skip to main content
US FlagAn official website of the United States government
dot gov icon
Official websites use .gov
A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States.
https lock icon
Secure .gov websites use HTTPS
A lock ( lock ) or https:// means you've safely connected to the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.

Explore Research Products in the PAR
It may take a few hours for recently added research products to appear in PAR search results.


Title: Re-engineering Concrete for Resilient and Sustainable Infrastructures
This paper considers the requirements of construction materials to support civil infrastructure resiliency and sustainability. Relevant properties of a re engineered ductile concrete, named Engineered Cementitious Composite (ECC), are reviewed under this framework. Based on a growing body of experimental data, it is suggested that the tensile and compressive ductility, the damage tolerance and tight crack width characteristics, and the self-healing functionality of ECC provides the foundation of a materials technological platform that contributes to structural durability and resiliency. The technology is undergoing a transition from laboratory studies to full-scale field applications. The state-of-the art of ECC technology is illustrated with highlights of an application in bridge deck retrofit aimed at enhancing infrastructure sustainability, and an application in a new building design aimed at enhancing building resiliency under earthquake loading.  more » « less
Award ID(s):
1634694
PAR ID:
10148594
Author(s) / Creator(s):
Date Published:
Journal Name:
Proc. Thinking Out of the Box in Infrastructure Development and Retrofitting
Format(s):
Medium: X
Sponsoring Org:
National Science Foundation
More Like this
  1. ; ; (, American Society of Civil Engineers)
    T. Matthew Evans, Ph.D. Nina Stark (Ed.)
    The expansive behavior of clayey soil in response to climate-induced changes in the soil water characteristic curve (SWCC) is a significant issue for many types of earth infrastructure. The application of geosynthetic material has been common to reduce the climate-induced changes in SWCC. Engineered turf, which is a composite geosynthetic material, has gained popularity for different earth systems to increase overall infrastructure resiliency. This paper’s objective was to investigate engineered turf’s effect on the climate-induced changes in SWCC at shallow depths in the field conditions using the statistical non-parametric measure: Spearman rank correlation coefficient (ρs). This research hypothesized that since the changes in soil moisture and suction would relatively be simultaneous for exposed ground under variable climate, thereby exhibiting a reasonable negative correlation between water content and suction, whereas the degree of simultaneity in the changes between water content and suction of the soil under the engineered turf would display arbitrary correlation. To test the hypothesis, two test beds, (1) a compacted clay bed (CCB) and (2) a compacted clay bed overlain by engineered turf (ETB), were constructed with expansive soil and instrumented with collocated moisture sensors and tensiometers identically to collect concurrent water content and suction data continuously. The analysis revealed that the estimated ρs values for CCB were almost −1.0 during different drying conditions indicating a very strong correlation. On the contrary, the estimated ρs values for ETB were +0.79 to −0.32 indicating an irrational to a weak correlation between ρs. The results indicated the engineered turf to be an effective barrier to climate-induced changes in SWCC. 
    more » « less
  2. ; (, Proceedings of the 2025 Conference on Research on Equitable and Sustained Participation in Engineering, Computing, and Technology (RESPECT 2025))
    Graduate computing programs are launchpads for innovative careers, yet a persistent access gap limits opportunities for graduate students with disabilities, particularly at the doctoral level. This paper therefore argues for targeted interventions to increase educational equity. We draw from the literature to outline key challenges and institutional barriers. We then propose prioritized actions for universities, which include crafting graduate-specific accommodation policies, enhancing assistive technology support, improving the accessibility of research materials and activities, and building disability-inclusive cultures. By building on existing disability support infrastructure-which currently focuses on undergraduates-institutions can broaden participation in graduate-level computing education. 
