction. Diversakore® is developing an innovative composite shallow floor framing system comprised of precast prestressed steel-concrete composite girders, precast hollow core planks, and a cast-in-place concrete topping slab. The precast girders are constructed with a cambered u-shaped steel plate along the bottom of the section which serves as a stay-in-place form. A composite section is created using normal weight concrete, draped prestressing stands, conventional mild reinforcing steel, and the u-shaped steel plate. The sides of the girder above the u-shaped steel plate are formed to create the inverted t-beam section and provide an end bearing surface for the hollow core planks. The cambered precast girders support the hollow core planks during erection and the cast-in-place topping slab is utilized to engage the planks and form a composite t-beam. The camber in the girder eliminates the need for shoring during erection and enhances the constructability of the system. A research program sponsored by the NSF IUCRC on Repair of Buildings and Bridges with Composites (RB2C) is currently ongoing at the Constructed Facilities Laboratory at North Carolina State University to evaluate the ultimate strength and serviceability performance of this innovative floor system. The experimental and analytical program includes full-scale tests of representative sub-assemblages and utilizes a layered sectional analysis to predict the behavior. The results of the analytical model and the experimental investigation are presented along with conclusions drawn from the initial phase of the research program.