Master of Science (MS), Ohio University, 2010, Civil Engineering (Engineering and Technology)

Ultra-High Performance Concrete (UHPC) is a new generation of cement based construction materials which features superior mechanical and material properties. Its compressive and flexural strengths are higher than 29 ksi and 7 ksi respectively. UHPC is reinforced with steel fibers of 0.5 to 1.0 in long and 0.008 in thick. Its constituent materials are extremely fine graded – smaller than 0.024 in. The improvement in micro-structural level results in very low permeability in UHPC which leads to enhancement in durability and resistance against all kinds of corrosion. For further utilization of UHPC in the industry, special knowledge of its behavior is needed. The minimum dimensions of structural members allowed by building code requirements are set based on conventional concrete. Since UHPC's constituent materials are more expensive than those of conventional concrete, utilization of UHPC with current minimum dimensions increases the cost drastically. Thus, development of new specifications and new applications is needed. A prior research at Ohio University has shown that the bond performance between UHPC and prestressing strands are satisfactory. This research addresses the flexural redistribution issue in UHPC. Four beams, with dimensions of approximately 50 in x 4 in x 4in were tested. The tests were set up such that two concentrated loads were applied at about the center of two spans supported at three points. The amount of moment redistribution from middle support into the spans were found to be 14 percent which is lower than 20 percent in conventional concrete allowed by ACI 318 – 08 building code requirements.

Committee: Eric Steinberg PhD (Advisor) Subjects: Civil Engineering

Master of Science (MS), Ohio University, 2024, Civil Engineering (Engineering and Technology)

Most research findings in the past have been inconclusive about the strength of the relationship between transportation investments and the national or state economy. In addition to this, there has been a plethora of arguments regarding the significance of positive relationships in a developed nation that already holds a well-connected and efficient transportation system. While the national and state-level impact of transportation has been questionable, most research agrees with the positive significance of the localized and redistribution impacts. Although economic development remains one of the important goals in the transportation planning process, the State Departments of Transportation (DOTs) struggle to find a simpler methodology to quantify the impact of transportation investment at the state level. Using time-series cross-sectional data from 19 peer states including the state of Ohio from 1970-2020, this thesis analyzed the significance of the relationship between highway capital outlay as well as annual road mileage added and economic development indicators of real GDP, real PCI, total employment, and population to develop a regression model. Furthermore, a case study was conducted for the state of Ohio to discern the impact of highway investment on its economy using time-series data from 1970-2020, as well as to observe the redistribution of the economy from 2000 to 2020 by the National Highway System (NHS) across the Ohio Counties. The research findings suggested that while highway capital outlay had a weak positive but significant relationship with economic change parameters among peer states, it was insignificant in the case of the state of Ohio. Additionally, the annual road miles added to the existing transportation system had no significant impact on any of the economic parameters except population change. The regression models developed with highway capital outlay as a predictor variable explained less than (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Deborah McAvoy (Committee Chair); Bhaven Naik (Committee Member); Issam Khoury (Committee Member); Ana Mojica Myers (Committee Member) Subjects: Civil Engineering; Economics; Transportation; Transportation Planning

