KU ScholarWorks
KU ScholarWorks is the institutional repository of the University of Kansas, featuring scholarly work by KU faculty, staff and students.
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Publication Investigation of Wicking Geotextile for Moisture Reduction and Interaction of Soil with Fines(University of Kansas, 2024-01-01)Geotextiles, made of synthetic materials like polyester and polypropylene, have long been used for drainage in pavements. However, they are often ineffective to remove moisture under unsaturated soil conditions after precipitation and/or groundwater rise, leading to pavement distresses. To address these problems, a wicking geotextile with specialized nylon fibers, featuring deep grooves for high capillary forces, has been developed. This geotextile efficiently absorbs and removes water from its surrounding soil, mitigating pavement distresses resulting from frost heave, freeze-thaw, and poor drainage. To drain water out of road sections, the geotextiles need to get wet first. In this study, the wettability of three different types of geotextiles, namely wicking woven (WW) geotextile, non-wicking woven (NWW) geotextile, and nonwoven (NW) geotextile, was investigated in terms of their contact angles dependent on water-geotextile interaction. Test results show that the contact angle decreased to smaller than 90° and the droplet disappeared on the wicking woven geotextile within a few seconds after water dropping, while the contact angle remained larger than or approximately equal to 90° on the other two types of geotextiles within the observation period. This comparison indicates that water penetrated faster into the wicking woven geotextile than other geotextiles. Subgrade soils and base courses under pavements often remain unsaturated throughout their service life, except during precipitation or changes in groundwater levels. The content of moisture present in a soil under an unsaturated condition after gravitational drainage is termed as the field moisture capacity (FMC), commonly used by soil scientists and agricultural engineers to assess water availability for plants. However, laboratory methods to determine FMC are lacking. Hence, a simple test method was developed in this study to determine FMCs for sands at different fines contents (0%, 5%, 10%, and 15%). The effectiveness of the wicking geotextile in reducing soil moisture is influenced by fines in the soil. The limit for the effectiveness of the wicking geotextile in unsaturated soils at fines contents remains unknown. This study developed a simple moisture reduction test method using polycarbonate test boxes as soil columns in the laboratory to quantify the effectiveness of the wicking geotextile in reducing moisture in sands at different fine contents (0%, 5%, 10%, and 15%) and waiting periods (3, 7, 14, and 28 days). A non-wicking woven geotextile was used for comparison. Test results reveal that the moisture reduction by the wicking geotextile decreased with the fines content in the silty sand, while the non-wicking geotextile hindered water flow, leading to moisture accumulation. The measured moisture content profile in the soil column indicated the influence zone of the wicking geotextile varied with the fines content. Woven geotextiles are commonly employed to reinforce slopes, walls, and roads, where soil-geotextile interface shear strength is an important design parameter. While the wicking geotextile can enhance hydraulic performance in such applications, the interface behavior and properties of the wicking geotextile with its surrounding soils are not well investigated. This study conducted large interface shear tests to assess wicking geotextile-sand interface strengths, considering a range of fines and moisture contents. The calculated interaction coefficients between the wicking geotextile and sands with 0%, 5%, and 10% fines were 0.9, 0.81, and 0.78, respectively, under normal stresses of 12.5, 25.0, and 50.0 kPa. Moisture adversely affects road performance by softening subgrade soil, reducing load-bearing capacity, and increasing compressibility. Previous studies mostly focused on the improvement of aggregate bases by the wicking geotextile under rainfall conditions. However, little is known about the benefits of the wicking geotextile in improving sandy subgrade with fines, especially at field moisture capacities under cyclic loading. Six large-scale cyclic plate loading tests were conducted to investigate control, wicking-geotextile improved, and non-wicking geotextile improved sections on sand subgrades with 0% and 10% fines. A 10-day drainage period was allowed for all test sections. Test results show the wicking geotextile reduced moisture from both aggregate base and sand subgrade at a field moisture capacity condition and permanent deformations of the aggregate base over the sand subgrades with 0% and 10% fines due to the combined mechanical stabilization and drainage effects.Publication United to Transform: A Comprehensive Statewide Needs Assessment of Substance Use Disorder (SUD) Systems and Related Work in Kansas(Center for Public Partnerships & Research, University of Kansas, 2025)The opioid epidemic is the latest of many substance use crises that have ravaged Kansas families and communities. Beginning in the mid-to-late 1990s, deaths related to prescription opioid pain medication grew steadily, followed by increases in heroin and methamphetamine overdose fatalities and the sudden rise in drug-related deaths from fentanyl beginning in 2014 and continuing today (State Health Access Data Assistance Center, n.d.). The Kansas Fights Addiction (KFA) Act Grant Review Board is poised to build a multi-sector approach to address this crisis and prevent the next by convening a broad array of partners. This needs assessment is designed to support such transformational change, drawing on foresight methods, community engagement, and a rich mix of data from multiple sources.Item Innovations that changed mammalogy: frozen tissue collections(Oford University Press, 2025-08-10)Freezing has proven to be an ideal means for preserving tissues for molecular research on mammals. Here, we trace the origins, early practices, and rapid growth of frozen tissue collections to better understand the history, science, and people that led to the early development and recent growth of these internationally valuable research resources. Frozen tissue collections grew gradually from rudimentary beginnings in the early 1970s but have expanded rapidly in recent years, providing