Engineering Commons^™

Open Source Foundations For Spatial Decision Support Systems, Jochen Albrecht

Publications and Research

Spatial Decision Support Systems (SDSS) were a hot topic in the 1990s, when researchers tried to imbue GIS with additional decision support features. Successful practical developments such as HAZUS or CommunityViz have since been built, based on commercial desktop software and without much heed for theory other than what underlies their process models. Others, like UrbanSim, have been completely overhauled twice but without much external scrutiny. Both the practical and the theoretical foundations of decision support systems have developed considerably over the past 20 years. This article presents an overview of these developments and then looks at what corresponding tools …

Analysis And Simulation Of Convolution Reverb Using City Tech’S New Auditorium, Tian Leng

Publications and Research

In digital signal processing, convolution reverb can simulate the reverberation of a real acoustic space. The acoustics of different seating areas in an auditorium can vary from each other. To determine the reverberant characteristics of City Tech new building’s auditorium, impulse response (IR) signals are recorded in five key locations of the auditorium.

Directly recorded balloon burst is chosen as the source of impulse source. An omnidirectional and a cardioid microphone with flat frequency response curves are used to record IR signals to 24-bit monophonic wav files. Each IR signal, along with a vocal, is convoluted in MATLAB through both …

Smart Iot Sprinkler System, Galib F. Rahman

Publications and Research

The average family spends more than $1000 in water costs per year. One-way water is commonly wasted in many households is via inefficient sprinkler systems for lawns. Current technology has enabled the development of automatic sprinkler systems, which can be preconfigured to operate at desired times of day and intervals. Although these systems may reduce the amount of water utilized overall, they are not weather forecast aware. In situations when rainfall is upcoming the systems still water the lawn. In this project, we plan to implement a smart sprinkler system that has full awareness of upcoming weather and take account …

Solar & Rain Catching Canopy "Urban Oasis 2", Afolabi Ibitoye, Cheriyah Wilmot, Alexander Aptekar, Grzegorz Kosieradzki, Kaiyrgul Sultanova, Jude Vallon

Publications and Research

The accumulation of water runoff during rain storms is a major problem in New York City’s combination water systems, forcing water treatment plants to release untreated excess water. To avoid overfilling of the sewer system by this grey water, pocket parks and gardens will be used to absorb the excess rainfall. We will be harnessing nature’s resources with current technologies such as: solar panels combined with rain catching canopies, to beautify the environment, educate the public about sustainability, stimulate growth to local businesses through increased foot traffic and bringing social awareness on environmental issues.

The canopies are designed to collect …

Review Of Recent Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Studies Of Ion Transport In Polymer Electrolytes, Stephen Munoz, Steven Greenbaum

Publications and Research

Current and future demands for increasing the energy density of batteries without sacrificing safety has led to intensive worldwide research on all solid state Li-based batteries. Given the physical limitations on inorganic ceramic or glassy solid electrolytes, development of polymer electrolytes continues to be a high priority. This brief review covers several recent alternative approaches to polymer electrolytes based solely on poly(ethyleneoxide) (PEO) and the use of nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) to elucidate structure and ion transport properties in these materials.

Increased Excitability Induced In The Primary Motor Cortex By Transcranial Ultrasound Stimulation, Benjamin C. Gibson, Joseph L. Sanguinetti, Bashar W. Badran, Alfred B. Yu, Evan P. Klein, Christopher C. Abbott, Jeffrey T. Hansberger, Vincent P. Clark

Publications and Research

Background: Transcranial Ultrasound Stimulation (tUS) is an emerging technique that uses ultrasonic waves to noninvasively modulate brain activity. As with other forms of non-invasive brain stimulation (NIBS), tUS may be useful for altering cortical excitability and neuroplasticity for a variety of research and clinical applications. The effects of tUS on cortical excitability are still unclear, and further complications arise from the wide parameter space offered by various types of devices, transducer arrangements, and stimulation protocols. Diagnostic ultrasound imaging devices are safe, commonly available systems that may be useful for tUS. However, the feasibility of modifying brain activity with diagnostic tUS …

Programmable Time-Domain Digital-Coding Metasurface For Non-Linear Harmonic Manipulation And New Wireless Communication Systems, Jie Zhao, Xi Yang, Jun Yan Dai, Qiang Cheng, Xiang Li, Ning Hua Qi, Jun Chen Ke, Guo Dong Bai, Shuo Liu, Shi Jin, Andrea Alù, Tie Jun Cui