    more » « less
  3. ; (, IFIP advances in information and communication technology)
    Emergent vehicles will support a variety of connected applications, where a vehicle communicates with other vehicles or with the infrastructure to make a variety of decisions. Cooperative connected applications provide a critical foundational pillar for autonomous driving, and hold the promise of improving road safety, efficiency and environmental sustainability. However, they also induce a large and easily exploitable attack surface: an adversary can manipulate vehicular communications to subvert functionality of participating individual vehicles, cause catastrophic accidents, or bring down the transportation infrastructure. In this paper we outline a potential direction to address this critical problem through a resiliency framework, REDEM, based on machine learning. REDEM has several interesting features, including (1) smooth integration with the architecture of the underlying application, (2) ability to handle diverse communication attacks within the same underlying foundation, and (3) real-time detection and mitigation capability. We present the vision of REDEM, identify some key challenges to be addressed in its realization, and discuss the kind of evaluation/analysis necessary for its viability. We also present initial results from one instantiation of REDEM introducing resiliency in Cooperative Adaptive Cruise Control (CACC). 
    more » « less
  4. (, ACM)
    Integrated sensing and communication (ISAC) is considered an emerging technology for 6th-generation (6G) wireless and mobile networks. It is expected to enable a wide variety of vertical applications, ranging from unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) detection for critical infrastructure protection to physiological sensing for mobile healthcare. Despite its significant socioeconomic benefits, ISAC technology also raises unique challenges in system security and user privacy. Being aware of the security and privacy challenges, understanding the trade-off between security and communication performance, and exploring potential countermeasures in practical systems are critical to a wide adoption of this technology in various application scenarios. This talk will discuss various security and privacy threats in emerging ISAC systems with a focus on communication-centric ISAC systems, that is, using the cellular or WiFi infrastructure for sensing. We will then examine potential mechanisms to secure ISAC systems and protect user privacy at the physical and data layers under different sensing modes. At the wireless physical (PHY) layer, an ISAC system is subject to both passive and active attacks, such as unauthorized passive sensing, unauthorized active sensing, signal spoofing, and jamming. Potential countermeasures include wireless channel/radio frequency (RF) environment obfuscation, waveform randomization, anti-jamming communication, and spectrum/RF monitoring. At the data layer, user privacy could be compromised during data collection, sharing, storage, and usage. For sensing systems powered by artificial intelligence (AI), user privacy could also be compromised during the model training and inference stages. An attacker could falsify the sensing data to achieve a malicious goal. Potential countermeasures include the application of privacy enhancing technologies (PETs), such as data anonymization, differential privacy, homomorphic encryption, trusted execution, and data synthesis. 
    more » « less
  5. ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; et al (, PLOS Digital Health)
    Chua Chin Heng, Matthew (Ed.)
    Early Childhood Caries (ECC) is the most common childhood disease worldwide and a health disparity among underserved children. ECC is preventable and reversible if detected early. However, many children from low-income families encounter barriers to dental care. An at-home caries detection technology could potentially improve access to dental care regardless of patients’ economic status and address the overwhelming prevalence of ECC. Our team has developed a smartphone application (app), AICaries, that uses artificial intelligence (AI)-powered technology to detect caries using children’s teeth photos. We used mixed methods to assess the acceptance, usability, and feasibility of the AICaries app among underserved parent-child dyads. We conducted moderated usability testing (Step 1) with ten parent-child dyads using "Think-aloud" methods to assess the flow and functionality of the app and analyze the data to refine the app and procedures. Next, we conducted unmoderated field testing (Step 2) with 32 parent-child dyads to test the app within their natural environment (home) over two weeks. We administered the System Usability Scale (SUS) and conducted semi-structured individual interviews with parents and conducted thematic analyses. AICaries app received a 78.4 SUS score from the participants, indicating an excellent acceptance. Notably, the majority (78.5%) of parent-taken photos of children’s teeth were satisfactory in quality for detection of caries using the AI app. Parents suggested using community health workers to provide training to parents needing assistance in taking high quality photos of their young child’s teeth. Perceived benefits from using the AICaries app include convenient at-home caries screening, informative on caries risk and education, and engaging family members. Data from this study support future clinical trial that evaluates the real-world impact of using this innovative smartphone app on early detection and prevention of ECC among low-income children. 
    more » « less
  • Citation Formats
  • MLA
  • APA
  • Chicago
  • BibTeX
  • Save / Share this Record
  • Send to Email