Urban Resilience To Environmental Displacement: Sustainable Design Strategies In Samarra And Najaf, Ghufran Rassam Hade, Khalid Hammood Mudhahe

AUIQ Technical Engineering Science

This research investigates the critical role of urban resilience as a strategic framework to mitigate climate-induced environmental displacement in hot-arid regions, specifically focusing on the historical Iraqi cities of Samarra and Najaf. As global temperatures rise, these cities face intensifying thermal stress and desertification, acting as primary ``push factors'' for involuntary migration. The objective of this study is to evaluate the efficacy of sustainable urban design and traditional planning morphologies in enhancing the adaptive capacity of these urban centers. The methodology employs a Variable-based Digital Spatial Analysis utilizing Landsat 8 TIRS and Sentinel-2 satellite imagery. Through advanced geospatial processing, original …

Mae Enewsbrief January-March 2026, Department Of Mechanical And Aerospace Engineering, Michigan Technological University

Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering eNewsBrief

No abstract provided.

Tidal River Flood Risk Highest During Intermediate Rather Than Peak River Discharge, Leicheng Guo, Adam T. Devlin, Ton Hoitink, Ian Townend, David A. Jay, Zheng Bing Wang, Chunyan Zhu, Hamed R. Moftakhari, Qing He, Fan Xu, Multiple Additional Authors

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

Tidal rivers are defined as the tide‐influenced, salinity‐free inland reaches of estuaries. Understanding the occurrence of peak water levels (PWLs) is critical for flood risk management, yet the timing and magnitude of PWLs in tidal rivers have been little studied. We address this gap by investigating PWLs during two catastrophic floods (1954 and 2020) in the tidal Yangtze River, which reveals that PWLs are higher during perigean spring tides under intermediate discharges following peak flow. Three factors modulate the PWLs in tidal rivers: river‐enhanced tidal damping, flow‐elevation hysteresis that raises the falling flow limb of the hydrograph, and low‐frequency subharmonics. …

Printing Press Renewal, Ashley Mcguire, Margaret Wood Balch, Anna Kaetz, Timothy M. Wick

Libraries Professional Work

The University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) Libraries are home to a Chandler & Price printing press, originally built in 1885. Unfortunately, this press was not whole or fully operational when it was acquired by the UAB Libraries in the 1970s. Among its defects, the press lacked the treadle, Pittman arm, and crankshaft to power the press, a functioning rotating ink plate, a chase for holding the type in place, and the pin that keeps the large wheel turning in time with the gears that lead the machine to function. Members from the UAB Libraries Historical Collections and Reference and …

An Ensemble Learning-Based Approach To Quantify Post-Earthquake Functional Recovery Of A Steel Moment-Resisting Frame Inventory, Mohsen Zaker Esteghamati, Shiva Baddipalli

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications

The quest for seismic resiliency requires designing for performance objectives beyond life safety. Functional recovery is an emerging objective often defined as the time required to restore a building’s basic functionality to the pre-event level. Nevertheless, quantifying functional recovery is a complex, computationally intensive process that is challenging to integrate into a standard design workflow. This study develops a machine learning (ML) model to map design and geometric features of steel special moment-resisting frames (SMRFs) to their functional recovery under two hazard levels: design-basis (DBE) and maximum considered (MCE) earthquakes. First, functional recovery time was quantified for an inventory of …

Strengthening The Properties Of Clay Soil With Crushed Oysters, Hadeel Ammar Mohammed, Najwa Wasif Jassim, Hanan Adnan Hassan Afaj, Mohammed Yousif Fattah, Noor S. Al-Hassnawi

HBRC Journal

When problematic clayey soils are used for engineering purposes without treatment, they can lead to structural cracks in roads, buildings, and underground infrastructure. The use of oyster shell powder in geotechnical applications has been the subject of little research, which is why this study looked into it. Examining the stabilization of different percentages (6, 9, 12, 15, 18, and 21 percent) of oyster shell (OS) treatment of clayey soil is the aim of this study. Compaction, strength, CBR, and Atterberg tests are among the experiments used in this study. The study's importance lies in turning oyster shell waste into a …