Publications and Research

Optical non-linear phenomena are typically observed in natural materials interacting with light at high intensities, and they benefit a diverse range of applications from communication to sensing. However, controlling harmonic conversion with high efficiency and flexibility remains a major issue in modern optical and radio-frequency systems. Here, we introduce a dynamic time-domain digital-coding metasurface that enables efficient manipulation of spectral harmonic distribution. By dynamically modulating the local phase of the surface reflectivity, we achieve accurate control of different harmonics in a highly programmable and dynamic fashion, enabling unusual responses, such as velocity illusion. As a relevant application, we propose and …

The Application Of Electric Cell-Substrate Impedance Sensing (Ecis) Biosensors, Xudong Zhang, Sunghoon Jang

Publications and Research

Electric cell-substrate impedance sensing (ECIS) is a label-free and non-invasive technique for analyzing the activities and morphologies of cells. The ECIS sensors are able to measure the impedance spectroscopy of cells attaching on the sensor substrates. The cell activities and morphologies influence the measure impedance directly. Traditional toxicity analysis has complicated processes compared to biosensor-based analysis. In this study, the toxicity analysis was performed with biosensor based on ECIS technique. The experimental results show that the ECIS sensor is able to quickly distinguish the toxic and non-toxic substance.

An Overview Of Smartwater Management System: Strategic Potential In Bangladesh, Muhammad Qumrul Hassan, Mir F. Karim, Nazrul I. Khandaker, Jowaher Raza

Publications and Research

Water loss management is becoming an increasingly important as supplies are stressed by population growth or water scarcity. A SmartWater system ensures optimum consumption and prediction of future water use. Bangladesh is one of the most vulnerable countries due to global climate change considering its rapid urbanization, inequitable land use, low income and greater reliance on climate sensitive sectors, particularly agriculture. Agricultural lands used for cropping and livestock rearing are more susceptible to degradation than non-agricultural lands. Most farmers irrigate through flooding, losing up to 75% of water to evaporation and creating a substantial drawdown of much needed water for …

The Status Of Engineering Geology: Constraints On Infrastructure Development In Bangladesh, Mir Fazlul Karim, Muhammad Qumrul Hassan, Nazrul I. Khandaker, Masud Ahmed, Belal Ahmed Sayeed

Publications and Research

In recent years, megacity Dhaka is known to have one of the fastest urban population growths in Bangladesh. The population in Dhaka and other megacities has increased from 7 to 50 million during the last four decades. The rapid rate of urban population growth, along with the extreme paucity of real-estate for new infrastructure development or upgrading existing facilities, is already exacerbating the situation for the city planners and exerting tremendous pressure to come-up with viable solutions. Although practice of engineering geology, geotechnical exploration, and testing exists in Bangladesh; the system has still yet to adopt controlled quality standards with …

Nasa Maa (Murep Aerospace Academy) Stem Project At York College: Ensuring Future Stem Pipeline, Nazrul I. Khandaker, Shuayb Siddique, Matthew Khargie, Brandon Dhanraj, Zachary A. Sanichar, Mildred M. Selby, Chabenauth Ramnauth, Theresa Deepan, Yougeeta Singh, Krishna Mahabir, Sashi Singh, Omadevi Singh

Publications and Research

Our ongoing K1-12 NASA-supported STEM activities has served over 5000 children since 2015, largely from groups that are undeserved and underrepresented in the sciences. These STEM activities have been successfully delivered for several years and include earth science, meteorite geology, rocketry, aerodynamics, star gazing, EV3 Mindstorm robotics, basic coding exercises, wind tunnel, 3D-printing, etc., conducted largely through our present MAA (MUREP Aerospace Academy) Project. Corporate funding from the Con Edison and National Grid ensures additional STEM dissemination to the students during the summer operation. Significant positive component of the MAA program is the availability and willingness of the former student …

The Challenges Of Geotechnical Exploration In Bangladesh For Sustainable Urban Development And Risk Reductions In Engineering Geology, Mir Fazul Karim, Nazrul I. Khandaker, Muhammad Qumrul Hasson, A.T.M. Shakhawat Hossain

