Digital Commons Network^™

Explainable Multi-Horizon Wind Power Forecasting Via Aquila-Optimized Machine Learning Models, Mostafa A. Abdelnaby, Nahla B. Abdel-Hamid, Eman M. El-Gendy, Mahmoud M. Saafan

Mansoura Engineering Journal

The inherently unpredictable nature of wind energy necessitates the development of sophisticated forecasting models to ensure grid stability and optimal distribution. In this research, we propose a novel and systematic approach to wind power forecasting (WPF) across diverse timescales. This approach leverages the power of various machine learning (ML) models, metaheuristic hyperparameter optimization, and utilizes explainable artificial intelligence (XAI). The developed methodology is based on the Aquila optimizer (AO), capable of automatically adjusting different ML models for four different time periods (30 minutes, 6 hours, 24 hours, and 36 hours) on the data collected from the Gabal El-Zayt wind power …

A Novel Superaug Adaptive Data Augmentation Strategy For Metabolic Syndrome Prediction: The First Egyptian National Cohort Study With Multi-National Comparison, Nihal Elsonny, Ashraf Elsharkawy, Abeer Tawakol, Amira Y. Haikal

Mansoura Engineering Journal

Metabolic Syndrome (MetS) is a multifactorial disorder associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, and obesity-related complications. Early and accurate prediction of MetS remains challenging due to heterogeneous data sources, class imbalance, limited sample sizes in regional studies, and poor generalization across populations.

This study introduces a comprehensive machine learning framework for predicting MetS and its prognostic factors using two heterogeneous datasets: a newly collected Egyptian clinical cohort and the U.S.-based (NHANES) [CDC, 2023] dataset. For each dataset, multiple experimental pipelines are developed, integrating preprocessing, feature selection, data augmentation, hyperparameter tuning, and ensemble modeling. …

Effect Of Two Cut Off Rows On Seepage Underneath Hy-Draulic Structures Using Weak Form Differential Quadra-Ture Element Method: A Theoretical Approach, Esraa Ahmed, El-Masry A. A, Hossam A.A. Abdel Gawad, Ahmed Elhamrawy

Mansoura Engineering Journal

Investigating confined seepage underneath hydraulic structures is crucial to ensure the safety of these structures. The Weak Form Quadrature Element Method (WFQEM) is the basis of this paper, which explores the behavior of confined flow. The seepage flow governing equation is solved numerically to estimate the uplift pressure underneath the hydraulic structures and the exit gradient.The Gauss–Lobatto–Legendre (GLL) type is used as nodal and integration points. Several models were solved to validate the applied numerical method. The obtained results are compared with theoretical and preceding numerical solutions mentioned in the literature. The system of equations generated from applying the WFQEM …

Warm Mix Asphalt: Key Issues, Performance Challenges, And Modeling Advances, Mahmoud Owais, Marwa Awad

Mansoura Engineering Journal

Warm Mix Asphalt (WMA) has emerged as a sustainable alternative to conventional Hot Mix Asphalt by enabling asphalt production and compaction at reduced temperatures, thereby lowering energy consumption, emissions, and worker exposure to heat and fumes. Despite these advantages, the field performance of WMA remains influenced by technology-specific mechanisms, additive–binder compatibility, aggregate characteristics, moisture susceptibility, compaction quality, recycled material content, and climatic conditions. This review provides a critical synthesis of major WMA technologies, including foamed systems, chemical additives, organic waxes, hybrid additives, bio-based modifiers, and WMA mixtures incorporating reclaimed asphalt pavement. Particular attention is given to how these technologies affect …

Reliability-Oriented Spatiotemporal Machine Learning For High-Impact Power Outage Event Prediction, Marwa Gamal

Mansoura Engineering Journal

Power outages have become an increasing concern for modern power systems due to their impact on infrastructure reliability, economic activities, and public safety. The growing frequency of extreme weather events and the rising demand for electricity have made it more difficult to anticipate high-impact outage events. One of the main challenges in this context is the complex interaction between temporal patterns and geographic variations, which traditional methods often fail to capture effectively. This study develops a machine learning framework that combines temporal characteristics with geographic information to improve the prediction of high-impact power outages. Temporal features such as seasonal patterns, …

Dielectric And Thermal Ageing Characteristics Of Al₂O₃ Nanofluid-Impregnated Cellulose For Power Transformer Applications, Shaymaa A. Qenawy, Basma Eltlhawy, Hussein M. Waly