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2022, Political Science

The twenty-first century in Latin America was, and remains, a period of dramatic changes. The economic crises and austerity policies of the 1980s and 1990s were replaced in the early 2000s by a "Pink Tide" of left-wing governments, windfall revenues from commodities exports, and expansions of social programs that reduced poverty and inequality. However, the commodity boom ended, the political right reemerged, and now right-wing populism along with democratic dissatisfaction are increasingly prevalent. In this dissertation, across a series of three papers, I analyze these nuances of contemporary Latin American politics, with a thematic focus on protection. I examine: why governments of different partisan varieties expand or retrench, in contrasting economic environments, social assistance programs that protect against poverty; why the political left's commitment to social assistance precipitated a class-based political backlash that led to the resurgence of the political right; and why individuals experiencing various types of insecurity aim to protect themselves from these threats by supporting attitudes and actors aligned with the authoritarian populist political right. To accomplish this, I utilize a variety of data—at the country and individual levels, as well as varying over time—and empirical approaches, including causal inference strategies. First, I find that the political left, rather than the political right, retrenched social assistance following the end of the commodity boom, due to—I argue—the pressures the left faces from investors to reduce spending during economic downturns, whereas the right is more restricted by domestic opposition to welfare retrenchment. Second, despite these empirical patterns, the left's perceived ideological commitment to redistribution and the lower socioeconomic classes alienated its former, more-privileged constituencies, who supported the political right in greater numbers throughout the 2010s. Third, people experiencing gr (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Sarah Brooks (Committee Chair); Philipp Rehm (Committee Member); Marcus Kurtz (Committee Member) Subjects: Political Science

Master of Science, The Ohio State University, 2021, Psychology

Socio-economic inequality is on the rise in in the United States and the rest of the world. Redistributive policies have the potential to reduce socio-economic inequality. What motivates people to support redistributive policies? Across 3 studies with over 700 participants, compassionate goals towards the poor, or the intention to support the well-being of the poor, predicted support for redistributive policies, even after accounting for the effects of factors that influence opposition to redistributive policies. Furthermore, compassionate goals towards the poor attenuated or overrode the influence of racial prejudice on support for redistributive policies. In Study 3, we manipulated whether people think of the poor as Whites or Blacks. Although this subtle manipulation did not interact with compassionate goals towards the poor or with prejudice against Blacks to predict support for redistributive policies, compassionate goals towards the poor still predicted more support for redistributive policies. These findings suggest that compassionate goals towards the poor could be one potential factor to influence support for redistributive policies. These policies, in turn, have the potential to reduce socio-economic inequality and foster sustainable development for any modern society.

Committee: Jennifer Crocker (Advisor); Steven Spencer (Committee Member); Russel Fazio (Committee Member) Subjects: Psychology

Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.), Bowling Green State University, 2021, Philosophy, Applied

This dissertation addresses the problem of issue individuation in public reason liberalism. The problem of issue individuation involves how laws relate to one another for purposes of public justification. That is, how many laws may be justified at once? The dissertation first provides an overview of the literature on issue individuation, and articulates three conditions any principle of issue individuation must meet. Then it articulates a solution to the problem of issue individuation in the form of a functional independence principle, which individuates laws based on the goals of idealized members of the public. Finally, the dissertation explores the implications of the functional independence principle on arguments regarding property rights and egalitarian redistribution.

Committee: Kevin Vallier (Advisor); Gary Oates (Other); Brandon Warmke (Committee Member); Michael Weber (Committee Member) Subjects: Philosophy

Master of Science, The Ohio State University, 2020, Mechanical Engineering

This numerical study investigates particle trajectories, impacts, and rebounds in two serpentine inlets. One has been designed for boundary layer ingestion (BLI) and commercial application, with a long length-to-diameter ratio, while the other has more aggressive turns, typical of a single-engine fighter aircraft. Using ANSYS Fluent, computational models of the two inlets are subjected to a flow field representative of an aircraft climbing after takeoff, a point where particle ingesting can readily occur. A range of particle diameters, 1-100 microns, are then injected with the engine inlet flow slipstream well upstream of the actual inlet using an Eulerian-Lagrangian tracking scheme through a steady RANS solution. The effect of flow turbulence on particle trajectories is incorporated through the discrete random walk model. The OSU Deposition model is used to predict rebounds and their trajectories. The model accounts for elastic and plastic deformation of a particle, as well as adhesion, shear removal, and reentrainment into the flow. Particle trajectories and spatial distributions are shown to have a strong diameter dependence. Larger particles impact the inlet upper wall ballistically, while small particles are affected by the secondary flows that develop within the inlet. The larger particles become concentrated at the AIP, with the Military inlet showing higher concentrations and a broader range of particle diameters becoming concentrated than the Commercial inlet (4-5x vs 2-3x concentration levels & >20 microns vs. >25 microns, respectively). Smaller particles can become entrained in the secondary flows that develop, changing the velocity and incidence angle when they reach the fan, which would change anticipated erosion rates. More than 50% of particles >40 microns impact inside the Military inlet, while the Commercial inlet only sees a 50% impact rate for 100 micron particles. Similarly, the Military inlet sees more than 50% of ingested particles >75 m (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Jeffrey Bons Dr. (Advisor); Mo Samimy Dr. (Committee Member) Subjects: Aerospace Engineering; Mechanical Engineering