Numerical Evaluation Of Constitutive Soil Models For Cyclic Soil–Structure Interaction In Integral Abutment Bridges, Walaa Sayed Said, Sherif Adel Akl, Abdullah Galaa, Mohamed El-Khouly

HBRC Journal

The accurate representation of backfill soil behaviour is a critical step in Finite Element (FE) analysis of Integral Abutment Bridges (IABs) subjected to thermally induced cyclic loading. This paper focuses on the evaluation and selection of a constitutive model, out of those commonly available in geotechnical FE packages, suitable for this purpose. Hardin–Drnevich (HD), General Quadratic/Hyperbolic Shear (GQHS), Hardening Soil (HS) including its extension to consider the small-strain stiffness (HSS), and the University of British Columbia (UBC) sand model were first assessed through simulating drained cyclic simple shear element tests. The results indicated that the UBC model captured key aspects …

Patterns Of Alcolysis Of Secondary Polyethylene Terephthalate With Diethylene Glycol, Juraev B. Juraev, Murafar G. Alimuhamedov, Ravshan I. Adilov, Bobir B. Aykhodjaev, Olga S. Kukurina

CHEMISTRY AND CHEMICAL ENGINEERING

The aim of this work was to study the process of alcoholysis of recycled polyethylene terephthalate with diethylene glycol, as well as the structure and physicochemical properties of the final product. IR and PMR spectroscopy were used to study the structure and identify the structure of the products of RPET alcoholysis with diethylene glycol. As a result of  studies of the alcoholysis of polyethylene terephthalate-containing waste with diethylene glycol, a wide range of hydroxyl-containing oligoesters was synthesized. The possibility of changing their physicochemical properties by adjusting the process parameters was demonstrated. This makes it possible to synthesize hydroxyl-containing oligoesters with …

Photocatalysts Based On Titanium Dioxide And Zinc Phthalocyanine Composites For Photodegradation Of Methylene Blue, Albert R. Koldarov, Mastura Kh. Aripova, Odilzhon E. Abdurakhmonov, Zuhra Ch. Kadirova, Abror O. Tashpulatov

CHEMISTRY AND CHEMICAL ENGINEERING

The aim of this work is to analyze the photocatalytic degradation of a model methylene blue solution using titanium dioxide composites with zinc phthalocyanine as the sensitizing photocatalyst under sunlight. The objects of the study are TiO₂-based photocatalysts derived from the spent catalyst of the Shurtan GCC after heat treatment at 650°C (T-650), as well as a composite containing zinc phthalocyanine (T-650/PcZn). It has been established that the photodegradation reaction follows a pseudo-first-order model, while the rate constant for the TiO₂/PcZn composite is significantly higher than that of pure TiO₂, indicating greater efficiency. The …

Synthesis And Infrared-Spectroscopic Study Of Complexes Of Selected 3d-Metals With 2-(2-Pyridyl)-Benzimidazole, Farangiz A. Khujayeva, Hakima A. Alikulova, Shahzoda G. Allamurodova, Mushtariybonu M. Sunnatillayeva, Shahlo Sh. Daminova

CHEMISTRY AND CHEMICAL ENGINEERING

The aim of this study was to synthesize and systematically investigate the coordination compounds of several 3d metals with 2-(2-pyridyl)benzimidazole (2-PBI) using infrared (IR) spectroscopy. Complexes of copper(II), nickel(II), and cobalt(II) with the general formula [M(2-PBI)3](ClO₄)₂were successfully synthesized. Based on the analysis of the IR spectra, it was established that the 2-PBI ligand coordinates to the metal ion in a bidentate manner through the nitrogen atoms of the benzimidazole and pyridyl rings. The shifts of the ν(C=N) and ν(C–N) stretching vibration bands, as well as the appearance of new bands in the 623–485 cm⁻№ region corresponding to ν(M–N) and vibrations, …

