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One of the most common environmental exposures that nylon undergoes, when used for automotive applications, is that of salt splash, which commonly occurs during winter driving. This study looks at the effect of various salts (NaCl, KCl, CaCl2) on the thermal and mechanical properties of nylon when exposed to one and four molar aqueous salt solutions. It was found that the diffusion of salt solutions into nylon 6,6 occurred in a pseudo-Fickian manner. Also, it was found that the presence of salt had an effect on the rate of decrease of yield stress with increasing exposure time. The presence of residual salt was found to accelerated deterioration of nylon 6,6, possibly via hydrolysis. In addition, it was found that residual salt was left after water was removed from the system and that this salt was removable. / Master of Science

The effects of roots on soil-moisture measurements taken with a neutron probe were studied. These effects were observed under three different soil-moisture conditions, with different sized roots, and with varying distances between the access tube and root. The moisture conditions used were air dry, field capacity, and saturated. Large roots can greatly affect neutron soil-moisture measurements when the access hole is drilled through the root. Positive errors as large as 52 percent were found when the soil moisture was at field capacity. With dry and saturated conditions positive errors of 43 percent and 38 percent respectively, were found. In most practical field situations, where the access hole is not drilled through large roots, root material appears to have very little effect, if any, on neutron soil-moisture measurements. The largest positive error found, when the access holes were not drilled through the roots, was only 8 percent. This occurred at a point where the access tube was in contact with the outside of a root

This thesis has determined that using fly ash as a mineral filler in asphalt pavements can help strengthen and reduce asphalt moisture damage. Also, dynamic shear rheometer tests show that these additives have a stiffening effect on asphalt binder. Moisture related damage is considered one of the main causes of asphalt pavement failure. As water infiltrates a layer of asphalt, it slowly strips away asphalt binder, weakening the aggregate/binder bond. This process, combined with the cyclic loading of traffic, can lead to several different types of asphalt failure including rutting, raveling, bleeding, and cracking. For several decades, research has been conducted to find a solution to this problem. Currently in practice, hydrated lime and a variety of amine-based chemicals are being used as anti-stripping agents. However, as an emphasis towards sustainability has increased, waste products are now being investigated for this purpose. This thesis investigated the anti-stripping effectiveness of two waste products: fly ash and cement kiln dust (CKD), and compared them with hydrated lime and an amine-based chemical additive. The results indicate that class C fly ash can be used as an asphalt anti-stripping additive; however it is more costly than lime or amine chemicals.

Wetland ecosystems play an important role in the global hydrologic cycle, and their hydrologicregime is a major factor for their general functioning (carbon, biodiversity, biogeochemicalcycle etc.). However, the factors that govern the hydrologic regime of wetlands, such asmoisture imports into their catchments and moisture cycling in wetland areas, remain largelyunderstudied.Wetlands, seen as part of the terrestrial land, often rely on moisture imports from terrestrialevaporation and moisture recycling within their catchments. This could make them especiallysusceptible to changes in their hydrologic regime caused by land cover and hydroclimaticchanges in their catchments. Hence, this study aims to provide an overview of atmosphericmoisture imports into iconic wetlands worldwide and investigates the precipitationsheds of 40globally distributed catchments of Ramsar wetlands.Here we show that some of the wetlands have already been affected by precipitation changescaused by land cover changes within and outside of their catchments, as well as hydroclimaticchanges. According to our analysis, most of the studied wetland catchments show decreases inannual terrestrial precipitation, which are caused by precedent land cover changes. Thestrongest effects are seen in (sub)tropical wetlands in South America, Africa and Asia, andcatchments whose precipitationsheds include large agricultural areas.This shows that land cover changes can cause wetlands to be less resilient under current andfuture hydroclimatic and land cover changes. An overlap of multiple stressors, like climatechange and precipitation changes through land cover conversions, make wetlands in someregions especially vulnerable.Based on our results, current wetland decline rates and predictions of future agricultural andurban expansion, we find that wetland sites in China, India, South America and Sub-Saharanare especially threatened. This study indicates further that we have to incorporate downwindeffects to land cover changes in sustainable ecosystem management approaches.