Thesis (M.S.)--University of Missouri-Columbia, 2004. / Typescript. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 57-59). Also available on the Internet.

Thesis (M.S.)--Brigham Young University. Dept. of Civil and Environmental Engineering, 2006. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 39-40).

Thesis (M.S.)--Brigham Young University. Dept. of Civil and Environmental Engineering, 2005. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 61-63).

Thesis (M.S.)--West Virginia University, 2007. / Title from document title page. Document formatted into pages; contains viii, 147 p. : ill. (some col.), maps. Includes abstract. Includes bibliographical references (p. 110-122).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of California, Davis, 2005. / Degree granted in Civil and Environmental Engineering. Also available via the World Wide Web. (Restricted to UC campuses)

No description available.

Th.--Lett. / En appendice, choix de documents. Notes bibliogr. . Index.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 1999. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 459-466). Available also in a digital version from Dissertation Abstracts.

It is envisaged that flood plains will be put into more active usage to meet the increasing demands for road infrastructural development as well as relieve the pressure exerted on arable lands owing to infrastructural development activities. This is consequent upon the general shortfall in the availability of soils possessing the right engineering properties to carry infrastructures such as roads which consume large tracks of land. Expanding the global infrastructural base is inevitable due to the ever increasing human population and the need to meet their social, economic, political and transportation needs. However, owing to the prevailing environmental awareness campaigns fronted by different environmental agencies, there is the need to regulate and monitor the interaction of the processes involved in the provision of these needs with the limited resources as well as the environmental aftermath associated with such operations. The stabilization of flood plain soils for road embankment construction is envisaged to reduce the demand on the material resources required to build classical high embankments in flood prone areas as well as offer implied mitigating dimensions in the restoration of environmental integrity. This impliedly will reduce the use of traditionally unsustainable methods of soil stabilization such as, the excavation and importation of new materials, to a more robust system that will offer environmental friendliness amidst value engineering for better strength and durability results. The experimental processes involved the simulation of flooding scenarios in the laboratory, to monitor the strength and durability aspects of low-bearing-capacity soils (such as Lower Oxford Clay) stabilized with blended mixes of the traditional stabilizer of lime and the novel materials of lime and Ground Granulated Blastfumace Slag (GOBS) by-product combined. Preliminary investigations were carried out on the Lower Oxford Clay soil to establish the moisture and compaction requirements of the material. Different mix compositions were formulated by incrementally replacing the amount of lime in the system with GOBS. This was based on the premise that high stabilizer contents could offer better stabilization to flood susceptible geo-materials upon flooding. A high stabilizer level of 16% was therefore investigated. Regimes of different blending ratios were established as follows: 16%Lime-0%GGBS, 12%Lime-4%GGBS, 8%Lime-8%GGBS, 4%Lime-12%GGBS and 0%Lime-16%GGBS and tested at moisture contents of 23%, 28%, 33% and 38%. The two extremes 16%Lime-0%GGBS and 0%Lime-16GGBS were used as controls. A system of elimination based on strength criteria was employed, where only the 8%Lime- 8%GGBS and 4%Lime-12%GGBS mixtures were deemed fit to be investigated further to determine their resistance to challenging environmental factors of flooding. The test samples were cylindrical, measuring 50 mm in diameter and 100 mm long, and these were compacted using a static compaction apparatus to achieve Maximum Dry Density (MDD). Depending on the testing regime to be applied to a given specimen, a curing pattern was defined and samples were wrapped in cling film to minimise moisture losses. At the end of each curing period of 7, 14, 28, 56 and 90 days, one of the experimental procedures which ranged from Unconfined Compressive Strength, Water Absorption, Volume Stability, Permeability, Soaked Strength and Durability Index Assessment or Compressibility Assessment was carried out on the moist cured samples. Following these assessments, the 4%Lime-12%GGBS mix composition was appraised to have overall improved characteristics with the added benefit of reduced cost of material utilisation. Based on the available data, regression analyses were carried out and equations established for predicting the strength values of stabilized materials. Using these equations further extrapolations were made and the observable trends were those of the dependence of compressive strength on the age of moist curing and the compaction moisture contents at which samples were produced at given blended mixture. Cost-benefit-risk analysis was also carried out with a further cost annualisation of the capital and operational cost of a selected system. It is reassuring to learn that at replacement level of lime with GOBS of 4%Lime-12%GGBS it was possible to establish multi-binder mixtures that could be effectively used for sustainable construction in flood prone areas with enormous savings accruing from the possible higher strength and enhanced durability indices achievable over traditional unsustainable options of continued over-reliance on lime and Portland cement.

Road traffic accidents continue to be a public health problem and are a global issue due to the huge financial burden they place on families and society as a whole. Speed has been identified as a major contributor to the severity of traffic accidents and there is the need for better speed management if road traffic accidents are to be reduced. Over the years various measures have been implemented to manage vehicle speeds. The use of speed cameras and vehicle activated signs in recent times has contributed to the reduction of vehicle speeds to various extents. Speed cameras use punitive measures whereas vehicle activated signs do not so their use depends on various factors. Engineers, planners and decision makers responsible for determining the best place to mount a speed camera or vehicle activated sign along a road have based their decision on experience, site characteristics and available guidelines (Department for Transport, 2007; Department for Transport, 2006; Department for Transport, 2003). These decisions can be subjective and indications are that a more formal and directed approach aimed at bringing these available guidelines together in a model will be beneficial in making the right decision as to where to place a speed camera or vehicle activated sign is to be made. The use of optimisation techniques have been applied in other areas of research but this has been clearly absent in the Transport Safety sector. This research aims to contribute to speed reduction by developing a model to help decision makers determine the optimum location for a speed control device. In order to achieve this, the first study involved the development of an Empirical Bayes Negative Binomial regression accident prediction model to predict the number of fatal and serious accidents combined and the number of slight accidents. The accident prediction model that was used explored the effect of certain geometric and traffic characteristics on the effect of the severity of road traffic accident numbers on selected A-roads within the Nottinghamshire and Leicestershire regions of United Kingdom. On A-roads some model variables (n=10) were found to be statistically significant for slight accidents and (n=6) for fatal and serious accidents. The next study used the accident prediction model developed in two optimisation techniques to help predict the optimal location for speed cameras or vehicle activated signs. Pattern Search and Genetic Algorithms were the two main types of optimisation techniques utilised in this thesis. The results show that the two methods did produce similar results in some instances but different in others. Optimised results were compared to some existing sites with speed cameras some of the results obtained from the optimisation techniques used were within proximity of about 160m. A validation method was applied to the genetic algorithm and pattern search optimisation methods. The pattern search method was found to be more consistent than the genetic algorithm method. Genetic algorithm results produced slightly different results at validation in comparison with the initial results. T-test results show a significant difference in the function values for the validated genetic algorithm (M= 607649.34, SD= 1055520.75) and the validated pattern search function values (M= 2.06, SD= 1.17) under the condition t (79) = 5.15, p=0.000. There is a role that optimisation techniques can play in helping to determine the optimum location for a speed camera or vehicle activated sign based on a set of objectives and specified constraints. The research findings as a whole show that speed cameras and vehicle activated signs are an effective speed management tool. Their deployment however needs to be carefully considered by engineers, planners and decision makers so as to achieve the required level of effectiveness. The use of optimisation techniques which has been generally absent in the Transport Safety sector has been shown in this thesis to have the potential to contribute to improve speed management. There is however no doubt that this research will stimulate interest in this rather new but high potential area of Transport Safety.