Mansoura Engineering Journal

As nanotechnology progresses, nanofluids have emerged as promising candidates for transformer insulation due to their enhanced dielectric and thermal properties. This study evaluates the degradation behavior of a mineral oil-cellulose system compared to an alumina (Al₂O₃) nanofluid-cellulose system. Accelerated thermal ageing tests were conducted at 120°C for a 20-day duration, simulating approximately 20 years of field service. Key findings reveal that the nanofluid-impregnated paper exhibited superior mechanical longevity, characterized by a 3% reduction in the tensile strength deterioration rate relative to mineral oil samples. Initially, the AC breakdown voltage (BDV) of the nanofluid was 10.85% higher …

Preserving The Identity Of Historic Coptic Orthodox Monasteries In Egypt Under Contemporary Pressures: Case Studies Of St. Bishoy And St. Anthony Monasteries, George Medhat Adeeb, Mohamed Khairy Amin, Mohamed Ahmed Al-Sherbiny

Mansoura Engineering Journal

Historic Coptic Orthodox monasteries in Egypt (HCOMEs) represent an important component of Christian heritage, integrating architectural value with enduring spiritual traditions that reflect both tangible and intangible dimensions. However, contemporary development and changing functional demands are generating transformations that may affect their identity if not carefully managed. Despite extensive scholarship, limited research has systematically examined these transformations through a structured evaluative approach. This study addresses this gap by developing and applying an analytical and evaluation framework to examine how contemporary pressures influence the historical, architectural-spatial, and spiritual identity of HCOMEs, and to assess the effectiveness of monastic responses. The framework …

A Hybrid Geospatial And Remote Sensing Methodology For Drought Vulnerability Assessment In Semi-Arid Ecosystems, Kaifi Fakhir Chomani

Mansoura Engineering Journal

The Kurdistan Region of Iraq (KRI) faced significant drought challenges due to global and environmental changes, necessitating drought assessments. Advanced techniques of remote sensing, Geographic Information Systems (GIS), and Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) were combined in this research to perform drought vulnerability zonation for KRI. Average annual rainfall, Average number of rainy days, Average annual temperature, slope, elevation, normalised difference water index (NDWI), normalised difference vegetation index (NDVI), land surface temperature (LST), and temperature condition index (TCI) were selected as contributing parameters for drought vulnerability assessments. The considered parameters were weighted using pairwise comparison, and thematic maps were created to …

Self-Lubricating Nano-Coatings For Tribological Applications: Materials, Mechanisms, And Ai-Driven Design Approaches, Viral Panara, Vikas Panchal, Satayu Travadi, Harmish Bhatt, Madhav Oza

Mansoura Engineering Journal

Self-lubricating coatings with nanostructured structures are becoming crucial in order to decrease friction and wear in critical tribological systems like precision tools, biomedical implants, aerospace actuators, and engines. In this review, the most representative nano-engineered solid lubricants such as transition metal dichalcogenides, diamond-like carbon, hexagonal boron nitride, graphene, MXenes and hybrid multilayer architectures are discussed. The focus of the discussion is on the most important tribological mechanisms like lamellar sliding, oxidative adaptation, tribofilm formation, transfer-film development, and nano-asperity contact evolution. It also summarizes the most significant deposition techniques, such as cathodic arc physical vapor deposition, chemical vapor deposition, plasma-based deposition, …

1-D And 2-D Hadamard Transformations For Protein Sequence Analysis, Esraa A. Ahmed, Abed M. Nasr, Marwa A. Abd Elwahaab

Mansoura Engineering Journal

Similarity/dissimilarity studies follow alignment-based or alignment-free methods. Many alignment-free methods involve selecting physicochemical properties. Most previous articles don’t explain their criteria for choosing the properties used. These heuristic approaches have, by definition, undeterministic and unreliable performance. Hence, there is a need for a powerful proxy for similarity/dissimilarity by a deterministic, reliable approach.