Production Of Organo-Mineral Fertilizing Ameliorants Based On Phosphogypsum, Central Kyzylkum Phosphorites And Biohumus, Temur A. Ospanov, Axmed M. Reymov, Rashid K. Kurbaniyazov, Jaxanger M. Bisenbaev

CHEMISTRY AND CHEMICAL ENGINEERING

Phosphogypsum, a large-scale industrial by-product generated during phosphoric acid production, poses significant environmental challenges due to its accumulation and potential ecological impact. This study investigates the utilization of phosphogypsum as a raw material for producing fertilizing ameliorants in combination with Central Kyzylkum phosphorites and biohumus. Composite mixtures were prepared and granulated using a 30% ammonium sulfate solution as a binding agent. The chemical composition, phase structure (XRD), and microstructure (SEM–EDS) of the obtained materials were analyzed. The results demonstrate the formation of calcium phosphate and sulfate phases, including CaHPO4·2H2O, β-Ca3(PO4)2, and CaSO4·2H2O, which contribute to both fast- and slow-release nutrient …

Processing Of Wc–Co Waste With Selective Extraction Of Co3o4 By Oxidative Fusion In Nano3 Melt, Ilyos A. Bozorov, Aziz B. Ibragimov, Odiljon E. Abdurakhmonov, Mastura Kh. Aripova, Sherzod E. Abdurakhmonov

CHEMISTRY AND CHEMICAL ENGINEERING

The aim of this study was to develop and experimentally validate a selective method for producing high-purity cobalt oxide from WC–Co hard alloy waste using oxidative fusion in a sodium nitrate (NaNO₃) melt, followed by combined aqueous and acidic purification of the solid residue. Cemented carbide scrap and waste containing 6–12 wt.% Co were used as feedstock, without prior grinding. It was found that, during heat treatment in the range of 650–900 °C, tungsten predominantly converts into soluble sodium tungstates, while cobalt concentrates in the solid residue as an oxide phase. Optimal process conditions, such as 850°C and …

Temperature-Dependent Electrocatalytic Activity Of Mxene For Hydrogen Evolution Reaction., Javlonbek I. Mamanazirov, Shavkat I. Mamatkulov

CHEMISTRY AND CHEMICAL ENGINEERING

This study represents the synthesis technology of MXene catalyst for hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) and investigates the temperature-dependent electrocatalytic activity of MXene-based catalysts in alkaline media. Using a three-electrode configuration in 1M KOH, the electrochemical performance was systematically evaluated across a temperature range of 25 °C to 40 °C. Linear sweep voltammetry (LSV) results demonstrate a significant enhancement in catalytic efficiency at elevated temperatures, evidenced by a consistent shift in polarization curves toward lower potentials. Specifically, the overpotential required to achieve a current density of 10 mA/cmІ decreased from 257 mV at 25 °C to 203 mV at 40°C, marking …

Features Of Formation Of The Structure And Properties Nonfritted Glazes For Sanitary Ceramic Products, Ivan A. Levitskii, Mihail V. Dyadenko, Valery G. Luhin

CHEMISTRY AND CHEMICAL ENGINEERING

The results of research on the formation of nonfritted glass-ceramic coatings for sanitary ceramic products are presented. The synthesis was carried out in a multicomponent raw material mixture including pegmatite, chalk, quartz sand with a constant content of zirconium silicate, talc, wollastonite, zinc whitewash, refractory clay and kaolin. Glazes were obtained by single firing at a temperature of 1200±5 °C for a duration of 20 hours. Samples of coatings were obtained, the processes of glaze formation were studied, the fusibility of glazes was assessed, and their physico-chemical properties were studied in relation to the features of the formation of the …

Fiber-Optic Products Based On Borosilicate Glasses, Mihail V. Dyadenko

CHEMISTRY AND CHEMICAL ENGINEERING

The research results of the development of glass compositions for a light-guiding core, reflective and protective coats of optical fiber using a stack method are presented. The optimal ratio of glass-forming oxides and modifications in their compositions has been determined, which ensures the resistance of glasses to crystallization during the manufacture of optical fiber, its thermomechanical strength, the required geometry of optical fibers and the light transmission of fiber-optic products, amounting to 60–75%.

