Engineering Commons^™

Improving The Long-Term Performance Of Full-Depth Precast Concrete (Fdpc) Deck Panels Using Non-Proprietary Uhpc, Esmail Shahrokhinasab

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Full-depth precast concrete (FDPC) deck panels are a type of prefabricated bridge element used in accelerated bridge construction (ABC) that have been used in bridge construction since the 1960’s as an alternative to conventional CIP decks. The main purpose of using the prefabricated elements is to accelerate the construction and increase the long-term performance. FDPC deck panels itself offers superior durability and performance, but the connection between these elements still have shown some long-term issues like cracking. Ultra-high-performance concrete (UHPC) is an innovative and commercially available material that has been used to address concerns related to connection between precast elements. …

Exploring The Role Of Higher Education In Responsible Deployment Of Artificial Intelligence, Shahin Vassigh

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Higher education is the key driver for the teaching, research, and development of Artificial Intelligence (AI), as it bears responsibility for preparing engineers, scientists, technologists, and corporate leaders who shape and fuel its revolutionary advances. With AI and automation technologies relying on more advanced levels of training, and universities serving as the prime site for their development, faculty views on the implications of this technology are critically important.

The purpose of this case study was to gain insights into how academics and disciplinary experts perceive their roles and responsibilities in the teaching, development, and deployment of AI. Using FIU as …

Advance Solutions For Voltage Control And Optimization In Smart Grids, Temitayo Olayemi Olowu

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Voltage optimization and control on distribution networks is of uttermost importance to distribution system operators. The performance of the entire distribution network depends on the voltage profile of the system. The aim of this dissertation is to develop threefold advanced solutions that can effectively address and mitigate the voltage control and optimization issues of the smart grid. The first objective of this thesis is to develop accurate methods to quantify and analyze the expected variability individual and aggregated PV systems which significantly impact the voltage profile of grid-interfaced PV systems. We develop an improved statistical formulation, propose the use power …

Dolomite Dissolution And Contaminant Adsorption In The Presence Of Edta In Different Ionic Strength Solutions, Alexis Vento

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The long-term storage and disposal of radioactive waste is considered a challenging and costly endeavor to the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) tasked with the safe management of radioactive wastes. The search for effective ways to manage radioactive waste has increasingly grown due to the large inventory of legacy transuranic wastes (TRU) from defense programs in the 1940s and nuclear power plants. The U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) is a unique repository for the permanent disposition of Transuranic Waste (TRU). The WIPP, located near Carlsbad in New Mexico, is sited ~655 m below the surface …

Low-Cost And Reliable Integrated Hardware And Software Framework For Remotely Operated Water Release From Storage Units, Vivek Verma

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The main contribution of this research is towards the broader area of water management that can be used for multiple purposes. For instance, floods can be mitigated using a novel approach based on the integrated dynamic management of water storage units such as reservoirs, wetlands, and ponds. This approach will enable adaptive water release from storage units hours or days ahead of rainfall events, thereby maximizing storage capacity and minimizing flooding.

This approach can be implemented by retrofitting water storage units using siphon hydraulic systems and are remotely controlled in an integrated manner using the decision support system. To make …

Agent-Based Modeling Of Near Miss Incidents By Integrating Construction Site Dynamics With Enriched Worker Behavior, M Ahmed Rusho

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The construction industry workforce weighs a major percentage of the overall business industry manpower. Due to the unknowns and uncertainties associated with construction activities, the construction industry experiences high frequency of accidents every year. Over the years, researchers have made valiant efforts to address this issue. The existing literature comprises thorough analyses of behavioral, organizational, and infrastructural modules that have reinforced the implementation of better construction safety practices. Recent advancements in construction safety literature imply the application of agent-based models to integrate behavioral attributes into simulated construction environments. Nevertheless, such studies adopted schematic approaches to replicate the hazard scenario in …

The Adoption Of Automated Vehicles: Accounting For Attitudes And Heterogeneity, Alireza Rahimi

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The interest in Automated Vehicles (AVs) among transportation researchers stems from the potential benefits in improving traffic congestion, reducing roadway accidents, and providing a viable mobility option that lessens transportation barriers. While AVs are anticipated to provide substantial benefits to society and travelers, the actual impacts need to be estimated before the emergence of this technology so policymakers can better plan the transportation system. A major challenge in measuring this impact originates from the lack of a clear understanding about people’s inclination to adopt this mobility option and their perception of this technology.