In this study, a physicochemical property is selected by a multi-criteria sequential selection process. The amino acids composing any protein sequence are replaced with their values of the chosen property to produce a discrete signal in the time domain.  The one-dimensional discrete Hadamard transforms our signal from the …

Frequent Pattern Mining With Optimized Gated Recurrent Units For Automated Waste Classification Systems In Smart Cities, Anupriya Garg, Ratish Kumar

Mansoura Engineering Journal

Efficient waste segregation into biodegradable and non-biodegradable categories is a crucial requirement for sustainable smart city development. While Convolutional Neural Network (CNN)-based approaches have demonstrated promising performance, their high architectural complexity and limited adaptability often restrict real-time deployment. This paper proposes BnBCNet, a lightweight waste classification framework that reformulates image-based waste segregation as a sequential learning problem using Gated Recurrent Units (GRUs). To further enhance classification performance, Grey Wolf Optimization (GWO) is employed for hyperparameter optimization, while Adam optimizer is used for network weight updates. Experiments conducted on a publicly available waste segregation image dataset demonstrate that the proposed BnBCNet …

Trophy Assets, Aneil Kovvali

Articles

Rich people like to own things that make them look cool. When the thing in question is a car, house, or boat, the implications are limited. But sometimes very rich people own assets that are more important. Within media, Elon Musk acquired Twitter, Jeff Bezos ac-quired the Washington Post, and Patrick Soon-Shiong acquired the Los Angeles Times. There has also been a craze for aerospace: Musk with Space X, Bezos with Blue Origin, Richard Branson with Virgin Galactic, and going back further, Howard Hughes with Hughes Aircraft Company. It is often difficult to understand the behavior in purely finan-cial terms, …

Democratizing Restitution: Trust As An Equitable Approach To Competing Claims On Cultural Heritage Objects, Britta Redwood

Articles

As formerly colonized states began to win their independence in the mid-twentieth century, a growing chorus of voices called on museums in London, Paris, Berlin, and other European cities to return objects taken during the colonial period. Having largely ignored these requests until recently, museums throughout Europe and the United States have begun negotiating returns of these objects to their rightful owners. There is a growing recognition among Western cultural institutions that continuing to hold cultural heritage objects taken under conditions of coercion or violence is morally untenable. More recently, some scholars have argued for a human rights approach to …

Property Rights V. Taxpayer Rights: The Battle Over Tax Foreclosures, Stewart E. Sterk

Articles

No abstract provided.

How The U.S. Constitution Shapes International Tax Law: Instrument Choice In Tax Agreements, Noam Noked, Young Ran (Christine) Kim, Reuven S. Avi-Yonah

Articles

The U.S. Constitution’s Treaty Clause, which requires Senate approval by a two-thirds vote for treaties, has significantly influenced the development of international tax law. This Article examines the implications of Senate supermajority requirements on bilateral and multilateral tax treaties and agreements, alternative instruments, relevant international tax standards, and global tax governance.

Historically, tax treaties have been approved exclusively as Article II treaties requiring Senate approval. The difficulty of entering into treaties with the United States has influenced the instrument choice and design of U.S. and international tax standards. To address this challenge, several U.S. and international tax reforms have employed …

Quantifying Hemodynamics In Implantable Cardiac And Renal Support Devices Using Computational Modeling, Alexander D. De Oliveira

Summer Research Program Abstracts

No abstract provided.

Neurodevelopmental Outcomes After Posthemorrhagic Hydrocephalus Of Prematurity, Mekal S. Mathew, Rene Leal, Caroline L. Hanan, David J. Sun, Hasan K. Mubarak, Amelie D. Perrier, William E. Johnson, Micolette R. Mardik, Trevor R. Alwell, Christian Amezquita Contreras, Chance E. Hatfield, Peter H. Yang

Summer Research Program Abstracts

No abstract provided.

Enhancing Clinical Judgement In Pre-Licensure Nursing Students Through Active Learning Strategies Of Unfolding Case Studies And Simulations For Postpartum Hemorrhage, Lisa M. Alley

Doctor of Nursing Practice Projects

New graduate nurses lack the appropriate clinical judgement to provide optimal, safe, quality care, as evidenced by the report of errors in health care (Rodziewicz et al., 2024). The purpose of this project was to provide an evidence-based intervention that used an unfolding case study and simulation to further develop clinical judgement among undergraduate nursing students in a rural ADN program. The project used a pre-test and post-test to measure students' improvement prior to versus after the learning experience and debrief. This project also introduced a DASH tool, which is a debriefing assessment for simulations in healthcare, to help students …

Enhancing Mass Casualty Incident Preparedness: Bridging The Gap Between Education And Practice, Emily M. Coggins

