Matching Items (78)
Description
Civil infrastructures undergo frequent spatial changes such as deviations between as-designed model and as-is condition, rigid body motions of the structure, and deformations of individual elements of the structure, etc. These spatial changes can occur during the design phase, the construction phase, or during the service life of a structure. Inability to accurately detect and analyze the impact of such changes may miss opportunities for early detections of pending structural integrity and stability issues. Commercial Building Information Modeling (BIM) tools could hardly track differences between as-designed and as-built conditions as they mainly focus on design changes and rely on project managers to manually update and analyze the impact of field changes on the project performance. Structural engineers collect detailed onsite data of a civil infrastructure to perform manual updates of the model for structural analysis, but such approach tends to become tedious and complicated while handling large civil infrastructures.
Previous studies started collecting detailed geometric data generated by 3D laser scanners for defect detection and geometric change analysis of structures. However, previous studies have not yet systematically examined methods for exploring the correlation between the detected geometric changes and their relation to the behaviors of the structural system. Manually checking every possible loading combination leading to the observed geometric change is tedious and sometimes error-prone. The work presented in this dissertation develops a spatial change analysis framework that utilizes spatiotemporal data collected using 3D laser scanning technology and the as-designed models of the structures to automatically detect, classify, and correlate the spatial changes of a structure. The change detection part of the developed framework is computationally efficient and can automatically detect spatial changes between as-designed model and as-built data or between two sets of as-built data collected using 3D laser scanning technology. Then a spatial change classification algorithm automatically classifies the detected spatial changes as global (rigid body motion) and local deformations (tension, compression). Finally, a change correlation technique utilizes a qualitative shape-based reasoning approach for identifying correlated deformations of structure elements connected at joints that contradicts the joint equilibrium. Those contradicting deformations can help to eliminate improbable loading combinations therefore guiding the loading path analysis of the structure.
Previous studies started collecting detailed geometric data generated by 3D laser scanners for defect detection and geometric change analysis of structures. However, previous studies have not yet systematically examined methods for exploring the correlation between the detected geometric changes and their relation to the behaviors of the structural system. Manually checking every possible loading combination leading to the observed geometric change is tedious and sometimes error-prone. The work presented in this dissertation develops a spatial change analysis framework that utilizes spatiotemporal data collected using 3D laser scanning technology and the as-designed models of the structures to automatically detect, classify, and correlate the spatial changes of a structure. The change detection part of the developed framework is computationally efficient and can automatically detect spatial changes between as-designed model and as-built data or between two sets of as-built data collected using 3D laser scanning technology. Then a spatial change classification algorithm automatically classifies the detected spatial changes as global (rigid body motion) and local deformations (tension, compression). Finally, a change correlation technique utilizes a qualitative shape-based reasoning approach for identifying correlated deformations of structure elements connected at joints that contradicts the joint equilibrium. Those contradicting deformations can help to eliminate improbable loading combinations therefore guiding the loading path analysis of the structure.
ContributorsKalasapudi, Vamsi Sai (Author) / Tang, Pingbo (Thesis advisor) / Chong, Oswald (Committee member) / Hjelmstad, Keith (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2017
Description
The performance of the Alpha Sprayed Polyurethane Foam (SPF) roofing system is perceived as not an economical option when compared to a 20-year modified bitumen roofing system. Today, the majority of roofs are being replaced, rather than newly installed. The coating manufacturer, Neogard, implemented the Alpha roofing program to identify the best contractors in the industry and to measure their roof performance. The Alpha roof system has shown consistent high performance on over 230 million square feet of surveyed roof. The author proposes to identify if the Alpha roof system is renewable, has proven performance that competes with the traditional modified roofing system, and is a more economical option by evaluating an Alpha roof system installation and the performance of a 29-year-old Alpha roof system. The Dallas Independent School District utilized the Alpha program for William Lipscomb Elementary School in 2016. Dallas Fort Worth Urethane installed the Alpha SPF roof system with high customer satisfaction ratings. This roofing installation showed the value of the Alpha roof system by saving over 20% on costs for the installation and will save approximately 69% of costs on the recoating of the roof in 20 years. The Casa View Elementary School roof system was installed with a Neogard Permathane roof system in 1987. This roof was hail tested with ten drops from 17 feet 9 inches of 1-3/4-inch steel ball (9 out of 10 passed) and four drops from 17 feet 9 inches with a 3-inch diameter steel ball (2 out of 4 passed). The analysis of the passing and failing core samples show that the thickness of the top and base Alpha SPF coating is one of the major differences in a roof passing or failing the FM-SH hail test. Over the 40-year service life, the main difference of purchasing a 61,000 square feet Alpha SPF roof versus modified bitumen roof are savings of approximately $1,067,500. Past hail tests on Alpha SPF roof systems show its cost effectiveness with high customer satisfaction (9.8 out of 10), an over 40-year service life after a $6.00/SF recoat and savings of over $1M for DISD.
