Doctor of Philosophy / Department of Civil Engineering / Mustaque A. Hossain / Stacey E. Kulesza / Recycled concrete aggregate (RCA) is the byproduct of the demolition of concrete structures and pavements. An estimated 140 million tons of concrete waste is produced annually in the United States, most of which ends up in landfills. The use of RCA to replace quarried aggregates in paving projects is one way to utilize these materials and alleviate concerns regarding this increasing waste stream. RCA usage prevents waste concrete disposal into landfills, resulting in more sustainable use of mineral aggregate sources, and may further reduce costs associated with paving projects. However, the inferior physical properties of RCA, such as the presence of recycled mortar, complicate the incorporation of RCA into new concrete mixtures. State highway agencies such as the Kansas Department of Transportation are facing further issues with RCA from D-cracked pavements, raising the question if D-cracked aggregates should be used in paving operations. No known work has evaluated the effect of RCA from D-cracked pavements in subgrade soil stabilization. This study stabilized a low-plasticity clay in Kansas using RCA and three stabilizing materials (lime, Class C fly ash, and a combination of Portland cement and fly ash). Candidate mixtures with varying proportions of chemical stabilizers and D-cracked aggregates were evaluated using the standard Proctor, unconfined compressive strength, linear shrinkage, and California Bearing Ratio tests. Microstructure characteristics of selected mixtures were explored using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and energy dispersive X-ray tests. Laboratory test results indicated that RCA, in conjunction with all cementitious materials except lime, improved clay strength, stiffness, and shrinkage properties. SEM results indicated that RCA caused a low void space and a dense arrangement of soil particles. RCA effectively improved evaluated mixture properties when an adequate soil-RCA bond was reached using chemical agents. The long-term performance of full-depth flexible pavements with stabilized mixtures as subgrade was assessed in the AASHTOWare Pavement ME Design (commonly known as MEPDG) software. The life-cycle cost of flexible pavements with stabilized mixtures was estimated for a 40-year design period. Economic analysis results indicated that RCA was cost effective only if it was used with a combination of fly ash and Portland cement.

abstract: The major challenge for any pavement is the freight transport carried by the structure. This challenge is expected to increase in the coming years as freight movements are projected to grow and because these movements account for most of the load related distresses for the pavement. Substantial effort has been devoted to identifying the impacts of these future national freight trends with respect to the environment, economic growth, congestion, and reliability. These are all important aspects relating to the freight question, but an equally important and often overlooked aspect of this issue involves the impact of freight trends on the physical infrastructure. This study analyzes the impact of future freight traffic trends on 26 major interstates representing 68% of the total system mileage and carrying 80% of the total national roadway freight. The pavement segments were analyzed using the Mechanistic Empirical Pavement Design Guide software after collecting the relevant traffic, climate, structural, and material properties. Comparisons were drawn between the expected pavement performance using current design standards for traffic growth and performance predictions that incorporated more detailed freight projections which themselves considered job growth and six key drivers of freight movement. The differences in the resultant performance were used to generate maps that provide a bird’s eye view of locations that are especially vulnerable to future trends in freight movement. The analysis shows that the areas of greatest vulnerability include segments that are directly linked to the busiest ports, and surprisingly those from Atlantic and Central states that provide long distance connectivity, but do not currently carry the highest traffic volumes. / Dissertation/Thesis / Masters Thesis Civil and Environmental Engineering 2016

With increasing urban expansion and rising global demand for food production, integrating aquaponics within the urban contexts can be considered an alternative sustainable solution to enrich the local production and self-sufficiency. In this research, we aim to study the aquaponics system and provide a design guide for implementing the urban version of the system in the city of Malmo. The design guide will be also practically tested in a form of an architectural proposal at the end of the research. To reach the results, various case studies and academic research were investigated. In addition to other qualitative and quantitative methodologies, such as interviews, questionnaire, and ethnographic studies that contributed to making progress during the research’s different phases. The analysis of data was to generate sustainable bases for urban aquaponics that go in line with the city’s conditions and citizens’ aspirations. Accordingly, several methods and techniques were deducted to be used for the sustainable integration of the aquaponics system within the urban context of Malmo. Nevertheless, the integration process can contribute to including other operations with the aim of increasing aquaponics sustainability and solving urban issues within the context. However, the design guide produced in this paper is mainly for the city of Malmo, but it can be adjusted to other social and geographical contexts.

