Engineering Commons^™

Preparedness And Response To Oil And Biofuel Spills : A Case Study Of The Western Indian Ocean, Soifoine Abdillah

World Maritime University Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Assessing Spatial And Temporal Patterns Of Industrial Bottom Trawlers Using Vessel Monitoring System Data : A Case Study Of Ghana, Emmanuel Agbeko

World Maritime University Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Enhancing Concrete Self-Healing Using Wastewater Bacteria Impregnated In Pumice Lightweight Aggregates, Mamoun Alqedra, Kamal El Kahlout, Ahmed El Refai, Mahmoud El Hessi, Muhammad Radwan, Waleed Iky

Mansoura Engineering Journal

Self-healing concrete presents a promising solution to counter the degradation of concrete structures caused by cracks and damage. This innovative mechanism employs the concrete's capacity to autonomously repair its cracks, effectively extending the lifespan of structures and reducing maintenance costs. Particularly in regions facing water scarcity, such as the Middle East and North African countries, the utilization of wastewater holds significant importance. This study investigates the self healing abilities of wastewater bacteria infused into lightweight pumice aggregates within concrete. Wastewater contains diverse bacteria, microorganisms, and oxygen—essential components for the self-healing process. Wastewater sourced from the North Gaza Emergency Sewage Treatment …

Analyzing Surface Spectral Signature Shifts In Fire-Affected Areas Of Elko County Nevada, Ibtihaj Ahmad, Haroon Stephen

Civil and Environmental Engineering and Construction Faculty Research

This study investigates post-fire vegetation transitions and spectral responses in the Snowstorm Fire (2017) and South Sugarloaf Fire (2018) in Nevada using Landsat 8 Operational Land Imager (OLI) surface reflectance imagery and unsupervised ISODATA classification. By comparing pre-fire and post-fire conditions, we have assessed changes in vegetation composition, spectral signatures, and the emergence of novel land cover types. The results revealed widespread conversion of shrubland and conifer-dominated systems to herbaceous cover with significant reductions in near-infrared reflectance and elevated shortwave infrared responses, indicative of vegetation loss and surface alteration. In the South Sugarloaf Fire, three new spectral classes emerged post-fire, …

Streamflow Reconstruction For The Upper Indus Basin, Syeda Saria Bukhary, Sajjad Ahmad

Civil and Environmental Engineering and Construction Faculty Research

The sustainability of water resources in Pakistan faces mounting challenges due to population growth, climate change, and declining groundwater reserves. The Indus River, vital for the country’s agriculture, energy, and economy, suffers from limited instrumental discharge records that do not capture long-term hydrologic variability or extreme flow events. This study addressed this gap by developing streamflow reconstructions for the Upper Indus Basin (UIB) using tree-ring chronologies (TRC) combined with sea surface temperature (SST) data—an approach not previously applied in this region—for four discharge stations: Partab, Daniyor, Besham Qila, and Kachora. Stepwise linear regression models using TRC and SST predictors explained …

10.27.2025 Ored Connect, Liz Williamson

ORED Newsletter

ORED Field Fest

OTC Director Candidates

14th International Conference On Business, Technology And Innovation 2025, University For Business And Technology - Ubt

UBT International Conference

Welcome to IC – UBT 2025

UBT Annual International Conference is the 14th international interdisciplinary peer reviewed conference which publishes works of the scientists as well as practitioners in the area where UBT is active in Education, Research and Development. The UBT aims to implement an integrated strategy to establish itself as an internationally competitive, research-intensive university, committed to the transfer of knowledge and the provision of a world-class education to the most talented students from all background. The main perspective of the conference is to connect the scientists and practitioners from different disciplines in the same place and make …

Visible Image-Based Machine Learning For Identifying Abiotic Stress In Sugar Beet Crops, Seyed Reza Haddadi, Masoumeh Hashemi, Richard C. Peralta, Masoud Soltani

Plants, Soils and Climate Student Research

Previous researches have proved that the synchronized use of inexpensive RGB images, image processing, and machine learning (ML) can accurately identify crop stress. Four Machine Learning Image Modules (MLIMs) were developed to enable the rapid and cost-effective identification of sugar beet stresses caused by water and/or nitrogen deficiencies. RGB images representing stressed and non-stressed crops were used in the analysis. To improve robustness, data augmentation was applied, generating six variations on each image and expanding the dataset from 150 to 900 images for training and testing. Each MLIM was trained and tested using 54 combinations derived from nine canopy and …