ContributorsZulanas, Charles J., IV (Author) / Kashiwagi, Dean T. (Thesis advisor) / Kashiwagi, Jacob S (Thesis advisor) / Chong, Oswald (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2017
Description
Regulatory agencies, such as the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), and the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), recognize that decisions regarding occupational health are often economically driven, with worker health only a secondary concern (Ruttenberg, 2014). To investigate the four National Occupational Research Agenda (NORA) long-standing health concerns—welding fumes, crystalline silica, noise, and musculoskeletal disorders—a mixed methods research is conducted. Fourfold structuration, a holistic communication process with roots in indigenous/ancient knowledge, is used to organize data and facilitate making tangible relationships of health to productivity and profits that are abstract and often stated by industries, such as construction, as difficult to quantify. From both construction trade worker and occupational health and safety expert interviews data/codes are developed. For the qualitative method, the codes are organized into a constructivist grounded theory depicting the construction industry with regard to its foundation – profits. A theoretical exercise translating the qualitative codes into potential productivity losses is presented as a way for quantifying the abstract relationships of health to productivity. For the quantitative study, the data/codes are used to develop a comprehensive list of practices, barriers to, and catalysts for addressing health in construction. A significant quantitative finding is that occupational health and safety (OSH) experts are not traditionally involved at the highest levels of the OSHA Hierarchy of Controls, where the greatest opportunity to prevent exposure to health hazards is possible. Organized via a holistic framework, this research emphasizes our primary responsibility to each other as highlighted in recent NIOSH worker health agendas.
ContributorsTello, Linda Marguerite (Author) / Grau, David (Thesis advisor) / Koro-Ljungberg, Mirka (Committee member) / Hanemann, Michael (Committee member) / Chong, Oswald (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2017
Description
Construction industry performance (schedule, budget, and customer satisfaction) has not improved over the last 20 years. This investigation proposes that academic/industry research using actual project data may have more impact on improving industry performance than traditional survey-based research. The authors utilize the CIB and CIB W117 platforms to proliferate the concept of academic/industry test results to increase the impact on the construction industry. The authors propose to use the existing journal and then share the journal papers on an online platform (ResearchGate.net) ensuring a faster proliferation of the key academic/industry test results into the academic research community. The mechanism of the academic/industry test results will have more of an impact on industry practices than the traditional publication systems, which concentrate on literature reviews and surveys to collect industry opinions and analyze the information to change industry practices. The proliferation of industry research results will create transparency in the construction industry and the academic research community.
ContributorsGastelum, David (Author) / Kashiwagi, Dean T. (Thesis advisor) / Chong, Oswald (Committee member) / Badger, William (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2017
Description
Resilient acquisition of timely, detailed job site information plays a pivotal role in maintaining the productivity and safety of construction projects that have busy schedules, dynamic workspaces, and unexpected events. In the field, construction information acquisition often involves three types of activities including sensor-based inspection, manual inspection, and communication. Human interventions play critical roles in these three types of field information acquisition activities. A resilient information acquisition system is needed for safer and more productive construction. The use of various automation technologies could help improve human performance by proactively providing the needed knowledge of using equipment, improve the situation awareness in multi-person collaborations, and reduce the mental workload of operators and inspectors.
Unfortunately, limited studies consider human factors in automation techniques for construction field information acquisition. Fully utilization of the automation techniques requires a systematical synthesis of the interactions between human, tasks, and construction workspace to reduce the complexity of information acquisition tasks so that human can finish these tasks with reliability. Overall, such a synthesis of human factors in field data collection and analysis is paving the path towards “Human-Centered Automation” (HCA) in construction management. HCA could form a computational framework that supports resilient field data collection considering human factors and unexpected events on dynamic job sites.
