Performance-based Maintenance Contracts (PBMCs) are increasingly being used for roadway maintenance as an alternative to method-based specifications. However, this technique is still relatively new and several issues have not been adequately addressed in the literature. The paper provides a systematic process for developing quality assurance measures to be used within these contracts. The process addresses key issues, including the development of performance standards and targets, a method for monitoring the roadside performance, and a methodology for developing pay adjustment factors. The developed performance standards presented in the paper are easily measured and assigned grades of pass, fail, or not applicable. The required sample size is a function of the project characteristics, including performance variability along the project, required confidence level, and allowable tolerance. Finally, the pay adjustment curves are a function of the initial project LOS, the target LOS, and the maintenance cost to achieve the target LOS.

Since its inception as part of the National Road in the mid-1800s, the Illinois section of U.S. 40 has undergone changes in both alignment and surfacing materials. Improvements in the road surface progressed from dirt to macadam and from brick to concrete as public usage and demand dictated. Hard-surfacing of the road in the late 1910s and early 1920s precipitated an increase in automobile traffic, replacing the horses, wagons and carriages which crowded the route when it was known as the National Road. Improvements in the internal combustion engine combined with assembly line production provided cheaper and faster automobiles. Increasing numbers of automobiles lead to congestion in areas where the road passed through town centers, and their acceleration in speed generated an increase in accidents at sharp curves and turns. These problems were often rectified with newly constructed by-passes and realignments. As the road and the automobile evolved, so evolved the built environment which lined the road. As the automobile became more affordable, an increasing number of middle-income families took to the road and these families needed food, gas and shelter for the night. Enterprising land owners along the route began to provide these amenities, while providing an increased income for their own families. These small businesses were generally housed in vernacular buildings, often built by the owners themselves. By-passes, realignments, and later the advent of the franchise, often meant the dramatic reduction of these family businesses and abandonment of the their unique buildings and structures.This study attempts to answer the following three questions. First, what was the original alignment of U.S. 40 through Illinois? Second, to what degree is the original road configuration still in existence today? Third, how much of the automobile-related built environment of the earliest route presently remains? Results reveal that significant sections of the historic road surface combined with numerous and varied vernacular motels and gas stations provide a visual experience of the automobile era during the fifty year period between 1920-1970. / Department of Architecture

The purpose of this creative project was to bring about the development and hypothetical implementation of development guidelines for the McGalliard Road commercial corridor in Muncie, Indiana, as an example of how the development guidelines can improve the development character, safety, and creativity within Muncie's urban arterial corridors. The project introduces the development guidelines, explains the existing conditions along McGalliard Road in terms of transportation efficiency, safety, and aesthetics, implements a model design alternative along McGalliard Road based on the guidelines, and presents implementation strategies and recommendations for changes in current development regulation policies which would bring about these changes for arterial commercial developments in the city of Muncie. / Department of Urban Planning

abstract: General ecological thought pertaining to plant biology, conservation, and urban areas has rested on two potentially contradictory underlying assumptions. The first is that non-native plants can spread easily from human developments to “pristine” areas. The second is that native plants cannot disperse through developed areas. Both assume anthropogenic changes to ecosystems create conditions that favor non-native plants and hinder native species. However, it is just as likely that anthropogenic alterations of habitats will favor certain groups of plant species with similar functional traits, whether native or not. Migration of plants can be divided into the following stages: dispersal, germination, establishment, reproduction and spread. Functional traits of species determine which are most successful at each of the stages of invasion or range enlargement. I studied the traits that allow both native and non-native plant species to disperse into freeway corridors, germinate, establish, reproduce, and then disperse along those corridors in Phoenix, Arizona. Field methods included seed bank sample collection and germination, vegetation surveys, and seed trapping. I also evaluated concentrations of plant-available nitrate as a result of localized nitrogen deposition. While many plant species found on the roadsides are either landscape varieties or typical weedy species, some uncommon native species and unexpected non-native species were also encountered. Maintenance regimes greatly influence the amount of vegetative cover and species composition along roadsides. Understanding which traits permit success at various stages of the invasion process indicates whether it is native, non-native, or species with particular traits that are likely to move through the city and establish in the desert. In a related case study conducted in Victoria, Australia, transportation professionals and ecologists were surveyed regarding preferences for roadside landscape design. Roadside design and maintenance projects are typically influenced by different groups of transportation professionals at various stages in a linear project cycle. Landscape architects and design professionals have distinct preferences and priorities compared to other transportation professionals and trained ecologists. The case study reveals the need for collaboration throughout the stages of design, construction and maintenance in order to efficiently manage roadsides for multiple priorities. / Dissertation/Thesis / Ph.D. Biology 2010