Publications and Research

Bangladesh is a unique example of rapid urbanization where the urban population increased from 5 to 58 million in last four decades. Due to complex geology and active tectonic setting, the urban ground is impacted by fluvio-deltaic processes and regional seismicity. The densely populated cities of the country are facing risks from many natural hazards like floods, tidal surge, riverbank and coastal erosion, scour, landslides, soil collapse and foundation failures. Geologists anticipate severe seismic threats from yet-undefined tectonic structures and seek to determine their consequential geo-structural responses and conformance to the national building code. With rapid growth, demands on infrastructure …

Impoved Hardware Design Of Iot Prosthetic Device, Yu Wang, Warren Hunter, Xiaolin Chen, Housney Ahmed, Haneefah Safo

Publications and Research

Our previous IoT based prosthetic arm prototype used servo motors to control finger movement through an Arduino Mega, which is connected to the muscle, pulse, and temperature sensors. The Arduino Mega was also connected to a Raspberry Pi 3 model B to transfer data from/to an online web application. One major limitation encountered during testing this prosthetic device was the space occupied by these components, which makes the device bulky. In addition, these servo motors cannot control the movement of the prosthetic device precisely. In this paper, we propose to improve on the existing prosthetic limb prototype by transitioning the …

Metacognition As A Tool For Engineering Technology Students, Melanie L. Villatoro, Claudia E. Hernandez Feiks, Chen Xu, Navid Allahverdi, Serdar Ozlek

Publications and Research

New York City College of Technology, “City Tech,” is the designated senior college of technology within the 24-unit City University of New York (CUNY). The college plays an important role nationally in the education of future scientists, engineers, technologists and mathematicians by offering a broad range of engineering technology majors. These majors have high enrollment annually; However, the one–year retention rates of freshman in the engineering technology associates degrees are typically 10-20% lower as compared to college wide one-year retention rates. One common reason for students changing majors or discontinuing their education after their first year is poor performance in …

Using Augmented Reality To Enhance Learning Experiences About Electrical Circuits, Juan Estrella

Publications and Research

The term Augmented Reality (AR) refers to the technologies that superimpose digital content generated by computers over the user’s view of the real world. AR technologies enhance the version of the physical environment with computer-generated sensory input such as sound, video, or graphics overlaid on top of the real-world view. In recent years, AR has moved beyond expensive military applications and has now entered a wide variety of domains. In engineering education, AR technologies can serve as a learning aid as well as a basis for innovation. The technology provides 3-D visualizations that allow to: (i) observe flaws in designs …

Season-Ahead Forecasting Of Water Storage And Irrigation Requirements – An Application To The Southwest Monsoon In India, Arun Ravindranath, Naresh Devineni, Upmanu Lall, Paulina Concha Larrauri

Publications and Research

Water risk management is a ubiquitous challenge faced by stakeholders in the water or agricultural sector. We present a methodological framework for forecasting water storage requirements and present an application of this methodology to risk assessment in India. The application focused on forecasting crop water stress for potatoes grown during the monsoon season in the Satara district of Maharashtra. Pre-season large-scale climate predictors used to forecast water stress were selected based on an exhaustive search method that evaluates for highest ranked probability skill score and lowest root-mean-squared error in a leave-one-out cross-validation mode. Adaptive forecasts were made in the years …

A Dexterous, Glove-Based Teleoperable Low-Power Soft Robotic Arm For Delicate Deep-Sea Biological Exploration, Brennan T. Phillips, Kaitlyn P. Becker, Shunichi Kurumaya, Kevin C. Galloway, Griffin Whittredge, Daniel M. Vogt, Clark B. Teeple, Michelle H. Rosen, Vincent A. Pieribone, David F. Gruber, Robert J. Wood

Publications and Research

Modern marine biologists seeking to study or interact with deep-sea organisms are confronted with few options beyond industrial robotic arms, claws, and suction samplers. This limits biological interactions to a subset of “rugged” and mostly immotile fauna. As the deep sea is one of the most biologically diverse and least studied ecosystems on the planet, there is much room for innovation in facilitating delicate interactions with a multitude of organisms. The biodiversity and physiology of shallow marine systems, such as coral reefs, are common study targets due to the easier nature of access; SCUBA diving allows for in situ delicate …

Effect Of Wireless Communication Delay On Dc Microgrids Performance, Mahmoud Saleh, Yusef Esa, Ahmed Mohamed

Publications and Research

This paper investigates the effect of wireless communication technologies latency on the converters and the bus voltage of centrally communication based controlled DC microgrids (MGs) during islanding. A DC microgrid with its communication based control scheme was modeled to show the impact of latency. Simulation results show that the impact may be severe depending on the design, and the operational condition of the microgrid before latency occurs.