Doctor of Nursing Practice Projects

The increasing amount of mass casualty incidents (MCIs), such as natural disasters, large-scale emergencies, and active shooter events, has emphasized the need for healthcare professionals to respond effectively. Traditional undergraduate nursing curriculum often offers limited opportunities for students to practice disaster preparedness through simulated experiences. This DNP project was created to evaluate the effectiveness of implementing an MCI training simulation to increase the confidence and competence of senior pre-licensure nursing students when responding to a mass casualty event. The project implemented a 1-day, simulation-based MCI event for senior nursing students enrolled in an Adult Health II course. The event included …

Senior Heart Health Facilitating Hypertension Management, Heather Hodgens Lupo

Doctor of Nursing Practice Projects

Hypertension affects approximately 70% of adults aged 65 years and older and remains a leading contributor to cardiovascular morbidity and mortality in the United States, highlighting the need for effective community-based hypertension management interventions. Despite the availability of evidence-based guidelines, gaps in education and self-management persist among older adults. This Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) quality improvement project, Senior Heart Health: Facilitating Hypertension Management, was designed to improve hypertension-related knowledge among adults aged 55 years and older through a structured, community-based health coaching intervention.

The project was implemented in a rural community and consisted of four weekly educational sessions delivered …

The Desecration Of Sacred Spaces In The Dead Sea Scrolls And Pre-Nicene Latin Christianity: A History Of Interpretation Of The Eschatological Motif Of The Defiling Enemy In Apocalypticism, Rodrigo De Galiza Barbosa

Dissertations

Problem

The motif of the polluting enemy in the sanctuary is an important point of departure in the articulation of community boundaries in Hebraic-Christian culture. This particular motif has the potential to explain, at least in part, how Jewish and Christian communities would have understood the apocalyptic evil other and, from this understanding, set boundaries for their holy communities. Texts such as Dan 8 and 2 Thess 2 have been the locus classicus of the so-called antichrist, and ever since their interpretation has shaped how Christians and Jews have understood the enemy to their respective communities. In the history of …

High-Efficiency And Compact Virtual Reality Displays, Zhenyi Luo

Graduate Studies Theses and Dissertations 2026

Virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) technologies are revolutionizing the way humans interact with digital information. However, current near-eye display systems still face critical challenges regarding optical efficiency, image quality, and device weight. This dissertation focuses on addressing these limitations through innovative liquid-crystal (LC) optics and system-level design strategies to achieve high-efficiency and compact VR displays.

First, to solve the longstanding problem of severe chromatic aberrations in ultrathin LC optics, I proposed an achromatic diffractive LC device. By stacking three LC layers with specifically designed spectral responses and polarization selectivity, I successfully reduced the chromatic aberrations. This idea enables …

Stringency Of Family Firms And Owner-Managers In The Transition To Low-Carbon Emissions, Morten Bennedsen, John Doukas, Halit Gonenc

Finance Faculty Publications

This study examines the relationship between carbon emissions and stock returns, with a focus on the role of family ownership and management. Using a sample of 435 publicly listed firms from 14 Western European countries over the period 2010–2020, we explore whether financial markets perceive family-controlled firms, particularly those led by family-member CEOs, differently in terms of their commitment to sustainable practices. Consistent with prior research, our results indicate that firms with higher emissions earn higher stock returns while simultaneously experiencing lower market valuations, consistent with the presence of a carbon risk premium driven by elevated carbon transition risk. Crucially, …

Does Bidder Complexity Affect Market Reactions To M&A Decisions?, Rajib Chowdhury, John A. Doukas

Finance Faculty Publications

We examine whether and how bidder complexity influences investor reactions to merger and acquisition (M&A) announcements. Using an established measure of complexity, we find a significant positive relationship between acquiring firm complexity and cumulative abnormal returns (CAR). This suggests that investors perceive more complex firms as capable and value-enhancing participants in M&A activities. The association is particularly strong for bidders with high operating risk, greater R&D intensity, and larger firm size. We also find that complex bidders tend to offer higher takeover premiums. Overall, our study contributes to the literature by demonstrating that bidder complexity is an important determinant of …

Tail Dependence: The Impact Of Risk Spillovers On Real Estate Markets In Times Of Economic And Geo-Political Uncertainty, Stanimira Milcheva, Simon Stevenson, Lingshan Xie