A New Low-Rate Stable Hydrogel Cathode For Aqueous Zn-Ion Batteries, Roya Rajabi, Shichen Sun, Jamil A. Khan, Morgan Stefik, Kevin Huang

Faculty Publications

Aqueous Zn-ion batteries (ZIBs) are attractive candidates for large-scale energy storage owing to the abundance, low cost, and intrinsic safety of Zn metal. However, their practical application is hindered by poor cycle stability, especially at low current densities, due to cathode dissolution and limited electrochemically active sites (EAS). Herein, a hydrogel-based cathode comprising ammonium vanadate, carbon black, and a Zn-ion-conducting carboxymethyl chitosan–acrylamide hydrogel matrix doped with Zn(ClO4)2 is reported. This design establishes a continuous Zn-ion-conducting network, thereby maximizing EAS density throughout the electrode volume. The ZIB with the hydrogel cathode exhibits outstanding cycling stability, with 77% capacity retention after 2000 …

Formulation And Characterization Of Albumin Nanoparticles For Nsclc Photochemotherapy, Faisal Mohammad Shamim Khan

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Non-small Cell Lung Cancer (NSCLC) is the most common type of lung cancer and is a leading cause of worldwide cancer-related death, which is a strong motivation to develop more efficacious approaches to its treatment. This thesis outlines the construction of folate-targeted bovine serum albumin (FA-BSA) nanoparticles co-loading Chlorin e6 (Ce6), a photodynamic therapy photosensitizer, and Evofosfamide (EVO), a hypoxia-activated prodrug, to enable synergistic photochemotherapy. The 1-Ethyl-3-(3-dimethylaminopropyl)carbodiimide (EDC) is a water-soluble carbodiimide coupling reagent and used for amide bonds between carboxylic acid and amines. FA-BSA nanoparticles were prepared through a desolvation approach and stabilized through crosslinking by the carbodiimide reagent …

10.20.2025 Ored Connect, Liz Williamson

ORED Newsletter

• OTC Director Candidate Forum
• ORED Small Grants Program RFP

Scalable Biosynthesis And Recovery Of Poly-3-Hydroxybutyrate Produced From Cotton-Derived Glucose By Cupriavidus Necator, Ashley M. Clark, Lucia E. Gargano, Gabriella M. Fioravanti, Hannah M. Schapiro, Ron G. Kander

School of Design and Engineering Papers

To combat the growing issue of petroleum plastic waste, alternative bio-based polymers are being developed. Many of these biopolymers are made from bio-derived materials, or are biodegradable, but the most promising polymers fall in both categories. Polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs) are one such class of polymers, and poly-3-hydroxybutyrate (P3HB), the most popular PHA, has shown great potential. This study utilized two types of cotton-derived glucose, alongside commercial glucose, as a feedstock for the biosynthesis of P3HB by Cupriavidus necator (also known as Ralstonia eutropha). The fermentation took place in a 2-L bioreactor, showing potential for scale-up. A single-solvent extraction method was …

Synergistic Effects Of Orifice Geometry And Inclination Angle On The Damping Performance Of Tuned Liquid Column Vibration Absorbers, Mohamed M. Abou Elenin, Younes K. Younes, Mohamed F. Younes

Mansoura Engineering Journal

This study experimentally investigates the dynamic damping performance of passive tuned liquid column vibration absorbers (TLCVAs), focusing on the influence of vertical column inclination angle and orifice disc configuration. Free vibration tests were conducted on a primary system equipped with a TLCVA using a custom-designed test rig. The experimental framework systematically varied inclination angles from to and tested both single-hole and multi-perforated orifice discs, each designed with an equivalent total flow area. A MATLAB-based signal processing framework was employed to analyze time-domain responses, and the logarithmic decrement method was applied to determine the damping ratio of the primary system. The …

Tableau Part Ii - October 2025, Rubab Shahzad

Day Family Research Lab Workshop Series

Part Two of Introduction to Tableau. Learn to make cool visualizations using Tableau. A hands-on opportunity where we will go over calculated fields, hierarchies, unions, dashboards, and stories.