This dissertation presented a comprehensive analysis of …

Securing The Internet Of Things Communication Using Named Data Networking Approaches, Sanjeev Kaushik Ramani

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The rapid advancement in sensors and their use in devices has led to the drastic increase of Internet-of-Things (IoT) device applications and usage. A fundamental requirement of an IoT-enabled ecosystem is the device’s ability to communicate with other devices, humans etc. IoT devices are usually highly resource constrained and come with varying capabilities and features. Hence, a host-based communication approach defined by the TCP/IP architecture relying on securing the communication channel between the hosts displays drawbacks especially when working in a highly chaotic environment (common with IoT applications). The discrepancies between requirements of the application and the network supporting the …

A Study Of Magnetism And Possible Mixed-State Superconductivity In Phosphorus-Doped Graphene, Julian E. Gil Pinzon

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Evidence of superconducting vortices, and consequently mixed-state superconductivity, has been observed in phosphorus-doped graphene at temperatures as high as 260 K. The evidence includes transport measurements in the form of resistance versus temperature curves, and magnetic measurements in the form of susceptibility and magnetic Nernst effect measurements. The drops in resistance, periodic steps in resistance, the appearance of Nernst peaks and hysteresis all point to phosphorus-doped graphene having a broad resistive region due to flux flow as well as a Berezinskii-Kosterlitz-Thouless (BKT) transition at lower temperatures.

The observation of irreversible behavior in phosphorus-doped graphene under the influence of a thermal …

Quantifying The Mobility And Safety Benefits Of Transit Signal Priority, Md Sultan Ali

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The continuous growth of automobile traffic on urban and suburban arterials in recent years has created a substantial problem for transit, especially when it operates in mixed traffic conditions. As a result, there has been a growing interest in deploying Transit Signal Priority (TSP) to improve the operational performance of arterial corridors. TSP is an operational strategy that facilitates the movement of transit vehicles (e.g., buses) through signalized intersections that helps transit service be more reliable, faster, and more cost-effective. The goal of this research was to quantify the mobility and safety benefits of TSP. A microscopic simulation approach was …

Cross-Mixing Hybrid Beamforming Receiver For Wideband Apertures, Rimon Hokayem

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Research is showing an interest in redefining phased arrays and devising more flexible low-profile receivers. As such, there is a need to compensate for the bulkiness of existing systems which is mainly imposed by the phase shifters placed after each element. That is, we must circumvent hardware limitations by searching for alternatives for phase shifting the signals to introduce more flexibility in signal reception for more downsized radio systems. Therefore, self-mixing arrays are developed and now deployed for the beamforming process. The concept stems from applying mixing instead of shifting to eliminate the delays in reception. Central to its realization …

Functional And Dysrhythmic Slow Waves In The Stomach - An In Silico Study, Md Ashfaq Ahmed

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Peristalsis, the coordinated contraction and relaxation of the muscles of the stomach, is important for normal gastric motility and is impaired in motility disorders. Coordinated electrical depolarizations that originate and propagate within a mutually coupled network of interstitial cells of Cajal (ICC) and smooth muscle cells of the stomach wall as a slow-wave, underly peristalsis. Normally, the gastric slow-wave (GSW) oscillates with a single period and uniform rostro-caudal lag, exhibiting network entrainment. Loss of entrainment in the coupled network and the resulting impairment in slow-wave propagation is associated with various gastric motility disorders. Our study provides an enhanced understanding of …

Estimation Of The Mobility Benefits Of Ramp Metering, Henrick Joseph Haule

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Transportation agencies are implementing traffic management strategies to improve mobility and safety on freeways. Ramp metering is a traffic management strategy deployed to mitigate congestion on freeways using traffic signals installed at entrance ramps to control and regulate vehicle entry onto the freeway mainline. Estimating the mobility benefits of ramp metering is critical to determine the strategy's effectiveness and inform the decision-making process regarding its deployment.