The influence of the chemical composition of the glasses of the light-guiding core and the light-reflecting coats on their refractive index, which determines the magnitude of the …

Synthesis Of Nanostructured Yttrium Oxide Luminescent Powders Activated By Terbium Ions, Eygeniy N. Poddenezhny, Andrei A. Boiko, Olga S. Nevzorova, Ekaterina E. Trusova, Vladimir S. Urbanovich

CHEMISTRY AND CHEMICAL ENGINEERING

The aim of this work is to synthesize nanostructured luminescent powders of yttrium oxide doped with terbium ions. Y₂О₃:Tb³⁺ powders were obtained by thermochemical synthesis (combustion). The sources for the synthesis were nitric acid salts of yttrium and terbium. Organic acids, citric acid and acetic acid, were used as reducing agents and combustible components. It has been established that large porous aggregates with sizes up to 200 microns are formed with citric acid during combustion, and nanostructured finely dispersed powders consisting of nanocrystalline particles with sizes of 39±5 nm are formed with …

Engineering Evaluation Of Post-Stroke Gait Using A Wearable G-Walk Sensor Under Different Ankle-Foot Orthosis Conditions: A Longitudinal Case Study, Mohamed Sattar Jabbar, Ammar Issam Kubba

AUIQ Technical Engineering Science

The gait profile of post-stroke patients is typically one of reduced speed, asymmetry and decreased functional mobility. Ankle–foot orthoses (AFOs) are commonly prescribed to enhance gait stability and promote safer ambulation; however, within-person longitudinal gait changes across multiple orthotic conditions have not yet been quantitatively characterized using wearable motion analysis systems. The objective of this study was to perform a longitudinal assessment of spatiotemporal gait parameters through a wearable G-Walk inertial measurement unit (IMU) with three walking conditions: without orthosis, Conventional custom-made ankle foot orthosis AFO and Prefabricated posterior leaf spring AFO. Two functional tasks, normal walking and Timed Up …

Efficient Performance Recovery Of Pruned Llms For End Devices, Paul Vardhan Bethapudi

Master’s Dissertations

Large Language Models have shown strong performance across reasoning, language understanding, and generation tasks, but their computational and memory requirements make deployment on low resource devices difficult. This dissertation studies efficient performance recovery of pruned LLMs, focusing on whether a pruned model can regain useful task performance through parameter-efficient fine-tuning while preserving the benefits of compression. The work uses Llama-3.2-3B-Instruct as the dense reference model and applies activationaware Wanda pruning at multiple sparsity levels(20%, 30% and 50%). The pruned models are evaluated on language modeling and reasoning tasks using WikiText-2 perplexity and GSM8K (Grade School Math 8000 problems) accuracy. Adaptation …

Investigation Of The Lower Block Rows In The King’S Chamber Of The Great Pyramid Using Ultrasonic Testing With Shear Wave Arrays, Benedikt Maier, Amr G. Hamza, Alejandro Ramirez-Pinero, Khaled Taie, Thomas Schumacher, Olga Popovych, Mohamed Elkarmoty, Mehdi Tayoubi, Hany Helal, Christian U. Grosse

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

This study investigates the internal geometry of the granite block rows in the King’s Chamber (KC) of the Great Pyramid of Giza using Non-destructive testing (NDT) with ultrasonic testing (UST) using shear wave echo arrays. As part of the ScanPyramids (SP) project measurement campaigns in 2022, the lower two block rows of all four walls were examined using ultrasonic shear-wave echo arrays (PD8000, Screening Eagle Technologies). The measurement strategy initially included rapid overview acquisitions using an 8-channel UST device to identify potential areas of interest. High-resolution, detailed measurements were then performed at these locations, particularly along the north wall (NW) …