This dissertation presented an HCA framework for resilient construction field information acquisition and results of examining three HCA approaches that support three use cases of construction field data collection and analysis. The first HCA approach is an automated data collection planning method that can assist 3D laser scan planning of construction inspectors to achieve comprehensive and efficient data collection. The second HCA approach is a Bayesian model-based approach that automatically aggregates the common sense of people from the internet to identify job site risks from a large number of job site pictures. The third HCA approach is an automatic communication protocol optimization approach that maximizes the team situation awareness of construction workers and leads to the early detection of workflow delays and critical path changes. Data collection and simulation experiments extensively validate these three HCA approaches.
Unfortunately, limited studies consider human factors in automation techniques for construction field information acquisition. Fully utilization of the automation techniques requires a systematical synthesis of the interactions between human, tasks, and construction workspace to reduce the complexity of information acquisition tasks so that human can finish these tasks with reliability. Overall, such a synthesis of human factors in field data collection and analysis is paving the path towards “Human-Centered Automation” (HCA) in construction management. HCA could form a computational framework that supports resilient field data collection considering human factors and unexpected events on dynamic job sites.
This dissertation presented an HCA framework for resilient construction field information acquisition and results of examining three HCA approaches that support three use cases of construction field data collection and analysis. The first HCA approach is an automated data collection planning method that can assist 3D laser scan planning of construction inspectors to achieve comprehensive and efficient data collection. The second HCA approach is a Bayesian model-based approach that automatically aggregates the common sense of people from the internet to identify job site risks from a large number of job site pictures. The third HCA approach is an automatic communication protocol optimization approach that maximizes the team situation awareness of construction workers and leads to the early detection of workflow delays and critical path changes. Data collection and simulation experiments extensively validate these three HCA approaches.
ContributorsZhang, Cheng (Author) / Tang, Pingbo (Thesis advisor) / Cooke, Nancy J. (Committee member) / Chong, Oswald (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2017
Description
One of the single-most insightful, and visionary talks of the 20th century, “There’s plenty of room at the bottom,” by Dr. Richard Feynman, represented a first foray into the micro- and nano-worlds of biology and chemistry with the intention of direct manipulation of their individual components. Even so, for decades there has existed a gulf between the bottom-up molecular worlds of biology and chemistry, and the top-down world of nanofabrication. Creating single molecule nanoarrays at the limit of diffraction could incentivize a paradigm shift for experimental assays. However, such arrays have been nearly impossible to fabricate since current nanofabrication tools lack the resolution required for precise single-molecule spatial manipulation. What if there existed a molecule which could act as a bridge between these top-down and bottom-up worlds?
At ~100-nm, a DNA origami macromolecule represents one such bridge, acting as a breadboard for the decoration of single molecules with 3-5 nm resolution. It relies on the programmed self-assembly of a long, scaffold strand into arbitrary 2D or 3D structures guided via approximately two hundred, short, staple strands. Once synthesized, this nanostructure falls in the spatial manipulation regime of a nanofabrication tool such as electron-beam lithography (EBL), facilitating its high efficiency immobilization in predetermined binding sites on an experimentally relevant substrate. This placement technology, however, is expensive and requires specialized training, thereby limiting accessibility.
The work described here introduces a method for bench-top, cleanroom/lithography-free, DNA origami placement in meso-to-macro-scale grids using tunable colloidal nanosphere masks, and organosilane-based surface chemistry modification. Bench-top DNA origami placement is the first demonstration of its kind which facilitates precision placement of single molecules with high efficiency in diffraction-limited sites at a cost of $1/chip. The comprehensive characterization of this technique, and its application as a robust platform for high-throughput biophysics and digital counting of biomarkers through enzyme-free amplification are elucidated here. Furthermore, this technique can serve as a template for the bottom-up fabrication of invaluable biophysical tools such as zero mode waveguides, making them significantly cheaper and more accessible to the scientific community. This platform has the potential to democratize high-throughput single molecule experiments in laboratories worldwide.
At ~100-nm, a DNA origami macromolecule represents one such bridge, acting as a breadboard for the decoration of single molecules with 3-5 nm resolution. It relies on the programmed self-assembly of a long, scaffold strand into arbitrary 2D or 3D structures guided via approximately two hundred, short, staple strands. Once synthesized, this nanostructure falls in the spatial manipulation regime of a nanofabrication tool such as electron-beam lithography (EBL), facilitating its high efficiency immobilization in predetermined binding sites on an experimentally relevant substrate. This placement technology, however, is expensive and requires specialized training, thereby limiting accessibility.