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2015, Political Science

This dissertation consists of four self-contained essays in the comparative political economy of taxation and redistribution. The first essay empirically explores the underlying dynamics of the well known empirical regularity that democracies that have proportional electoral systems spend substantively more on welfare policies than those that have majoritarian systems. The essay contributes to the literature by bringing new micro-level evidence to bear on theories seeking to explain the phenomena, and as such provides a stronger empirical foundation for evaluating the theories in question. Overall, I find robust support for more proportionality leading to more income-based voting. The second essay provides a theoretically-driven conceptualization of absolute and relative individual income shifts and argues that the conceptualization of income shifts has important implications for how we think about the effects of the economy on redistributive preferences. The essay presents a general theoretical framework, which accounts for empirical findings on both the effects of economic mobility and macroeconomic cycles on redistribution. Based on a novel experimental ``redistribution game'', the results indicate that expected shifts in absolute and relative income have opposite effects on preferences. The third essay argues that employment insecurity as a critical and salient factor determining incumbent support and voter turnout. The theory developed goes beyond existing approaches by providing a better conceptualized measure of salient economic experiences, as well as highlighting that the economy can often serve both as a valance and positional issue, which can have important implications for the effects of the economy on voting behavior. Finally, the fourth essay develops and empirically tests a theory of the domestic political foundations of the adoption of the value added tax, or VAT. Building on the recent literature on the relationship between regressive taxation and w (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Philipp Rehm (Advisor); Janet Box-Steffensmeier (Committee Member); Sarah Brooks (Committee Member) Subjects: Political Science

Master of Humanities (MHum), Wright State University, 2008, Humanities

In 1952, Guatemala enacted the Agrarian Reform Law Decree 900. The Decree became an instrument for national development through land redistribution and the development of agrarian rights. Although the law was only upheld for eighteen months, the Decree influenced land and labor legislation through today. Struggles for agrarian rights continued throughout the military dictatorship and civil war which plagued Guatemala until the signing of the 1996 Peace Accords. Ideals for land reform originating in the 1952 law continue to have a pervasive influence on the Guatemalan land reform movement. This study is further contextualized and framed with quotes and analysis from Jose Luis Paredes Moreira's investigation of Decree 900 and its impact in Guatemala. The second section of this project includes an original translation of Decree 900.

Committee: David Garrison PhD (Committee Chair); December Green PhD (Committee Member); David Petreman PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: Demographics; History; International Law; International Relations; Language Arts; Latin American History; Law; Military History; Political Science; Romance Literature; Social Structure

MS, University of Cincinnati, 2012, Engineering and Applied Science: Civil Engineering