Impact Of Communication Latency On The Bus Voltage Of Centrally Controlled Dc Microgrid During Islanding, Mahmoud Saleh, Yusef Esa, Ahmed Mohamed

Publications and Research

Maintaining a sustainable and reliable source of energy to supply critical loads within a renewable energy based microgrid (MG) during blackouts is directly related to its bus voltage variations. For example, voltage variation might trigger protection devices and disconnect DERs within the MG. Centrally controlled MGs (CCMGs) type is dependent on communication. Therefore, it is very important to analyze the impact of communication networks performance degradation, such as latency, on the bus voltage of CCMGs. This paper investigates the effect of wireless communication technologies latency on the bus voltage and performance of centralized DC MGs. Two mathematical models were developed …

Nano And Microsensors For Mammalian Cell Studies, Ioana Voiculescu, Masaya Toda, Naoki Inomata, Takahito Ono, Fang Li

Publications and Research

This review presents several sensors with dimensions at the nano- and micro-scale used for biological applications. Two types of cantilever beams employed as highly sensitive temperature sensors with biological applications will be presented. One type of cantilever beam is fabricated from composite materials and is operated in the deflection mode. In order to achieve the high sensitivity required for detection of heat generated by a single mammalian cell, the cantilever beam temperature sensor presented in this review was microprocessed with a length at the microscale and a thickness in the nanoscale dimension. The second type of cantilever beam presented in …

A Hands-On Robotics Concentration Curricula In Engineering Technology Programs, Andy S. Zhang, Angran Xiao, Yu Wang, Farrukh Zia, Muhammad Ummy

Publications and Research

This paper discusses the creation of a robotic concentration with four courses to meet the industry demands for qualified graduates in product design and services. Advances in computer technology and electronics have created a new field called mechatronics. Nowadays almost all high tech products are mechatronics in nature. Products such as automotive subsystems (such as anti-lock braking systems and automatic steering systems), medical devices, environmental monitoring systems, service and surgical robots are all mechatronic products. The robotic concentration focus on one of the most popular and visible area of mechatronics: robotics. The creation of the four courses: Embedded Systems Fundamentals, …

Shipboard Design And Fabrication Of Custom 3d-Printed Soft Robotic Manipulators For The Investigation Of Delicate Deep-Sea Organisms, Daniel M. Vogt, Kaitlyn P. Becker, Brennan T. Phillips, Moritz A. Graule, Randi D. Rotjan, Timothy M. Shank, Erik E. Cordes, Robert J. Wood, David F. Gruber

Publications and Research

Soft robotics is an emerging technology that has shown considerable promise in deep-sea marine biological applications. It is particularly useful in facilitating delicate interactions with fragile marine organisms. This study describes the shipboard design, 3D printing and integration of custom soft robotic manipulators for investigating and interacting with deep-sea organisms. Soft robotics manipulators were tested down to 2224m via a Remotely-Operated Vehicle (ROV) in the Phoenix Islands Protected Area (PIPA) and facilitated the study of a diverse suite of soft-bodied and fragile marine life. Instantaneous feedback from the ROV pilots and biologists allowed for rapid re-design, such as adding ªfingernailsº, …

An Application Of Game Theory In Distributed Collaborative Decision Making, Angran Xiao

Publications and Research

In a distributed product realization environment, new paradigms and accompanying software systems are necessary to support the collaborative work of geographically dispersed engineering teams from different disciplines who have different knowledge, experience, tools and resources. To verify the concept of collaboration by separation, we propose a generic information communication medium to enable knowledge representation and exchange between engineering teams, a digital interface. Across digital interfaces, each engineering team maintains its own perspective towards the product realization problem, and each controls a subset of design variables and seeks to maximize its own payoff function subject to individual constraints. Hence, we postulate …

A Novel Multiscale Mathematical Model For Building Bone Substitute Materials For Children, Abdennasser Chekroun, Laurent Pujo-Menjouet, Jean-Philippe Berteau