The work described here introduces a method for bench-top, cleanroom/lithography-free, DNA origami placement in meso-to-macro-scale grids using tunable colloidal nanosphere masks, and organosilane-based surface chemistry modification. Bench-top DNA origami placement is the first demonstration of its kind which facilitates precision placement of single molecules with high efficiency in diffraction-limited sites at a cost of $1/chip. The comprehensive characterization of this technique, and its application as a robust platform for high-throughput biophysics and digital counting of biomarkers through enzyme-free amplification are elucidated here. Furthermore, this technique can serve as a template for the bottom-up fabrication of invaluable biophysical tools such as zero mode waveguides, making them significantly cheaper and more accessible to the scientific community. This platform has the potential to democratize high-throughput single molecule experiments in laboratories worldwide.
ContributorsShetty, Rishabh Manoj (Author) / Hariadi, Rizal F (Thesis advisor) / Gopinath, Ashwin (Committee member) / Varsani, Arvind (Committee member) / Nikkhah, Mehdi (Committee member) / Tillery, Stephen H (Committee member) / Hu, Ye (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2019
Description
The human papillomavirus (HPV) is a double-stranded DNA virus responsible for causing upwards of 80% of head and neck cancers in the oropharyngeal region. Current treatments, including surgery, chemotherapy, and/or radiation, are aggressive and elicit toxic effects. HPV is a pathogen that expresses viral-specific oncogenic proteins that play a role in cancer progression. These proteins may serve as potential targets for immunotherapeutic applications. Engineered T cell receptor (TCR) therapy may be an advantageous approach for HPV-associated cancers. In TCR therapy, TCRs are modified to express a receptor that is specific to an immunogenic antigen (part of the virus/cancer capable of eliciting an immune response). Since HPV-associated oropharyngeal cancers typically express unique viral proteins, it is important to identify the TCRs capable of recognizing these proteins. Evidence supports that head and neck cancers typically experience high levels of immune cell infiltration and are subsequently associated with increased survival rates. Most of the immune cell infiltrations in HPV+ HNSCC are CD8+ T lymphocytes, drawing attention to their prospective use in cellular immunotherapies. While TCRs are highly specific, the TCR repertoire is extremely diverse; enabling the immune system to fight off numerous pathogens. In project 1, I review approaches to analyzing TCR diversity and explore the use of DNA origami in retrieving paired TCR sequences from a population. The results determine that DNA origami can be used within a monoclonal population but requires further optimization before being applied in a polyclonal setting. In project 2, I investigate HPV-specific T-cell dysfunction; I detect low frequency HPV-specific CD8+ T cells, determine that they are tumor specific, and show that HPV+HNSCC patients exhibit increased epitope-specific levels of CD8+T cell exhaustion. In project 3, I apply methods to expand and isolate TCRαβ sequences derived from donors stimulated with a previously identified HPV epitope. Single-cell analysis provide ten unique TCRαβ pairs with corresponding CDR3 sequences that may serve as therapeutic candidates. This thesis contributes to fundamental immunology by contributing to the knowledge of T cell dysfunction within HPV+HNSCC and further reveals TCR gene usage within an HPV stimulated population, thus identifying potential TCR pairs for adoptive cell therapies.
ContributorsUlrich, Peaches Rebecca (Author) / Anderson, Karen S (Thesis advisor) / Lake, Douglas (Committee member) / Maley, Carlo (Committee member) / Varsani, Arvind (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2020
Description
Urban areas across the Unites States are facing a housing affordability crisis. One approach some cities and states have taken is to reduce or eliminate single-family zoning. Single-family zoning prevents the construction of more-affordable apartments in vast swaths of the American urban landscape. This policy shift has already occurred in Minneapolis, Sacramento, and Oregon, and is under discussion in California, Massachusetts, and North Carolina, among others. Independent of any effects on housing affordability, changes to land use will have effects on transport. I evaluate these effects using a microsimulation framework. In order for land use policies to have an effect on transport, they need to first have an effect on land use, so I first build an economic model to simulate where development will occur given a loosening of single-family zoning. Transport outcomes will vary depending on which households live in which parts of the region, so I use an equilibrium sorting model to forecast how residents will re-sort across the region in response to the land use changes induced by new land-use policies. This model also jointly forecasts how many vehicles each household will choose to own. Finally, I apply an activity-based travel demand microsimulation model to forecast the changes in transport associated with the forecast changes from the previous models. I find that while there is opportunity for economically-feasible redevelopment of single-family homes into multifamily structures, the amount of redevelopment that will occur varies greatly depending on the exact expectations of developers about future market conditions. Redevelopment is focused in higher-income neighborhoods. The transport effects of the redevelopment are minimal. Average car ownership across the region does not change hardly at all, although residents of new housing units do have somewhat lower car ownership. Vehicles kilometers traveled, mode choice, and congestion change very little as well. This does not mean that upzoning does not affect transport in general, but that more nuanced proposals may be necessary to promote desirable transport outcomes. Alternatively, the results suggest that upzoning will not worsen transport outcomes, promising for those who support upzoning on affordability grounds.