Submitted by Natalia de Souza Gonçalves (natalia.goncalves@ufpe.br) on 2016-09-19T12:54:56Z No. of bitstreams: 2 license_rdf: 1232 bytes, checksum: 66e71c371cc565284e70f40736c94386 (MD5) DISSERTAÇÃO DE WELLINGTON ALMEIDA 2016.pdf: 1101288 bytes, checksum: 07cca2fd811e664315f232195abc4703 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2016-09-19T12:54:56Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 2 license_rdf: 1232 bytes, checksum: 66e71c371cc565284e70f40736c94386 (MD5) DISSERTAÇÃO DE WELLINGTON ALMEIDA 2016.pdf: 1101288 bytes, checksum: 07cca2fd811e664315f232195abc4703 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2016-02-25 / O carcará (Caracara plancus) e o gavião-carijó (Rupornis magnirostris) são aves de rapina, predadores de topo, que habitam o território brasileiro. Possuem alimentação variada, desde animais vivos até àqueles em estado de decomposição. Diante disto, objetivou-se identificar possíveis endoparasitos do gavião-carijó e do carcará mantidos em cativeiro, além de descrever e comparar histomorfometricamente o intestino delgado de ambas as espécies. Foram utilizados seis espécimes de cada espécie. Para análise parasitológica as fezes foram coletadas e processadas pelo método de Hoffman simples. Para a histomorfometria amostras do duodeno, jejuno, íleo foram fixadas e submetidas ao processamento histológico de rotina. Finalmente, as lâminas foram fotografadas e cinco variáveis foram medidas: Tamanho da Vilosidade (TV), Largura da Vilosidade (LV), Profundidade da Glândula Intestinal (PGI), Espessura do estrato Muscular Interno (EMI) e Espessura do estrato Muscular Externo (EME). Obteve-se os seguintes resultados: na análise das fezes de Rupornis magnirostris foram encontrados ovos de Capillaria sp. Na histomorfometria, os intestinos delgados de ambas as aves, apresentaram padrão heterogêneo, com diferenças significativas (p<0,001) entre o duodeno e o íleo. A comparação das medidas nas duas aves demonstrou diferenças significativas na PGI e LV do duodeno, em todas variáveis do jejuno e no TV, EMI e EME do íleo. Este estudo fornece parâmetros histomorfométricos do intestino delgado do Rupornis magnirostris e Caracara plancus, que contribuirá para melhor entendimento da biologia e consequente auxílio em programas de preservação das espécies. / The Southern Crested Caracara (Caracara plancus) and the Roadside Hawk (Rupornis magnirostris) are raptors, top predators that inhabit the Brazilian territory. They have varied diet, from live animals to those in a state of decomposition. Given this, it aimed to identify possible endoparasites of Roadside Hawk and Southern Crested Caracara kept in captivity, besides describe and compare histomorphometric the small intestine of both species. six specimens of each species were used. For parasitological analysis feces were collected and processed by simple Hoffman method. For histomorphometry, samples of the duodenum, jejunum, ileum were fixed and submitted to routine histological processing. Finally, the slides were photographed and five variables were measured: villus size (TV), width villus (LV) Depth gland Intestinal (PGI), Internal muscle layer thickness (EMI) and Outer muscle layer thickness (EME). This yields the following results: In analysis of feces from Rupornis magnirostris eggs of Capillaria sp. were found. In histomorphometry, small intestines of both birds showed a heterogeneous standard, with significant differences (p <0.001) between the duodenum and the ileum. The comparison of measurements in both birds showed significant differences in PGI and LV of duodenum, all variables of jejunum and in TV, EMI and EME of ileum. This study provides morphometric parameters of the small intestine of Rupornis magnirostris and Caracara plancus, which will contribute to better understanding of the biology and consequently aid in conservation programs of species.