Prior experience with Tableau is recommended

Climate Change Projections Through Optimized Machine Learning And Deep Learning Models: A Comprehensive Analysis, Hala H. Youssef, Salma S. Mohammed, Hanan M. Amer, Abeer T. Khalil

Mansoura Engineering Journal

One major worldwide issue that has far-reaching effects on environmental stability and the avoidance of natural disasters is climate change. Developing efficient mitigating strategies depends on precise climate change forecasts. To predict important climate change indicators, including temperature fluctuations, greenhouse gas (CO2, N2O, CH4, and SF6) emissions, population dynamics, sea level changes, Arctic Sea ice extent, and Antarctica mass, this study evaluated the predictive capabilities of several Machine Learning (ML) and Deep Learning (DL) techniques. The set of machine learning algorithms includes Multiple Linear Regression (MLR), K-Nearest Neighbors (KNN), Support Vector Machines (SVMs), Artificial Neural Networks (ANN), Random Forest (RF), …

10.13.2025 Ored Connect, Liz Williamson

ORED Newsletter

• ORED Small Grants Program RFP
• Mississippi Impact Grants RFP
• Contest to Promote Lab Practices
• Field Fest
• AAAS Membership for Faculty, Staff, and Students 

Evaluation Of Different Design Standards For The Design Of Axial Loaded Concrete Filled Steel Tube Columns Under Fire, Ebtsam Youssef Ibrahim Abd El Ghaffar, Nabil Said Mahmoud, Fikry A. Salem, Mohammed. M. Ghannam

Mansoura Engineering Journal

This paper compares various codes and standards for the behavior of “Concrete-Filled Steel Tubes” (CFST) columns under fire and axial load. The codes evaluated include European standards (EC4.2 and EC3.2), the American standard (AISC 360), and the Australian standard (AS/NZS 2327). The fire resistance of Concrete-Filled Steel Tubular (CFST) and steel hollow (SH) columns was assessed using a computer program developed with Visual Studio .NET. The program's results were compared with previous experimental data to evaluate the accuracy of various codes and standards in predicting the behavior of these columns under fire conditions. This study highlights the importance of selecting …

Day-Night Shifts In Water-Soluble Ions Of Size-Resolved Aerosols Before And After The Covid-19 Lockdown In A Coastal Megacity: Metro Manila, Philippines, Grace Betito, Paola Angela Bañaga, Rachel A. Braun, Maria Obiminda Cambaliza, Melliza Templonuevo Cruz, Alexander B. Macdonald, James Bernard Simpas, Connor Stahl, Armin Sooroshian

SOSE Affiliate: Manila Observatory

The COVID-19 pandemic-driven lockdowns offer a unique opportunity to examine how reductions in anthropogenic emissions impacted atmospheric aerosol composition in urban environments. This study investigates the day-night variability of size-resolved water-soluble ions in ambient particulate matter (PM) collected in Metro Manila before (November 2019–February 2020) and after (November 2020–February 2021) lockdown implementation. Using tandem Micro-Orifice Uniform Deposit Impactors (MOUDIs), aerosol samples were collected during daytime (06:00–18:00) and nighttime (18:00–06:00) periods and analyzed for key ionic species (sulfate, ammonium, nitrate, oxalate, sodium, chloride, calcium, and magnesium) via ion chromatography. Submicrometer water-soluble mass declined post-lockdown, particularly during daytime, reflecting suppressed secondary formation …

10.06.2025 Ored Connect, Liz Williamson

ORED Newsletter

• Field Fest
• AAAS Membership
• MIG Application Opportunity
• Contest to Promote Safe Lab Practices

The Impact Of Off-Site Manufacturing Technology On The Project Management Triangle In The Saudi Housing Sector, Saad S. Almady, Ahmed M. Alhazmi, Essam S. Almahmoud

Mansoura Engineering Journal

This study examines the impact of Off-Site Manufacturing (OSM) and construction sites on housing projects in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The study aims to strike a balance between achieving the highest quality, lowest cost, and expedited construction of housing units. OSM technology involves the production of construction components outside the site, followed by their transportation and installation on the final site. The study seeks to assess the contribution of OSM’s utilization in enhancing project performance, measured against the project management triangle (quality, cost, and time), and compare it with the traditional construction method. To achieve this objective, a residential …

Insect-Foundation: A Foundation Model And Large Multimodal Dataset For Vision-Language Insect Understanding, Thanh-Dat Truong, Hoang-Quan Nguyen, Xuan-Bac Nguyen, Ashley Dowling, Xin Li, Khoa Luu

Electrical Engineering and Computer Science Faculty Publications and Presentations