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Virgin aggregate is being used faster than it is being made available creating a foreseeable shortage in the future. Despite this trend, the availability of demolished concrete for use as recycled concrete aggregate (RCA) is increasing. Using this waste concrete as RCA conserves virgin aggregate, reduces the impact on landfills, decreases energy consumption and can provide cost savings. However, there are still many unanswered questions on the beneficial use of RCA in concrete pavements. This research addresses the many technical and cost-effective concerns regarding the use of RCA in concrete pavements by identifying concrete mixture and proportioning designs suitable for jointed plain concrete pavements; constructing test sections using varying amounts of RCA; monitoring performance through testing, condition surveys and sensor data; modeling RCA pavement performance; and predicting life cycle costs. The research was carried out as a partnership between the Centre for Pavement and Transportation Technology (CPATT) at the University of Waterloo, the Cement Association of Canada, Dufferin Construction, and the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada. The literature review provides an overview of sustainability and key performance indicators, the material properties of RCA both as an aggregate and in concrete, concrete mixture and proportioning designs with RCA, performance of existing RCA pavements, and the implementation of RCA highlighting some examples where RCA has been used successfully. Twelve preliminary mixes were developed using three total cementitious contents amounts of 315 kg/m3, 330 kg/m3, and 345 kg/m3 to determine four suitable mixes with varying coarse RCA contents (0%, 15%, 30% and 50%) to place at the CPATT test track. At 28-days, all of the twelve mixes exceed the 30 MPa design strength. Four test sections containing 0%, 15%, 30% and 50% coarse RCA were constructed in June 2007. The test sections had identical cross sections consisting of 250 mm portland cement concrete (PCC), 100 mm asphalt-stabilized OGDL and a 450 mm granular base. For each coarse RCA content, one slab was instrumented with six vibrating wire concrete embedment strain gages to measure long-term longitudinal and transverse strain due to environmental changes, two vibrating wire vertical extensometers to monitor slab curling and warping, two vibrating wire inter-panel extensometers to monitor joint movement, and two maturity meters to measure maturity and temperature. Quality assurance and quality control (QA/QC) testing showed that the mixes containing RCA exhibited similar or improved performance when compared to the conventional concrete for compressive and flexural strength, freeze-thaw durability and coefficient of thermal expansion. Pavement performance of the four test sections was evaluated using visual surveys following the Ontario Ministry of Transportation’s Manual for Condition rating of Rigid Pavements. Nine pavement evaluations have been performed every two to four months since construction. All test sections are in excellent condition with pavement condition index (PCI) values greater than 85 after two years in-service and approximately three hundred thousand Equivalent Single Axle Loads. Sensor data from the strain gauges, and vertical and inter-panel extensometers are providing consistent results between the test sections. Long-term performance modeling using the Mechanistic-Empirical Pavement Design Guide (ME-PDG) showed improved performance with respect to cracked slabs, joint faulting, and pavement roughness as the RCA content increased. Multivariable sensitivity analysis showed that the performance results were sensitive to CTE, unit weight, joint spacing, edge support, surface absorption, and dowel bar diameter. Life cycle cost analysis (LCCA) illustrated the savings that can be expected using RCA as a replacement aggregate source as the cost of virgin aggregate increase as the sources becomes depleted. Multivariable sensitivity analysis showed that the LCCA results were sensitive to construction costs, discount rate, and maintenance and rehabilitation quantities.