However, the extent of the impact of ramp metering on recurrent congestion varies across studies. Among the reasons for the inconsistencies are the limitations of conventional methods for evaluating benefits, including the before-and-after approach, …

Deployable Tightly Coupled Dipole Arrays For Small Satellites, Maxence Carvalho

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation presents the theory, design, fabrication, and verification of several critical components for a novel class of origami-based and deployable Tightly Coupled Dipole Arrays (TCDAs) suitable for small satellite applications. This work introduces a new approach to enhance the bandwidth of TCDAs by incorporating a semi-resistive Frequency Selective Surface (FSS) network within the substrate. The integration of this FSS network within a dual-polarized TCDA led to an increased impedance bandwidth of 28:1 from 0.20 GHz to 5.6 GHz. Concurrently, losses above 2.5 GHz are reduced to achieve a radiation efficiency of 83% on average. A major component of the …

Investigation Of Bipolar Electrochemically Exfoliated Graphene For Supercapacitor Applications, Iman Khakpour

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Developing a reliable, simple, cost-efficient and eco-friendly method for scale-up production of high-quality graphene-based materials is essential for the broad applications of graphene. Up to now, various manufacturing methods have been employed for synthesizing high quality graphene, however aggregation and restacking has been a major issue and the majority of commercially available graphene products are actually graphite microplates. In this study, bipolar electrochemistry techniques have been used to exfoliate and deposit graphene nanosheets in a single-step process to enable high performance device application.

In the first part of this study, bipolar electrochemistry concept is utilized to design a single-step and …

Investigation Of Carbon-Based Label-Free Electrochemical Aptasensors For Point-Of-Care Cancer Biomarker Detection, Shahrzad Forouzanfar

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Cancer is the second cause of death, with millions of fatalities every year. The early detection of cancer can tremendously increase the survival chances of the patients. An effective approach for early detection of cancer is developing reliable and relatively cheap biosensors that can quantify the cancer biomarkers from blood samples. These classes of the biosensor are commonly referred to as point-of-care (POC) cancer biomarker biosensors. The label-free electrochemical biosensors based on carbon dravite materials can be feasible for POC cancer biomarker biosensors. The present dissertation aims to design, develop, and optimize carbon-based biosensors for label-free detection of lactic acid …

Stimulation Paradigms And Transduction Patterns For Optogenetic Intervention Of Astrocytes, Lakshmini Balachandar

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Gliosis observed in several neurological disorders is associated with neuroinflammation and enhanced astrocytic Ca2+ levels. The inherent multicellular nature of this neuroinflammation poses challenges in deciphering the exact role of astrocytic Ca2+ signaling and whether it leads to the generation and/or exacerbation of neuroinflammation. These challenges are aggravated by the dearth of systematic characterization of a regulated method for eliciting astrocytic Ca2+ increases.

The primary goal of this dissertation is to address the lack of a characterized method by studying optogenetics for eliciting astrocytic Ca2+ increases. As part of this analysis, we aim to identify light stimulation paradigms resulting in …

An Integrated Software And Hardware Architecture For Gravity-Driven And Remotely-Operated Water Release, Dogukan Ozecik

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The present study proposes an integrated real-time hardware and software architecture for gravity-driven and remotely-operated water release from storage units such as detention ponds, reservoirs, and wetlands using a siphon and conventional drainage pipe system. The hardware involves a communication component, a control function component, and a hydraulics component. The communication component consists of a Virtual Private Network (VPN) router that collects the Programmable Logic Controller (PLC) data and sends it to the remote center. The hydraulics hardware consists of an actuated butterfly valve, water level sensor, bilge pump, and air vent. Multiple flow release tests were carried out at …

