Destination Areas (DAs)

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https://hdl.handle.net/10919/78628
Destination Areas provide faculty and students with new tools to identify and solve complex, 21st-century problems in which Virginia Tech already has significant strengths and can take a global leadership role. The initiative represents the next step in the evolution of the land-grant university to meet economic and societal needs of the world.

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Browsing Destination Areas (DAs) by Author "Abbas, Montasir M."

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    Effect of Curing on Mechanical Properties of Cement-Stabilized Coral Sand in Marine Environment
    Chen, Mingyuan; Geng, Jiuguang; Xiong, Haocheng; Shang, Tao; Xue, Cheng; Abbas, Montasir M. (Hindawi, 2020-07-22)
    The use of coral sand prepared from cement-stabilized materials can significantly reduce the cost, construction period, and damage to the environment caused by stone mining. The choice of water in mixing and curing the cement-stabilized materials on islands should be considered. Cement-stabilized coral sand was tested in three different preparation and maintenance systems in the marine environment. The compressive strength, weight change, and chloride ion concentration change in cement-stabilized coral sand with different cement content were measured after 7 d, 28 d, 60 d, and 90 d, respectively. The microstructure of specimens was observed by XRD and SEM. Results show that the compressive strength of specimens in the seawater mixing and seawater curing system developed 0.9 MPa faster than that in the fresh water mixing and curing system at an early stage. But the compressive strength of specimens in seawater mixing and seawater curing shrank later, being 0.5 MPa lower than that in fresh water mixing and curing. The cement content was positively correlated with the free chloride ion reaction and mass growth rate. For road construction on islands, the mixing and curing of cement-stabilized coral sand with seawater should be given priority in the early stage.
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    Impact of COVID-19 pandemic on mobility in ten countries and associated perceived risk for all transport modes
    Barbieri, Diego Maria; Lou, Baowen; Passavanti, Marco; Hui, Cang; Hoff, Inge; Lessa, Daniela Antunes; Sikka, Gaurav; Chang, Kevin; Gupta, Akshay; Fang, Kevin; Banerjee, Arunabha; Maharaj, Brij; Lam, Louisa; Ghasemi, Navid; Naik, Bhaven; Wang, Fusong; Mirhosseini, Ali Foroutan; Naseri, Sahra; Liu, Zhuangzhuang; Qiao, Yaning; Tucker, Andrew; Wijayaratna, Kasun; Peprah, Prince; Adomako, Solomon; Yu, Lei; Goswami, Shubham; Chen, Hao; Shu, Benan; Hessami, Amir; Abbas, Montasir M.; Agarwal, Nithin; Rashidi, Taha Hossein (2021-02-01)
    The restrictive measures implemented in response to the COVID-19 pandemic have triggered sudden massive changes to travel behaviors of people all around the world. This study examines the individual mobility patterns for all transport modes (walk, bicycle, motorcycle, car driven alone, car driven in company, bus, subway, tram, train, airplane) before and during the restrictions adopted in ten countries on six continents: Australia, Brazil, China, Ghana, India, Iran, Italy, Norway, South Africa and the United States. This cross-country study also aims at understanding the predictors of protective behaviors related to the transport sector and COVID-19. Findings hinge upon an online survey conducted in May 2020 (N = 9,394). The empirical results quantify tremendous disruptions for both commuting and non-commuting travels, highlighting substantial reductions in the frequency of all types of trips and use of all modes. In terms of potential virus spread, airplanes and buses are perceived to be the riskiest transport modes, while avoidance of public transport is consistently found across the countries. According to the Protection Motivation Theory, the study sheds new light on the fact that two indicators, namely income inequality, expressed as Gini index, and the reported number of deaths due to COVID-19 per 100,000 inhabitants, aggravate respondents' perceptions. This research indicates that socio-economic inequality and morbidity are not only related to actual health risks, as well documented in the relevant literature, but also to the perceived risks. These findings document the global impact of the COVID-19 crisis as well as provide guidance for transportation practitioners in developing future strategies.