Moment redistribution from interior piers to adjacent spans of straight continuous span bridge girders is an alternate inelastic design procedure, Appendix B6 of the AASHTO LRFD Bridge Design Specifications (AASHTO 2010) that was formerly known as autostress design prior to the 2004 AASHTO Specification (Kayser 2005). This alternative inelastic design procedure recognizes that there is additional capacity beyond the elastic range of the material; when this additional capacity is recognized, localized yielding and inelastic rotation occurs at the section of maximum moment, over an interior pier of a continuous span (Kayser 2005). Moment at this location is automatically relocated or redistributed to the adjacent spans that generally have a lower moment demand (Kayser 2005). Once the moment has been redistributed, a more balanced moment envelope is obtained (Kayser 2005). The reduction in the maximum moment allows the section over the interior pier to be designed for a smaller moment, resulting in a reduced section, fatigue details, material weight, and fabrication costs (Kayser 2005). This research investigated if Appendix B6 of the AASHTO LRFD Bridge Design Specifications (AASHTO 2010) is an acceptable method for predicting inelastic behavior of a typical single full-length continuous steel hybrid highway bridge I-girder fabricated from HPS-100W flanges and conventional steel webs, with specified minimum yield strength of 100.0 ksi and 50.0 ksi., respectively. Through finite element modeling, it was found that AASHTO (2010) predictions for moment-rotation behaviors are similar for a full-length continuous steel hybrid highway bridge I-girder fabricated from HPS-100W flanges and conventional steel webs, with specified minimum yield strength of 100.0 ksi and 50.0 ksi, respectively. However, further investigation is required to determine if a maximum allowable plastic rotation should be inflicted to prevent the possibility of rupture of the flange. In addition, this (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: James Swanson PhD (Committee Chair); Eric Dues BS (Committee Member); Thomas Baseheart PhD (Committee Member); Gian Rassati PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: Civil Engineering

PhD, University of Cincinnati, 2006, Engineering : Civil Engineering

High Performance Steel (HPS) has quickly gained popularity in bridge applications due to its high yield strength and better weldability, toughness, ductility, and weathering characteristics when compared to conventional grades of 50 ksi (345 MPa) structural steel. However, a great deal of information is missing from the body of knowledge on HPS performance and design criteria, especially concerning HPS-70W (485W) produced by thermo-mechanical controlled processing (TMCP). This research examines material characteristics and fatigue performance of HPS-70W (485W) TMCP, as well as its performance in inelastic loading ranges. Data from 96 tensile tests show that yield and ultimate strengths of HPS-70W (485W) TMCP are dependent upon plate thickness and orientation. 75 Charpy V-Notch (CVN) specimens were tested, and all met ASTM A709 requirement. Twenty-nine specimens were tested to investigate the fatigue resistance of HPS-70W (485W) continuous plate with punched holes. Specimen thickness, hole diameter, and hole-making method were varied to examine their effect upon fatigue resistance of punched connections utilizing HPS. Results from this investigation suggest that current restrictions mandated by some state DOTs concerning punching holes are not overly restrictive when HPS-485W (70W) is utilized. Performance of drilled and sub-punched and reamed specimens met or exceeded AASHTO (2004) requirements. Performance of Submerged Arc Weld (SAW) and Narrow Gap Improved Electroslag Weld (NGI-ESW) welded butt-splices utilizing HPS-70W (485W) were examined. Five SAW and five NGI-ESW specimens were tested in fatigue and all reached infinite life. All ten specimens performed considerably better than predicted by AASHTO. Results from this study suggest that it is reasonable to include HPS-70W (485W)welded butt-splices created using NGI-ESW in the AWS D1.5 specification (2001). Moment redistribution properties were also examined through a finite element investigation in conjunction w (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Dr. James Swanson (Advisor) Subjects: Engineering, Civil