Multimodal conversational generative AI has shown impressive capabilities in various vision and language understanding through learning massive text-image data. However, current conversational models still lack knowledge about visual insects since they are often trained on the general knowledge of vision-language data. Meanwhile, understanding insects is a fundamental problem in precision agriculture, helping to promote sustainable development in agriculture. Therefore, this paper proposes a novel multimodal conversational model, Insect-LLaVA, to promote visual understanding in insect-domain knowledge. In particular, we first introduce a new large-scale Multimodal Insect Dataset with Visual Insect Instruction Data that enables the capability of learning the multimodal foundation …

Compost Grinder For The University Of South Carolina Office Of Sustainability, Rori E. Pumphrey, Grace Yaegel, Aaron R. Sawyer, Bradley White

Senior Theses

This project originates from a collaboration with the USC Office of Sustainability, which seeks to improve the handling and processing of food waste generated on campus. The primary challenge is the difficulty in composting certain types of food waste, such as avocado pits, pumpkin rinds, and other dense or fibrous organic materials that are not easily broken down using conventional methods. Existing commercial solutions are often too large and expensive, or electrically powered, and are thus not well suited for the volume or nature of USC's food waste. To address these limitations, our team designed a manually operated food waste …

09.29.2025 Ored Connect, Liz Williamson

ORED Newsletter

• Contest for Biosafety and Biosecurity Month
• ORED Website Walk Through training
• MIG Applications
• Field Fest

Chacahoula 2025, Volume 92, Alayna Pellegrin

Chacahoula

The 2025 issue of Chacahoula includes December 2024 and May 2025 graduating classes, as well as stunning photography student life on the banks of Bayou Desiard. With features covering students, faculty, and staff, this year's time capsule preserves an academic year in the life of the University of Louisiana at Monroe.

Evaluation Of Robotic Swabbing And Fluorescent Sensing To Monitor The Hygiene Of Food Contact Surfaces, Siavash Mahmoudi, Clark Griscom, Pouya Sohrabipour, Yang Tian, Chaitanya Palleria, Philip G. Crandall, Dongyi Wang

Biological and Agricultural Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

Effective environmental monitoring is critical for preventing microbial and allergenic cross-contamination. However, manual swabbing methods, commonly used to verify hygienic conditions, are prone to inconsistent results because of variability in pressure, coverage, and techniques. Two novel solutions will be explored to address these challenges: a robotic swabbing system with tactile sensing control, and a fluorescence/absorbance spectrometer for non-contact, protein-based residue detection. The robotic system was evaluated against trained and untrained humans, measuring water pickup, surface coverage, and pressure consistency. Concurrently, the fluorescence system analyzed model poultry protein soil to correlate spectral patterns with contamination levels. The robotic system demonstrated statistically …

09.22.2025 Ored Connect, Liz Williamson

ORED Newsletter

• Ralph E. Powe Junior Faculty Enhancement Award
• MIG Application Opportunity
• 10th Annual Advancing MS Conference

Comparative Study For Channel Pairing In Noma Ofdm- Cdma System, Hazem H. El-Banna, Nelly M. Shafik

Mansoura Engineering Journal

Orthogonal Multiple Access such as OFDM technique became inadequate scheme since it provides limited spectral efficiency and limited number of users. In addition to Orthogonal Multiple Access (OMA), Non-Orthogonal Multiple Access (NOMA) technique is applied in 5th generation of mobile communications that enhances both spectral efficiency and capacity with high Quality of Service (QoS). In this paper, three techniques were combined NOMA, OFDM, and CDMA in order to have optimal system performance in the presence of worst fading channel situations; fast frequency selective Rayleigh multi-path fading channel. The main contribution of this paper is the novel channel pairing technique introduced …

An Estimation Study Of The Co2 Emissions In Saudi Arabia Using Machine Learning, Mohammed A. Albalawi, M.M. El-Halwany, Mahmoud H. Mahmoud, Mohamed Gar Alalm

Mansoura Engineering Journal

As part of the 2015 Paris Climate Agreement, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) pledged to implement policies aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions. The 2030 Vision, which KSA unveiled with the goal of building a more sustainable and diverse economy, led to a number of projects, such as the national renewable energy program, the Saudi green initiative, and the circular carbon economy. Additionally, KSA just revealed a bold plan to achieve net-zero status by 2060. The Kingdom pledged to cut its carbon emissions by 278 million tons of CO2eq (equivalent) yearly by 2030 in its revised nationally determined contribution …

09.15.2025 Ored Connect, Liz Williamson

ORED Newsletter

• NIH Common Forms
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09.08.2025 Ored Connect, Liz Williamson

ORED Newsletter

• Researcher training opportunities
• Project to increase PhD student success
• ORED online training opportunities