Textile-Integrated Wearable Radio Frequency (Rf) Wireless Power Transfer And Harvesting For Battery-Free Medical Sensing, Dieff Vital

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Body-worn sensing is becoming increasingly important for patient monitoring, particularly the elderly. The vital signs can be directly transferred to their physicians, personal caregivers or used for self-diagnosis. To achieve this, wireless, wearable, and self-powered sensors are required. Wireless RF powering/charging, implemented into clothing, upholstery, and smart dressing presents itself as a convenient and practical solution for powering wearable sensors. In this dissertation, the implementation of such wireless charging platforms that are integrated into clothing, and the integration of medical sensor electronics is shown. Fabric-based wireless charging allows for lightweight, scalable, flexible, battery- less, and comfortable wearing. It is also …

Integrated Approach For Diversion Route Performance Management During Incidents, Rajib Chandra Saha

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Non-recurrent congestion is one of the critical sources of congestion on the highway. In particular, traffic incidents create congestion in unexpected times and places that travelers do not prepare for. During incidents on freeways, route diversion has been proven to be a useful tactic to mitigate non-recurrent congestion. However, the capacity constraints created by the signals on the alternative routes put limits on the diversion process since the typical time-of-day signal control cannot handle the sudden increase in the traffic on the arterials due to diversion. Thus, there is a need for proactive strategies for the management of the diversion …

Unit Energy Consumption, Production, And Cost Of Innovative Treatment Systems Of Different Wastewater Streams, Jinze Li

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Innovative technologies such as micro-sieving, Anammox, and up-flow anaerobic sludge blanket (UASB) hold the key in the sustainable design of Water Resource Recovery Facility (WRRF). In the past, assessment metrics on the effectiveness and economic feasibility of these technologies have not been systematically investigated. According to the twelve design principles of Sustainable Environmental Engineering, Unit energy and cost metrics could provide universal benchmarks in the design of WRRF. Therefore, the objectives of this study are to design innovative WRRF systems to achieve energy positive. These WRRFs were modeled by developing an Excel model to estimate the unit energy metrics. Database …

Development Of A Real-Time Single-Lead Single-Beat Frequency-Independent Myocardial Infarction Detector, Harold Martin

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The central aim of this research is the development and deployment of a novel multilayer machine learning design with unique application for the diagnosis of myocardial infarctions (MIs) from individual heartbeats of single-lead electrocardiograms (EKGs) irrespective of their sampling frequencies over a given range. To the best of our knowledge, this design is the first to attempt inter-patient myocardial infarction detection from individual heartbeats of single-lead (lead II) electrocardiograms that achieves high accuracy and near real-time diagnosis. The processing time of 300 milliseconds to a diagnosis is just at the time range in between extremely fast heartbeats of around 300 …

Alternative Connections For Accelerated Construction Of Simple For Dead Load And Continuous For Live Load Steel Bridge System, Amir Sadeghnejad

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The simple for dead load and continuous for live load (SDCL) steel bridge system has been implemented in non-seismic areas with desirable field performance. However, in seismic areas, the application of the SDCL steel bridge system has not been implemented due to a lack of verified seismic details. A connection for the steel girders over an intermediate pier using a concrete diaphragm suitable for seismic areas was developed using numerical analysis. The field application of the developed connection required experimental verification and validation.