Master of Science, The Ohio State University, 2010, Civil Engineering

Progressive collapse has been of an increasing concern in the structural engineering community, especially since the collapse of the World Trade Center towers in 2001. As a result of increasing catastrophic events in recent years, the prevention of progressive collapse is becoming a requirement in building design and analysis. A large number of studies have been performed to improve the design of the building against progressive collapse and to evaluate the progressive collapse potential of existing and new buildings by using computer programs and analytical tools. However, experimental evidence is still necessary to validate the computational analysis tools to better simulate the progressive collapse of structures. In this research, both experimental and analytical assessments of the progressive collapse potential of existing buildings were conducted. Two actual steel frame buildings, the Ohio Union building in Columbus, Ohio and the Bankers Life and Casualty Company (BLCC) building in Northbrook, Illinois were tested by physically removing four first-story columns prior to buildings' scheduled demolition. During the field tests the changes in column axial forces were measured, and the recorded strains were compared with the analysis results from computer models. A commercially available computer program, SAP2000 was used to model and analyze the test buildings, following the General Services Administration guidelines (GSA, 2003). Two-dimensional (2-D) as well as three-dimensional (3-D) models of each building were developed to analyze and compare the progressive collapse response. Also, two different analysis procedures were evaluated for their effectiveness in modeling progressive collapse scenarios; linear static and nonlinear dynamic procedures. The measured strain data compared relatively well with the analysis results of SAP2000. In particular, 3-D model was more accurate than 2-D model, because 3-D models can account for 3-D effects as well as avoid overly (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Halil Sezen PhD (Advisor); Hojjat Adeli PhD (Committee Member); Shive Chaturvedi PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: Civil Engineering

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2007, Electrical Engineering

Aside from trying to mimic the small yet powerful actuators and sensing systems that animals employ while running, understanding and implementing the control mechanisms that animals use to robustly negotiate uneven terrain at high speeds remains an unsolved problem. The objective of this dissertation is to make a significant contribution toward the development of a controller for the high-speed quadruped trot over uneven terrain. The trot was chosen because of its energy efficiency over a wide range of running speeds and its widespread use in nature. To this end, this dissertation 1) presents a fuzzy control strategy that manages the complex coupling between system inputs and body state to successfully track forward velocity and heading in a trot at high speeds and over uneven terrain, and 2) introduces a method for redistributing the leg forces during the support period to stabilize the body's tilt motion without overpowering or significantly disturbing the passive dynamics of a biomimetic trot. The controller stabilizes a 3D trot in simulation at 5.25 m/s, which is above the target speed of 3.90 m/s at which an animal of its mass would be expected to transition to its higher-speed gait, the gallop. The preferred trotting speed of a quadruped with this mass is 2.85 m/s. The quadruped can turn at 30 deg/s when running at this speed, and can maneuver over uneven terrain at 4.25 m/s. This work resulted in the first published report of quadruped heading control when running at such high speeds and is the first reported control of high-speed running over uneven terrain. The controller incorporates principles of the SLIP (spring-loaded inverted pendulum) model and the idea that animals redistribute vertical impulses during stance to stabilize pitch. The SLIP model is a simple spring-mass system that produces behavior similar to that observed in four-legged trotters and two-legged runners. Force redistribution is the process of altering the large leg forces that naturally (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: David Orin (Advisor) Subjects:

Master of Science (MS), Ohio University, 2008, Civil Engineering (Engineering and Technology)

Nine two-span continuous reinforced concrete beams with point loads 4.5' on each side of the center reaction were tested. This tested the effects of both longitudinal and transverse reinforcement on the shear strength of the beams. Results of testing the beams showed the effects of maximum shear and moment occurring at the center reaction.Three sets of three beams were constructed to examine the affect varying the amount of longitudinal and transverse reinforcement had on the flexural and shear strength of a beam. Within a set of beams, the longitudinal reinforcement consisted of either No. 3, 8, or 10 reinforcing bars. Transverse reinforcement was consistent for each set of beams. The first set of beams did not have any shear reinforcement and were used to study the effects of longitudinal reinforcement on the shear strength of a beam. The second set of beams considered the effects maximum transverse reinforcement spacing has on the shear strength of a continuous beam. The third set of beams was used to examine whether further increases in transverse reinforcement were sufficient to preserve the shear strength when the flexural steel yields. Specimens with No. 3 longitudinal bars explored the flexural characteristics of continuous beams with minimum longitudinal reinforcement ratios. Specimens with larger longitudinal reinforcement were used to evaluate the effects of more longitudinal reinforcement had on the shear strength and moment distribution. A test was performed to determine deformed welded wire fabrics ability to be used as transverse reinforcement. Measured values from testing were compared to calculated values from ACI 318-05 Building Code Requirements for Structural Concrete, which provided conservative results in both shear and flexural capacity when shear reinforcement existed.