Exploring Gene Regulatory Neural Network Biocomputing Of Bacteria, Adrian Merle Ratwatte

Dissertations and Doctoral Documents, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, 2023–

Artificial Intelligence (AI) has evolved from brain-inspired algorithms into a discipline that increasingly integrates with biological systems. While silicon-based platforms have advanced machine learning, they remain limited in energy efficiency and operation in environments beyond silicon. This motivates biological computing as an alternative, enabling efficient, resource-aware, and reconfigurable computing within living systems. This dissertation addresses these limitations by introducing a bacterial computing framework that models Gene Regulatory Networks (GRNs) as Gene Regulatory Neural Networks (GRNNs). The GRNN mirrors the structure and function of Artificial Neural Networks (ANNs) through gene-gene interactions across trans-omic layers, enabling natural, self-regulating information processing within living …

Magnetic Cellulose Nanocrystal Composites: Synthesis, Properties, Applications, And Opportunities, Mohammad Jahid Hasan, Kishore Chand, Esteban E. Ureña-Benavides, Erick S. Vasquez-Guardado

Chemical and Materials Engineering Faculty Publications

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Magnetic Cellulose Nanocrystal Composites: Synthesis, Properties, Applications, and Opportunities

Ion Irradiation Of Microelectromechanical Resonators, Hengky Chandrahalim, David D. Lynes

AFIT Patents

A method of enhancing an electromechanical coupling coefficient of a microelectromechanical (“MEMS”) device. The method includes applying, to a fully fabricated MEMS device, heavy particle ion radiation to the MEMS device at a fluence of at least 1×10¹⁴ cm.⁻². According to other embodiments of the present invention are directed to a bandpass filter comprising a plurality of MEMS devices fabricated in accordance with the methods provided. The MEMS of the plurality are electronically or mechanically coupled.

Transport And Interfacial Dynamics Of Electrochemical Formation Processes In Li-Based Batteries, Penghao Zhang

McKelvey School of Engineering Graduate Student Theses & Dissertations

Next-generation high-capacity batteries often rely on electrochemical formation processes rather than conventional intercalation alone. Such processes include lithium metal deposition and Li–O2 discharge-product formation, in which new phases form at the electrochemical interface during operation. As a result, the measured response reflects both electrochemical driving forces and the evolving product morphology. This coupling makes it difficult to interpret electrochemical data, microscopic observations, or model results in isolation. This dissertation examines this problem through three main studies and one preliminary extension on Li–O2 batteries and lithium metal deposition, each addressing a different factor that affects how electrochemical product formation is measured, …

Improved Method Of Evaluating Gas-Phase Air Cleaners Considering Adsorption And Desorption Mechanisms To And From Internal Test Chamber Surfaces, Casey Douglas Coffland

Dissertations and Theses

Portable air cleaners are playing an increasingly important role in managing indoor air quality in response to pressing issues like wildfire smoke events. Smoke is a complex mixture of gases and particulate matter; while established test methods exist for particulate matter, the dynamic behavior of gaseous pollutants is not well accounted for in current test methods. This is because prevailing air cleaner testing methods typically treat background losses as irreversible, whereas gases can engage in partitioning to and from test chamber surfaces. Ignoring these sorption interactions causes inaccurate estimation of an air cleaner's impact.

A new approach has been developed …

Visionarium, June 2026, Full Issue

International Journal of Emerging and Disruptive Innovation in Education : VISIONARIUM

No abstract provided.