Finance Faculty Publications

The first half of the 2020's has seen a degree of economic and geo-political uncertainty not observed since the 1970s. This paper looks at how listed real estate is exposed to capital market shocks by estimating Conditional Value-at-Risk (CoVaR), which captures the sensitivity of real estate returns to extreme movements in broader equity markets. We use threshold Generalized Autoregressive Conditional Heteroskedasticity (tGARCH) and Copula co-dependency functions to accurately account for tail behavior and dependency structures. We find a significant increase in downside spillovers from capital markets to listed real estate during the Covid period across most countries. However, the response …

Women Are Discriminated Against On The Basis Of Sex: Anti-Trans Epistemologies In Australian Universities, Emily M. Gray, Jacqueline Ullman, Mindy Blaise

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

This article offers an analysis of qualitative data from a multi-phased project entitled Understanding and Addressing Everyday Sexisms in Australian Universities. The project’s key aim was to improve the ways in which gender-based discrimination is understood and addressed in Australian universities. It achieved this aim through adopting a situated, intersectional, and creative approach to data generation and analysis. The authors examine data from phase three of the project, a large-scale survey that was distributed across 12 of Australia’s 39 public universities, yielding 1257 responses. The survey was designed to encourage academic staff of all genders to participate and aimed to …

Patent Law's Trade Remedy, Michael Doane

Akron Law Faculty Publications

Although a trade remedy, not an intellectual property rights statute, Section 337 of the Tariff Act of 1930 plays an important and controversial role in the enforcement of intellectual property rights in the United States. As a trade remedy, Section 337 is designed and intended to promote innovation and investment in the United States through support of statutorily defined domestic industries against unfair competition from infringing imported products. This Article analyzes Section 337 as a trade remedy from the perspective of intellectual property rights owners and innovators such as start-up companies, universities, individual inventors, and other research and development-focused entities. …

Just Prosecution, G. Ben Cohen

Akron Law Faculty Publications

Prosecutors were once envisioned as the heroes of the criminal legal system, wielding immense power to secure justice. Yet their role remained largely untethered to a coherent, principled framework. Without clear guardrails, traditional prosecution contributed to mass incarceration, racial disparities, and punitive excesses. Progressive prosecution sought to redress these deficiencies, but a lack of cohesive theoretical grounding, accompanied by a divestiture of power, left prosecutions weak. Reform was fragmented by electoral pressures but remained subject to abolitionist critiques. This article asks readers to consider the idea of Just Prosecution as a way of reimagining the prosecutor’s role—raising the question of …

Neurotensin Drives Theca Cell Migration During Ovulation In Primates, Jessica S. Miller, Megan A. G. Sage, Thomas E. Curry Jr., Diane M. Duffy

Department of Biomedical and Translational Sciences Faculty Publications

Theca cells are a critical steroidogenic cell type of the ovarian follicle and corpus luteum. The ovulatory luteinizing hormone (LH) surge (or human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG)) stimulates theca cell relocation from the stroma surrounding the dominant follicle to full integration into the developing corpus luteum. Luteinizing hormone/human chorionic gonadotropin also stimulates granulosa cells to produce local mediators of ovulation, including the peptide neurotensin (NTS). To determine if hCG-stimulated NTS regulates theca cell relocation within the ovulatory follicle, vehicle or an NTS receptor antagonist was injected into a macaque dominant follicle, and ovaries were removed 48 h after hCG administration. Additional …

P38 Mapk Is Involved In Epigenetic Regulation Of Fibrotic Genes In Replication Induced Senescence In Lung Fibroblasts, Shan Zhu, Jennifer Q. Zhou, Kan Wang, Ming-Lei Guo, Yan Sanders

Department of Biomedical and Translational Sciences Faculty Publications

Fibroblast activation is essential for tissue repair following injury; however, prolonged activation drives pathological fibrosis. Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF), a progressive and age-associated lung disease, is characterized by aberrant fibroblast activation, with increasing evidence implicating senescent and near-senescent fibroblasts in its pathogenesis. However, the underlying mechanisms remain poorly defined. In this study, we investigated whether histone modification is involved in TGF-β1 treated lung fibroblasts and contributes to the fibrotic phenotype. Human IMR90 lung fibroblasts at low and high population doubling levels (LPDL and HPDL), as well as primary IPF fibroblasts, were used in this study. In response to TGF-β1, both …