Committee: Eric P. Steinberg PhD (Committee Chair); Shad Sargand PhD (Committee Member); Annie Shen PhD (Committee Member); Terry Masada PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: Civil Engineering; Engineering

Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.), Bowling Green State University, 2008, Philosophy

The goal of this dissertation is to answer two questions: Is global poverty unjust, such that coercive remedies may be imposed to alleviate it? And if so, does it justify global redistribution as a remedy? This dissertation takes up the same task initiated by Thomas Pogge in his 2002 book, World Poverty and Human Rights, in that the theory of justice from which these questions are answered assigns priority to negative duties of non-interference, rather thanpositive duties of assistance. More specifically, the theory of cosmopolitan justice underlying this evaluation is that of natural rights liberalism in the tradition of John Locke and Robert Nozick. According to this theory, global poverty could be unjust only if it was the result of violating individual rights. The first half of the dissertation explores the ways in which Pogge claims poverty is the result of rights violations, "that such poverty is the result of a tainted global history and that the current distribution of global resources violates the right to fair shares," ultimately denying that these ground the injustice of poverty. Instead, I argue that global poverty is unjust because a distribution of resources that contains severe poverty violates the minimal access proviso, a constraint on property rights that takes the deprivation of others to limit the property rights of some. The second half of the dissertation, then, addresses the sorts of remedies that are justified given this injustice. Specifically, I explore why global redistribution is not the appropriate remedy for the deprivation faced by the global poor. Instead, I argue that the remedy should affect the underlying causes of such poverty and, hence, recommend institutional reforms, such as the liberalization of trade and the movement of people across borders.

Committee: Steven Wall PhD (Committee Chair); Fred Miller PhD (Committee Member); Jeffrey Moriarty PhD (Committee Member); Ellen Paul PhD (Committee Member); Rachel Vannatta PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: Philosophy

Master of Science, The Ohio State University, 2013, Welding Engineering

Recent attention has been given to developing austenitic high-Mn steels for cryogenic service conditions. Specifically, the austenite stabilizing capacities of Mn and C are being exploited to create lower cost alternatives to other cryogenic materials (9Ni steel, Invar, 304 SS, etc.) which are commonly used during the construction of liquefied natural gas (LNG) tanks. The proposed steel alloys contain Mn levels in the range of 20 to 28 wt% and C additions on the order of 0.4 wt%. Although austenite stability is beneficial from a low temperature mechanical property standpoint, the presence of such high concentrations of austenite stabilizing elements causes concern with regard to hot cracking during welding. The solidification cracking susceptibility of a wide range of high-Mn steel weld metal compositions was assessed through cast pin tear (CPT) testing. The tested compositions fell within the following ranges (wt%): Mn (14-34), C (0-0.7), and Al (0-3). Impurity elements were also present in the following ranges (wt%): S (0.005-0.011) and P (0.003-0.026). A total of 12 compositions were tested. It was found that C and P controlled the solidification cracking susceptibility of these alloys. In addition to solidification cracking testing, solidification temperature range (STR) analysis was performed on the test matrix using single-sensor differential thermal analysis (SS-DTA) and modified Scheil solidification simulations. STR analysis has previously been related to the weld solidification cracking tendencies of austenitic alloy systems, with large STR values relating to an increased susceptibility to solidification cracking. The measured and calculated STR values in this investigation exhibited a similar relationship. Results indicate that the tested alloys all exhibit primary austenite solidification. It was determined that C and P segregation were primarily responsible for STR expansion. Optical and scanning electron microscopy (OM and SEM) were used (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: John Lippold (Advisor); Sudarsanam Babu (Committee Member) Subjects: Engineering; Materials Science; Metallurgy