One of the main objectives of this study was experimental verification of the developed detail under seismic …

Enabling Distributed Applications Optimization In Cloud Environment, Pinchao Liu

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The past few years have seen dramatic growth in the popularity of public clouds, such as Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS), Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS), and Container-as-a-Service (CaaS). In both commercial and scientific fields, quick environment setup and application deployment become a mandatory requirement. As a result, more and more organizations choose cloud environments instead of setting up the environment by themselves from scratch. The cloud computing resources such as server engines, orchestration, and the underlying server resources are served to the users as a service from a cloud provider. Most of the applications that run in public clouds are the distributed applications, also called …

Evaluating The Sustainability Of Infrastructure Projects During Front-End Planning Phase, Valentina Ferrer Rivero

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Front-End Planning (FEP) for Sustainable Infrastructure (SI) projects is a promising process that can support addressing multiple challenges in infrastructure projects (i.e. cost overruns, schedule delays, and poor sustainability). This study aims to investigate synergies between sustainability and FEP tools for infrastructures through stakeholders’ surveys, multiple case-study analyses, and a Problem-Based Learning (PBL) activity with students. The PBL activity enhanced students’ knowledge on FEP for SI projects, and, together with other analyses, it helped in defining three different frameworks that correlate sustainability and FEP tools for infrastructure projects. The findings of this thesis contribute to the infrastructure, engineering and construction …

Evaluation Of Parametric And Nonparametric Statistical Models In Wrong-Way Driving Crash Severity Prediction, Sajidur Rahman Nafis

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Wrong-way driving (WWD) crashes result in more fatalities per crash, involve more vehicles, and cause extended road closures compared to other types of crashes. Although crashes involving wrong-way drivers are relatively few, they often lead to fatalities and serious injuries. Researchers have been using parametric statistical models to identify factors that affect WWD crash severity. However, these parametric models are generally based on several assumptions, and the results could generate numerous errors and become questionable when these assumptions are violated. On the other hand, nonparametric methods such as data mining or machine learning techniques do not use a predetermined functional …

Correlating The Effect Of Dynamic Variability In The Sensor Environment On Sensor Design, Pulak Bhushan

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation studies the effect of biofluid dynamics on the electrochemical response of a wearable sensor for monitoring of chronic wounds. The research investigates various dynamic in vivo parameters and correlates them with experimentally measured behavior with wound monitoring as a use case. Wearable electrochemical biosensors suffer from several unaddressed challenges, like stability and sensitivity, that need to be resolved for obtaining accurate data. One of the major challenges in the use of these sensors is continuous variation in biofluid composition. Wound healing is a dynamic process with wound composition changing continuously. This dissertation investigates the effects of several in …

Design And Realization Of Fully-Digital Microwave And Mm-Wave Multi-Beam Arrays With Fpga/Rf-Soc Signal Processing, Sravan Kumar Pulipati

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

There has been a constant increase in data-traffic and device-connections in mobile wireless communications, which led the fifth generation (5G) implementations to exploit mm-wave bands at 24/28 GHz. The next-generation wireless access point (6G and beyond) will need to adopt large-scale transceiver arrays with a combination of multi-input-multi-output (MIMO) theory and fully digital multi-beam beamforming. The resulting high gain array factors will overcome the high path losses at mm-wave bands, and the simultaneous multi-beams will exploit the multi-directional channels due to multi-path effects and improve the signal-to-noise ratio. Such access points will be based on electronic systems which heavily depend …

Understanding Critical Impacting Factors And Trends On The Future Of Bridges, A.M.M. Muhaimin

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Various impacting factors, such as technology advancement, climate change, and economic shifts are occurring and evolving at an ever-increasing pace. There is also a growing realization among bridge engineers and relevant stakeholders that these changes will significantly impact bridge performance and bridge asset management over the next decades. However, there is limited research that offers a holistic understanding on what these factors are and how these factors will potentially affect bridges in the future. To address the gap, this thesis presents a study on the identification of the critical impacting factors and their trends on the future of bridges and …

A Study Of Non-Datapath Cache Replacement Algorithms, Steven G. Lyons Jr.

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Conventionally, caching algorithms have been designed for the datapath — the levels of memory that must contain the data before it gets made available to the CPU. Attaching a fast device (such as an SSD) as a cache to a host that runs the application workload are recent developments. These host-side caches open up possibilities for what are referred to as non-datapath caches to exist. Non-Datapath caches are referred to as such because the caches do not exist on the traditional datapath, instead being optional memory locations for data. As these caches are optional, a new capability is available to …