Publications and Research

Bone is an engineering marvel that achieves a unique combination of stiffness and toughness exceeding that of synthesized materials. In orthopedics, we are currently challenged for the child population that needs a less stiff but a tougher bone substitute than adults. Recent evidence suggests that the relationship between inter-molecular connections that involve the two main bone building blocks, TropoCollagen molecules (TC) and carbonated Hydroxyapatite (cAp), and bone macroscopic mechanical properties, stiffness and toughness, are key to building bone substitute materials for children. The goal of our study is to establish how inter-molecular connections that occur during bone mineralization are related …

Recent Trends In The Frequency And Duration Of Global Floods, Nasser Najibi, Naresh Devineni

Publications and Research

Frequency and duration of floods are analyzed using the global flood database of the Dartmouth Flood Observatory (DFO) to explore evidence of trends during 1985–2015 at global and latitudinal scales. Three classes of flood duration (i.e., short: 1–7, moderate: 8–20, and long: 21 days and above) are also considered for this analysis. The nonparametric Mann–Kendall trend analysis is used to evaluate three hypotheses addressing potential monotonic trends in the frequency of flood, moments of duration, and frequency of specific flood duration types. We also evaluated if trends could be related to large-scale atmospheric teleconnections using a generalized linear model framework. …

Applications Of Complex Network Analysis In Electric Power Systems, Mahmoud Saleh, Yusef Esa, Ahmed Mohamed

Publications and Research

This paper provides a review of the research conducted on complex network analysis (CNA) in electric power systems. Moreover, a new approach is presented to find optimal locations for microgrids (MGs) in electric distribution systems (EDS) utilizing complex network analysis. The optimal placement in this paper points to the location that will result in enhanced grid resilience, reduced power losses and line loading, better voltage stability, and a supply to critical loads during a blackout. The criteria used to point out the optimal placement of the MGs were predicated on the centrality analysis selected from the complex network theory, the …

Tolerance Sensitivity Analysis And Robust Optimal Design Method Of A Surface-Mounted Permanent Magnet Motor By Using A Hybrid Response Surface Method Considering Manufacturing Tolerances, Cha-Seung Jun, Byung-Il Kwon, Ohbong Kwon

Publications and Research

This paper presents a robust optimal design method using a hybrid response surface method (H-RSM) which directly finds an optimal point satisfying a target Z-value or a probability of failure. Through three steps, this paper achieves the goal that is to increase the open-circuit airgap flux (OCAF) in a surface-mounted permanent magnet motor and decrease its variation caused by variations of the airgap lengths including an additional one between permanent magnets and rotor back yoke. First, the OCAF equation is derived from the magnetic equivalent circuit (MEC) considering the additional airgap. Then, the equation is validated by comparing its results …

Solar And Rain Catching Canopy. Urban Oasis, Afolabi Ibitoye, Langston Clark, Elena Zimareva, Evan Banks, Alexander Aptekar

Publications and Research

The Urban Oasis is designed to work within existing “pocket parks” in New York City as a combined rainwater collector, personal electronics charging station and resting designation for New Yorkers. Intended to not only lessen the demand on the city power grid by using renewable energy to charge devices, the urban oasis is also intended to mitigate grey water overfill in New York’s combined sewer system and, in general, serve as a model for responsible environmental stewardship in urban areas.

The important technical aspects of the canopy specifically analyzed were:

a) how much rainwater could the canopy be expected to …

Using Augmented Reality In Engineering Education, Juan Estrella

Publications and Research

Augmented Reality is an interactive mixture between the real world and computerized images that capture the audience’s attention. Devices that support augmented reality improve the image of the real-world surroundings with simulated physical input such as sound, video, or graphics overlaid on top of the real-world view. In recent years, augmented reality has improved beyond expensive military applications and has now entered a wide variety of domains. In engineering education, AR technologies can serve as a learning aid as well as a basis for innovation. The technology provides 3-D visualizations that allow to: (i) observe flaws in designs before the …

Correlated Network Of Networks Enhances Robustness Against Catastrophic Failures, Byungjoon Min, Muhua Zheng

Publications and Research

Networks in nature rarely function in isolation but instead interact with one another with a form of a network of networks (NoN). A network of networks with interdependency between distinct networks contains instability of abrupt collapse related to the global rule of activation. As a remedy of the collapse instability, here we investigate a model of correlated NoN. We find that the collapse instability can be removed when hubs provide the majority of interconnections and interconnections are convergent between hubs. Thus, our study identifies a stable structure of correlated NoN against catastrophic failures. Our result further suggests a plausible way …