abstract: The California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) is required to comply with the National Pollution Discharge Elimination (NPDES) permit, which includes the infiltration of stormwater runoff from highways and implementing soil based best managements practices (BMPs). Stormwater BMPs are in place to prevent pollution in stormwater runoff as well as to facilitate the stormwater discharge from the road. Per this new permit, Caltrans is to install soil based BMPs that can absorb the 85th percentile of a 24-hour stormwater event. In order to absorb the stormwater runoff, the area used is the Clear Recovery Zone (CRZ), which are the road embankments/slopes located adjacent to the roadside. The CRZ must be traversable and recoverable in order to meet roadside traffic safety standards. A major concern for Caltrans is the uncertainty on how these BMPs will affect the safety of a vehicle, if a vehicle were to interact with the soft soils. In order to provide an insight on the effects of the BMPs, the modeling and simulation of vehicle dynamics under certain interactions between the roadside, soil, and vehicle was completed. The research used computer simulations to quantify the probability of rollover accidents under several different vehicle, driving and ground conditions. The vehicles traversing typical archetype roadsides on soft soil are simulated using MsMac3D software. It was important to model the properties of the vehicle, roadside, mechanical and hydraulic properties of soils realistically in order to obtain an accurate representation of a real-world vehicle and soil interaction. The outcome was a library of simulations that provided quantifiable data on the effect that soft soils have on the safety and rollover potential of a vehicle traversing the CRZ. / Dissertation/Thesis / Masters Thesis Civil, Environmental and Sustainable Engineering 2019

The American landscape is increasingly populated with memorial tourist sites showing a devotion to the past. In the last published statewide study of Tennessee historical roadside markers, Jones (1988) analyzed the 1,170 roadside markers across the state. In his analysis, markers devoted to black history or white women accounted for only 0.7% (n=8) and 0.8% (n=9), respectively, of all markers. At the time of this study there were more roadside markers solely dedicated to David Crocket (0.9%, n=11) than to either of these groups. Additionally, Native American people merely accounted for 3.0% (n=35), while white men accounted for 11.7% (n=137)–including 3% dedicated to Klu Klux Klan Founder Nathan Bedford Forrest (Jones, 1988). This particularly visible expression of public history serves primarily to preserve a white, Protestant, male history of the area (Jones, 1988). Using data on the 313 historical roadside markers erected since 1988, we (1) update the analysis of Jones (1988) and (2) discuss the lack of a “just representation” of non-white male history in these markers that has carried forward to 2019. The study is informed by social representation and critical race theory.

No description available.