ContributorsConway, Matthew Wigginton (Author) / Salon, Deborah (Thesis advisor) / Pfeiffer, Deirdre (Committee member) / Fotheringham, A Stewart (Committee member) / van Eggermond, Michael AB (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2021
Description
Viruses infect organisms in all domains of life and are abundant entities in ecosystems. In particular, single-stranded DNA viruses have been found in a wide variety of hosts and ecosystems. Using a metagenomic approach, novel circular viruses have been identified in multiple environmental samples. This thesis focuses on viruses and virus dynamics from avian sources. As part of this thesis, a novel phapecoctavirus was identified in a pigeon cloacal swab. The phapecoctavirus is most closely related to Klebsiella phage ZCKP1, identified from a freshwater sample. Beyond this, this thesis addresses circoviruses, which are of interest due to disease they cause to avian species. Evolution of circovirus recombination was studied in a closed system of uninfected and infected pigeons. 178 genomes of pigeon circovirus were sequenced, and patterns of recombination determined. Seven genotypes were present in the population and genotype 4 was shown to be present in a majority of samples after the experiment was finished. Circoviruses were also identified in waterfowl feces and the ten genomes recovered represent two new circovirus species. Overall, the research described in this thesis helped to gain a deeper understanding of the diversity and evolution of circular DNA viruses associated with avian species.
ContributorsKhalifeh, Anthony (Author) / Varsani, Arvind (Thesis advisor) / Kraberger, Simona J (Committee member) / Dolby, Greer (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2021
Description
The family Cactaceae is extremely diverse and has a near global distribution yet very little has been described regarding the community of viruses that infect or are associated with cacti. This research characterizes the diversity of viruses associated with Cactaceae plants and their evolutionary aspects. Five viruses belonging to the economically relevant plant virus family Geminiviridae were identified, initially, two novel divergent geminiviruses named Opuntia virus 1 (OpV1) and Opuntia virus 2 (OpV2) and Opuntia becurtovirus, a new strain within the genus Becurtovirus. These three viruses were also found in co-infection. In addition, two known geminiviruses, the squash leaf curl virus (SLCV) and watermelon chlorotic stunt virus (WCSV) were identified infecting Cactaceae plants and other non-cactus plants in the USA and Mexico. Both SLCV and WCSV are known to cause severe disease in cultivated Cucurbitaceae plants in the USA and Middle East, respectively. This study shows that WCSV was introduced in the America two times, and it is the first identification of this virus in the USA, demonstrating is likely more widespread in North America. These findings along with the Opuntia becurtovirus are probable events of spill-over in agro-ecological interfaces. A novel circular DNA possibly bipartite plant-infecting virus that encodes protein similar to those of geminiviruses was also identified in an Opuntia discolor plant in Brazil, named utkilio virus, but it is evolutionary distinct likely belonging to a new taxon. Viruses belonging to the ssDNA viral family Genomoviridae are also described and those thus far been associated with fungi hosts, so it is likely the ones identified in plants are associated with their phytobiome. Overall, the results of this project provide a molecular and biological characterization of novel geminiviruses and genomoviruses associated with cacti as well as demonstrate the impact of agro-ecological interfaces in the spread of viruses from or to native plants. It also highlights the importance of viral metagenomics studies in exploring virus diversity and evolution given then amount of virus diversity identified. This is important for conservation and management of cacti in a global scale, including the relevance of controlled movement of plants within countries.
ContributorsSalgado Fontenele, Rafaela (Author) / Varsani, Arvind (Thesis advisor) / Wilson, Melissa (Committee member) / Majure, Lucas (Committee member) / Van Doorslaer, Koenraad (Committee member) / Wojciechowski, Martin (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2021