data for studies on biodiversity, phylogenetics, emerging pathogens, isotopes, and contaminants, among other avenues of research. Over the decades, field collecting and tissue storage have changed significantly. In the mid-1980s, for example, the development of polymerase chain reaction—which allowed researchers to amplify a specific segment of DNA many times over—reinforced the importance of frozen tissue resources to the burgeoning field of molecular genetics. Ultracold mechanical freezers that hold tissues at −80 °C became, and remain, popular because of their ease of use and delayed DNA degradation. Portable liquid nitrogen dewars have evolved from rudimentary metal tanks to compact “dry shippers” with an absorbent liner that can maintain tissues at low temperatures for 30 d without being refilled and are commonplace in the field. Larger, vapor-phase nitrogen cryotanks are becoming increasingly popular for long-term tissue preservation because they safeguard tissues from thermal fluctuation that may be induced by temporary electrical failures. More than 1.5 million tissue samples associated with museum voucher preparations are now preserved in research collections worldwide, allowing for in-depth study of mammalian genetics and investigation of research questions that were unimaginable even a few years ago.Publication The Discourse of Desire During Times of Crisis in Mexican Novels of the 1980's(University of Kansas, 2003-05-31)After enjoying nearly four decades of unprecedented political stability and economic growth later labeled the "Mexican Miracle" (1940-1980), Mexico plunged into the depths of economic and social crisis when petroleum prices plummeted in 1982. What followed was a long period of economic and political uncertainty, impacting society on many different levels. This study explores how this cultural and spiritual angst is manifested in the literature of the 1980s. The literature published during this time of crisis in Mexico provides an intriguing framework in which to explore issues of national and cultural identity. Much of the fiction of this decade deals with thematic variants of desire: profound nostalgia (desire for an idealized past), anguished self-questioning (desire to know the self), or intense yearning for spiritual or sexual connections (desire for another). This overt preoccupation with desire informs the central question of my own exploration--that is, the theoretical significance of desire in the novels published in Mexico during the turbulent decade of the 1980s. Three novels stand out for their treatment of desire and its relation to questions of national and cultural identity: Angeles Mastretta's Arrancame la vida (1985), Alberto Ruy Sanchez's Los nombres del aire (1987) and Federico Patan's Puertas antiguas (1989). While portraying desire as an integral thematic component, each offers diverging views on what constitutes Mexican identity. Thus, through my exploration of Mexican subjectivity, gender formation, and desire, my goal in this study has been to show that Mexican identity is not so easily defined. In summary, ·this study explores how the discourse of desire in recent Mexican novels participates in the articulation of a nation's anxieties during times of crisis.Publication A study of the effectiveness of a Chapter I reading program at the first grade level designed to provide oral language development, readiness and beginning reading training, and computer assisted drill and practice correlated with classroom instruction(University of Kansas, 1984-12-31)The purpose of this study was to determine if the Chapter I reading program could be instrumental in a preventive approach in the first grades. Students were identified as not having basic readiness skills intact upon entering first grade by the district language arts consultant, classroom teacher, and the Chapter I reading specialist. There were four experimental groups that received additional readiness and oral language development training, as well as being given more time on reading tasks taught in the regular classroom. The micro-computer was used with software that was designed by the basal publisher to parallel the reading skills being taught in the regular classroom. The objective was to correlate beginning reading instruction closely with classroom instruction while providing a research-based eclectic approach to compensatory language development and readiness instruction. There were four groups of students identified in the same manner who did not receive the additional reading classes until it was possible under the normal Chapter I policy guidelines, after January on a space available basis, or who did not receive special services at all. The ~l students selected for the study attended three Chapter I elementary schools in Unified School District 497, Lawrence, Kansas. Nineteen of the first graders were enrolled in the Chapter I reading program and received reading instruction 30 minutes daily four days a week. Scores for data analysis were obtained from seven testing instruments: the Clymer-Barrett Readiness Test, the Boehm Test of Basic Concepts, the Structured Photographic Language Test II, and four subtests of an informal survey designed by the reading specialists: (1) independent written production of upper case letters in sequence (2) written production of dictated, lower case, out-of-sequence letters (3) auditory recognition of and verbal production of initial consonant sounds (4) auditory recognition of rhyming words. These seven tests were administered twice during the 1983-1984 school year as pretests and posttests. Raw scores were the criteria used to measure the dependent variable, reading achievement, except for the Structured Photographic Language Test which required the use of percentage scores. The t-test was used to determine the level of difference between the control group and experimental group results. The .05 level of significance was selected as the appropriate level for acceptance or rejection of the null hypothesis. This study demonstrated that there were significant main effects for treatment groups on three measures: the Clymer-Barrett Readiness Test, the written independent production of upper case letters in sequence, and the written production of dictated, lower case, out-of-sequence letters. There was no significant main effect on the Boehm Test of Basic Concepts, the Structured Photographic Language Test II, the auditory recognition and verbal production of initial consonant sounds, and the auditory recognition of rhyming words.