Despite claims of nearly 100% access to potable drinking water in the US, issues of drinking water quality, accessibility, and equity persist in many regions of the country. Drinking water is a common health concern in rural communities, where social, geographic, and economic challenges can inhibit the provision of reliable municipal water. Households without access to municipal water often rely on private wells, which are solely the responsibility of the homeowner to test, treat, and maintain, or roadside springs. These water sources often do not employ water treatment and users can therefore be uniquely susceptible to environmental contaminants. The goal of this research was to examine point-of-use (POU) treatment options that can be used by individuals to improve their drinking water quality and reduce exposure to common contaminants prior to consumption. Two drops (~0.10 mL) of unscented, household bleach in one gallon of spring water is a simple, low-cost treatment option that successfully inactivates total coliform and E. coli and provides an appropriate free chlorine residual (> 0.5 mg/L) over a 1-month time period, without exceeding free chlorine taste thresholds (< 2 mg/L). Efforts to distribute information on this disinfection protocol to spring users in southern West Virginia and southwestern Virginia were well-received; however, only 60% of surveyed spring users report that they plan to implement the protocol. POU faucet filters have been successfully implemented in homes reliant on municipal water to reduce metal contaminant levels in drinking water. Few studies have assessed the effectiveness of these filters in improving water quality in homes reliant on private wells. Faucet-mounted POU filters distributed to homes reliant on private wells in Virginia and southern West Virginia statistically significantly lowered levels of Ba, Cd, Cr, Total Coliform, U, Cu, Pb, Al, Fe, Mn, Zn, and Sr in tap water. However, levels of many contaminants of interest still exceeded at least one Safe Drinking Water Act regulation/recommendation in several filtered samples. Additionally, less than half of study participants reported that they liked using the filters with several citing issues with flowrate. Faucet-mounted POU filters can also be a useful tool in assessing exposure to contaminants at the tap. The acid flow-through method of metals recovery has previously proven to be successful in recovering dissolved Pb from dosed filters. In this study, the acid flow-through extraction method was applied to water spiked with high or low levels of Pb, Fe, or Cu. While faucet-mounted activated carbon filters successfully removed Pb and Cu from dosed influent (>91% removal), filter behavior under influent Fe concentrations of greater than 300 ppb was extremely variable. The acid flow-through method of metals extraction provided some recovery from filters dosed with high and low concentrations of Pb (38.9-70.4%). Recovery of Cu and Fe was variable, likely in part due to Fe and Cu leaching from filter media, suggesting that alternative methods of metals extraction and recovery from POU faucet filters dosed with Fe and Cu, or other common water contaminants (e.g., As, Ba, Cd), must be explored. While POU treatment can be useful in improving drinking water quality in rural households, limitations to adoption persist and must be addressed along with efforts to protect drinking water quality in homes in a more permanent, sustainable way. / Doctor of Philosophy / Drinking water quality is a common health concern in rural communities, where social, geographic, and economic challenges can make municipal water quality unreliable. Households without access to municipal water often use private wells and sometimes roadside springs for drinking water. These water sources are often untreated which can expose users to environmental contaminants such as bacteria or metals. The goal of this research was to study point-of-use (POU) treatment options that can be used by individuals looking to improve their drinking water quality and reduce their exposure to common contaminants, perhaps while waiting for more permanent improvements and upgrades. Household bleach is a simple, low-cost way of lowering levels of bacteria in roadside spring water that is being used as drinking water. Two drops of unscented, household bleach in one gallon of spring water successfully kills total coliform and E. coli bacteria and provides an enough leftover chlorine to continue to disinfect the water for 1-month. This information was given to spring users in southern West Virginia and southwestern Virginia and, while most people who provided feedback found the information useful, only 60% of surveyed spring users report that they plan to implement this protocol. Point-of-use faucet filters have been found to successfully reduce metals contaminant levels in drinking water in homes that use municipal water. However, few studies have tested the effectiveness of POU faucet-mounted filters in lowering contaminant levels in water in homes reliant on private wells. Faucet-mounted POU filters given to homes reliant on private wells in Virginia and southern West Virginia lowered levels of many contaminants of interest in tap water, including lead, copper, iron, and total coliform bacteria. However, in some of the filtered samples, levels of many of these contaminants were higher than at least one Safe Drinking Water Act regulation. Less than half of study participants reported that they liked using the filters with several stating that they had issues with low flowrate. Faucet-mounted POU filters can also be a useful tool in better understanding exposure to contaminants at the tap. The acid flow-through method of metals recovery has previously proven to be successful in recovering lead, and other metals, that are collected inside the filters during water treatment. In this study, an extraction method using acid was tested on filters that treated water with high or low levels of lead, iron, or copper. The filters were successful in removing lead and copper from test water, but filters were not as consistently successful in removing iron from test water. The extraction method using acid provided some recovery from filters dosed with high and low concentrations of lead (38.9-70.4%). However, recovery of copper and iron was more inconsistent, suggesting that a different method of metals recovery may be necessary. While POU treatment can be useful in improving drinking water quality in rural households, there are limits to how useful it is in certain situations, such as when treating water with extreme water quality. In order to make sure rural households have access to safe drinking water, these limits need to be addressed and efforts need to be made to figure out a way to protect and supply drinking water in a more permanent way.