Toward A Metric For Disciplinary Learning In The Age Of Ai: The Unblooms™ Metacognitive Awareness Scale And Discernment Rate In Ai-Mediated Learning, Tina R. Austin

International Journal of Emerging and Disruptive Innovation in Education : VISIONARIUM

Telling students to “reflect on their own thinking” has become insufficient in AI-mediated learning environments. When students are rewarded for polished outputs, cognitive offloading to AI tools becomes rational, and traditional snapshot assessments (single-moment evaluations of task completion) produce false signals about whether durable learning has occurred. This problem is sharpened by the broader shift in AI learning tools toward Socratic tutors, study modes, Khan Academy's Khanmigo, and agentic systems that can shape the learner’s process over time. Lodge and Loble (2026) distinguish beneficial cognitive offloading, which frees working memory for intrinsic learning, from detrimental outsourcing, which bypasses the cognitive …

Metacognition As Disciplinary Infrastructure In Ai-Mediated Learning, Tina R. Austin, Jason Gulya, Nick Potkalitsky

International Journal of Emerging and Disruptive Innovation in Education : VISIONARIUM

Metacognition is often presented as a response to generative AI’s disruption of teaching and learning, yet the term has become too generalized to guide practice. In AI-mediated environments, asking students merely to “reflect on your thinking” is insufficient. Because AI tools can redistribute cognitive labor, their educational value depends on how students use them and whether that use supports disciplinary forms of reasoning. This essay argues that metacognition must be understood as disciplinary infrastructure: students cannot effectively monitor their thinking without understanding the epistemological and ontological demands of the field in which they are working. Classrooms therefore become sites where …

Optimizing Human Capital In Ai-Enabled Architectures: A Systems Constraint And Capability Analysis, Jeremy A. Schlegel, Jennifer Daffinee

International Journal of Emerging and Disruptive Innovation in Education : VISIONARIUM

Artificial intelligence (AI) comprises not only models, but full socio-technical systems involving data pipelines, instrumentation, human-machine interfaces, deployment architectures, and organizational processes for design, monitoring, and evaluation. Using a systems-oriented analytical framework, this paper argues that despite accelerating advances in AI capabilities, human capital remains the enduring and dominant system constraint. Human interfaces define throughput limits in areas such as prompt engineering, data-stream curation, adjudication of model outputs, and the orchestration of hybrid automation workflows including robotics, scraping, and digitization. Synthesizing emerging research across human-AI interaction, machine-learning lifecycle management, organizational adoption, and adult learning theory, we present a socio-technical evaluation …

Law Or Flaw: A Double – Blind Study Comparing Student Comprehension Of Real And Ai Generated Legal Case Briefs, Grant Shostak, Nick Wintz, Melissa A. Petkovsek

International Journal of Emerging and Disruptive Innovation in Education : VISIONARIUM

In recent years, the U.S. legal system has seen an increase of legal filings using fictitious court cases or legal propositions generated by artificial intelligence (AI) (Stokel-Walker, 2026). Rules of professional responsibility require that lawyers review filings in which AI was used to ensure their accuracy (Missouri Bar, Office of Legal Ethics Counsel, 2024, Opinion No. 2024‑11) Despite this mandate, filings with fictitious cases and incorrect statements of law are being filed. Besides posing a threat to the parties to an action, such filings may set an unwarranted precedent for future cases. They also tie up court resources searching for …

A Smart Contract Framework For Project Financing In Gold Mining Operations: Implications For Improved Financial Forecasting, Silvia Lydia Priskilla, Mohammed Ali Berawi, Mustika Sari Dr.

Smart City

Gold mining projects are characterized by high capital intensity and significant operational variability, making financial forecasting particularly sensitive to the quality and timing of cash-flow data. In practice, conventional financing systems rely on multi-stage administrative processes that create delays between work completion and payment realization, reducing the reliability of financial records used for investment evaluation.

This study aims to develop a smart contract-based financing framework to improve the accuracy of profitability projections in gold mining projects. A case study approach is employed using operational and financial data from a mining project in Sumatra over the period 2023–2026. The analysis combines …