Virgin aggregate is being used faster than it is being made available creating a foreseeable shortage in the future. Despite this trend, the availability of demolished concrete for use as recycled concrete aggregate (RCA) is increasing. Using this waste concrete as RCA conserves virgin aggregate, reduces the impact on landfills, decreases energy consumption and can provide cost savings. However, there are still many unanswered questions on the beneficial use of RCA in concrete pavements. This research addresses the many technical and cost-effective concerns regarding the use of RCA in concrete pavements by identifying concrete mixture and proportioning designs suitable for jointed plain concrete pavements; constructing test sections using varying amounts of RCA; monitoring performance through testing, condition surveys and sensor data; modeling RCA pavement performance; and predicting life cycle costs. The research was carried out as a partnership between the Centre for Pavement and Transportation Technology (CPATT) at the University of Waterloo, the Cement Association of Canada, Dufferin Construction, and the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada. The literature review provides an overview of sustainability and key performance indicators, the material properties of RCA both as an aggregate and in concrete, concrete mixture and proportioning designs with RCA, performance of existing RCA pavements, and the implementation of RCA highlighting some examples where RCA has been used successfully. Twelve preliminary mixes were developed using three total cementitious contents amounts of 315 kg/m3, 330 kg/m3, and 345 kg/m3 to determine four suitable mixes with varying coarse RCA contents (0%, 15%, 30% and 50%) to place at the CPATT test track. At 28-days, all of the twelve mixes exceed the 30 MPa design strength. Four test sections containing 0%, 15%, 30% and 50% coarse RCA were constructed in June 2007. The test sections had identical cross sections consisting of 250 mm portland cement concrete (PCC), 100 mm asphalt-stabilized OGDL and a 450 mm granular base. For each coarse RCA content, one slab was instrumented with six vibrating wire concrete embedment strain gages to measure long-term longitudinal and transverse strain due to environmental changes, two vibrating wire vertical extensometers to monitor slab curling and warping, two vibrating wire inter-panel extensometers to monitor joint movement, and two maturity meters to measure maturity and temperature. Quality assurance and quality control (QA/QC) testing showed that the mixes containing RCA exhibited similar or improved performance when compared to the conventional concrete for compressive and flexural strength, freeze-thaw durability and coefficient of thermal expansion. Pavement performance of the four test sections was evaluated using visual surveys following the Ontario Ministry of Transportation’s Manual for Condition rating of Rigid Pavements. Nine pavement evaluations have been performed every two to four months since construction. All test sections are in excellent condition with pavement condition index (PCI) values greater than 85 after two years in-service and approximately three hundred thousand Equivalent Single Axle Loads. Sensor data from the strain gauges, and vertical and inter-panel extensometers are providing consistent results between the test sections. Long-term performance modeling using the Mechanistic-Empirical Pavement Design Guide (ME-PDG) showed improved performance with respect to cracked slabs, joint faulting, and pavement roughness as the RCA content increased. Multivariable sensitivity analysis showed that the performance results were sensitive to CTE, unit weight, joint spacing, edge support, surface absorption, and dowel bar diameter. Life cycle cost analysis (LCCA) illustrated the savings that can be expected using RCA as a replacement aggregate source as the cost of virgin aggregate increase as the sources becomes depleted. Multivariable sensitivity analysis showed that the LCCA results were sensitive to construction costs, discount rate, and maintenance and rehabilitation quantities.

Mobile e-commerce is an increasing trend. Still, many sales sites are not adapted to mobile interfaces. Important factors in the design of successful e-commerce applications are trust, high quality graphics, and easy navigation. However, a typical design approach is to strip down functionality and this can have a negative impact on the user experience. The goal of this thesis was to create a style guide that can be used to develop responsive e-commerce sites through a mobile first implementation strategy. A style guide was created by applying modern design theory and by investigating existing e-commerce solutions. Moreover, a prototype of an e- commerce solution was developed using the style guide. This prototype was evaluated by an expert group of usability professionals. The study indicates that the style guide is a useful and effective tool in the design and development of e-commerce systems. We conclude that a mobile first strategy needs to be combined with subsequent traditional desktop design.

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This thesis is a two-part project, where the first part is to find out what a design guide is,what it should contain and make a suggestion for one that fits Röshults design language.A design guide contains information that can help a designer follow a company’s designlanguage when developing a new product.The second part is to look at Röshults assortment for an opening for a new product anduse the guide suggestion to design it. / Detta examensarbete är ett tvådelat projekt. Där den första delen går ut på att ta reda påvad en designguide är, vad den ska innehålla och ge ett förslag på en som passarRöshults formspråk. En designguide innehåller information som kan hjälpa en designeratt följa ett företags formspråk när de utvecklar en ny produkt.Den andra delen är att titta på Röshults sortiment för en öppning för en ny produkt ochanvända guideförslaget för att designa den.