Since 2015, there have been more than 35,000 fatalities annually due to crashes on United States roads [1], [2]. Typically, road departure crashes account for less than 10% of all annual crash occupants yet comprise nearly one third of all crash fatalities in the US [3]. In the year 2020, road departure crashes accounted for 50% of crash fatalities [2]. Road departure crashes are characterized by a vehicle leaving the intended lane of travel, departing the roadway, and striking a roadside object, such as a tree or pole, or roadside condition, such as a slope or body of water. One strategy currently implemented to mitigate these types of crashes is the use of roadside barriers. Roadside barriers, such as metal guardrails, concrete barriers, and cable barriers, are designed to reduce the severity of road departure crashes by acting as a shield between the departed vehicle and more hazardous roadside obstacles. Much like new vehicles undergo regulatory crash tests, barriers must adhere to a set of crash test procedures to ensure the barriers perform as intended. Currently, the procedures for full-scale roadside barrier crash tests used to evaluate the crash performance of roadside safety hardware are outlined in The Manual for Assessing Safety Hardware (MASH) [4]. During roadside barrier tests, the assessment of occupant injury risk is crucial, as the purpose of the hardware is to prevent the vehicle from colliding with a more detrimental roadside object, all the while minimizing, and not posing additional, risk to the occupants. Unlike the new vehicle regulatory crash tests conducted by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), MASH does not require the use of instrumented anthropomorphic test devices (ATD). Instead, one of the prescribed occupant risk assessment methods in MASH is the flail space model (FSM), which was introduced in 1981 and models an occupant as an unrestrained point mass. The FSM is comprised of two crash severity metrics that can be calculated using acceleration data from the test vehicle. Each metric is prescribed a maximum threshold in MASH and if either threshold is exceeded during a crash test the test fails due to high occupant injury risk. Since the inception of the FSM metrics and their thresholds, the injury prediction capabilities of these metrics have only been re-investigated in the frontal crash mode, despite MASH prescribing an oblique 25-degree impact angle for passenger vehicle barrier tests. The focus of this dissertation was to use EDR data from real-world crashes to assess the current relevance of roadside barrier crash test occupant risk assessment methods to the modern vehicle fleet and occupant population. Injury risk prediction models were constructed for the two FSM-based metrics and five additional crash severity metrics for three crash modes: frontal, side, and oblique. For each crash mode and metric combination, four injury prediction models were constructed: one to predict probability of injury to any region of the body and three to predict probability of injury to the head/face, neck, and thorax regions. While the direct application of these models is to inform future revisions of MASH crash test procedures, the developed models have valuable applications for other areas of transportation safety besides just roadside safety. The final two chapters of this dissertation explore these additional applications: 1) assessing the injury mitigation effectiveness of an advanced automatic emergency braking system, and 2) informing speed limit selection that supports the safe system approach. The findings in this dissertation indicate that both the FSM and additional crash severity metrics do a reasonable job predicting occupant injury risk in oblique crashes. One of the additional metrics performs better than the two FSM metrics. Additionally, several occupant factors, such as belt status and age, play significant roles in occupant risk prediction. These findings have important implications for future revisions of MASH, which could benefit from considering additional metrics and occupant factors in the occupant risk assessment procedures. / Doctor of Philosophy / Every year, there are more than 35,000 fatalities due to crashes on United States roads. While there are many different types of crashes, there is a small collection of crash types that are responsible for the majority of these fatalities. One of the worst crash types is a road departure crash. Road departure crashes describe when a vehicle leaves the roadway and collides with an object off the roadway (such as a tree, pole, or ditch). Road departure crashes typically comprise 10% of crashes but are responsible for more than 30% of the annual crash fatalities. In 2020, road departure crashes were responsible for 50% of the 39,000 fatalities. One strategy that is currently used to reduce road departure fatalities is the use of roadside barriers. Common roadside barrier types include metal guardrails, concrete barriers, and cable guardrails, and are used to prevent vehicles that are departing the roadway from hitting an object that would be more dangerous than the barrier. To ensure barriers successfully protect the vehicle and vehicle occupants from heightened danger, they are crash tested in scenarios that are designed to mimic real-world crashes. The Manual for Assessing Safety Hardware (MASH) is the document that currently outlines the details necessary to conduct one of these crash tests. During roadside barrier tests, it is crucial to determine whether occupants are at risk of injury or fatality. For a variety of reasons, barrier tests do not use the traditional crash test dummies, which are designed to replicate human presence in a crash vehicle. Instead, MASH recommends using vehicle velocity data to assess how much risk is posed to an occupant. Using this velocity data, two values can be computed and if either value exceeds the maximum values provided in MASH, the crash test fails due to high occupant risk. The suggestion to use velocity data to assess occupant risk was first introduced in 1981. Since then, there have been significant advances in vehicle design, barrier design, and occupants' willingness to partake in safe habits, such as wearing seatbelts. Therefore, it is necessary to determine if the occupant risk values used in MASH are still applicable today. The focus of this dissertation was to use real-world crash data to assess the current relevance of roadside barrier crash test occupant risk values. The results presented in this dissertation can be used to select new occupant risk values in future versions of MASH. The findings within this dissertation show that the current methods in MASH do a good job estimating an occupant's risk of injury. Additionally, the findings show that certain occupant factors, such as the age of an occupant and whether the occupant is belted, help to more accurately estimate occupant injury risk. This finding has important implications for MASH, which does not currently consider different occupant conditions.