Life Sciences Commons^™

Evaluating Spatial Variability Of Corn Yield Response To Phosphorus Fertilizer For Improved Precision Phosphorus Management, Jennifer Fridgen

Theses and Dissertations--Plant and Soil Sciences

Soil scientists did not develop soil test-based fertilizer recommendations to support precision nutrient management. Knowledge of crop responses to applied essential nutrients, such as phosphorus (P), and the processes governing these responses at high spatial resolution are necessary to improve precision agronomic recommendations. This dissertation investigates the limitations of current soil sampling methodologies and recommendation frameworks for crop response to fertilizer, with particular emphasis on P fertility in Kentucky (KY) corn production. The first study examined the relationship between the resolution of systematic grid sampling and the spatial structure of soil test variables (Mehlich-3 P (M3P), Mehlich-3 potassium (M3K), and …

Table Of Contents

Scientific Kenyon: The Neuroscience Edition

No abstract provided.

The Biology Of Soulmates: Are We Wired For Connection?, Christiane Betfarhad

Scientific Kenyon: The Neuroscience Edition

No abstract provided.

Light At The Wrong Time, Alexis Murdock

Scientific Kenyon: The Neuroscience Edition

No abstract provided.

Your Brain's Favorite Cheat Code: The Neuroscience Of Self-Affirmation, Maeve Mclaughlin

Scientific Kenyon: The Neuroscience Edition

No abstract provided.

The Silent Architecture Of A Lifetime: How Early Endocrine-Disrupting Chemical Exposure Rewrites The Developing Brain, Becca Gwynne

Scientific Kenyon: The Neuroscience Edition

No abstract provided.

Dancing To The Rhythm: How To Coordinate Parkinson's Movement, Denil Joseph

Scientific Kenyon: The Neuroscience Edition

No abstract provided.

Think It, Believe It, Receive It, Angelia Nguyen

Scientific Kenyon: The Neuroscience Edition

No abstract provided.

Robots Are Watching You Sleep: The Hidden World Of Sleep Trackers, Luke Latterman

Scientific Kenyon: The Neuroscience Edition

No abstract provided.

Kenyon College Neuroscience Department Faculty And Staff

Scientific Kenyon: The Neuroscience Edition

No abstract provided.

Biomarkers Of Foraging And Reproduction In Captive Adult Female Hawksbill Sea Turtles (Eretmochelys Imbricata), Joslyn Blessing Kent, Kari Renee Dawson, Shingo Fukada, Masae Makabe, Isao Kawazu, Ken Maeda, Roldán A. Valverde

School of Earth, Environmental, & Marine Sciences Faculty Publications

Hawksbill sea turtles (Eretmochelys imbricata) are listed as critically endangered by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN). To implement best conservation practices for this species, its biology should be well understood. Attempting to characterize the foraging physiology of free-ranging hawksbill sea turtles is complicated by the fact that sampling is typically limited to nesting females during the reproductive season. Without data from non-reproductive periods, it is difficult to determine whether observed physiological values reflect baseline conditions or are specific to the energetically demanding nesting season. Accordingly, in this study, we described the physiology of foraging in …

Data From: Complete Mitochondrial Genomes Of The Spring Pygmy Sunfish (Elassoma Alabamae), Kayla M. Fast, David Lee Pounders, Mayah P. Peterson, Michael W. Sandel

Research Data

The Spring Pygmy Sunfish, Elassoma alabamae (Mayden, 1993), is a small species of sunfish (Centrarchiformes) endemic to tributaries to the middle Tennessee River in north Alabama. Elassoma alabamae is the most geographically restricted member of Elassoma and the only species found above the fall line. This species was twice considered extinct and was listed under the Endangered Species Act (ESA) as threatened in 2013. To date, surveys for this species have been limited to traditional invasive methods using dipnets and seines. In order to reduce impacts on sensitive populations, we sequenced the mitochondrial genome with the intent of developing a …

Secondhand Books Industry Between Extinction And Challenges Of The New Millennium: Insights Urban And Architectural Considerations From Al-Azbakeya Book Market., Ahmed M. Selim, Heba M. Gaber, Nehal M. Elmahdy

Mansoura Engineering Journal

At the beginning of the 21st century, the printed and secondhand book industry has faced enormous challenges, particularly after the COVID-19 pandemic, when book consumers sought to engage directly with e-books. The Azbakeya Book Market in Egypt is one of the markets that confronts this challenge, while maintaining its distinctive historical character. This study aims to rehabilitate the secondhand book market in Al-Azbakeya district as a model that simulates the potential urban and sustainable architectural design strategies for reviving this industry. The study framework was comprised into four sections. First, "desk-based research" was conducted to discuss the secondhand book industry …

Advancing Ultrahigh Carbon Steel Characterization: A Metaheuristic-Tuned Deep Learning Approach, Walaa Omar El-Farouk Badr, Hossam El-Din Mostafa, Rania Elbana

Mansoura Engineering Journal

Accurate classification of ultrahigh carbon steel (UHCS) microstructures is essential for elucidating processing-structure-property relationships and enhancing material performance. While convolutional neural networks (CNNs) offer powerful automated classification, navigating their complex, high-dimensional hyperparameter spaces present a significant computational bottleneck. To advance automated materials characterization, this study proposes a metaheuristic-tuned deep learning approach for robust and efficient microstructure classification. Two architectures, VGG16 and MobileNetV2, were evaluated under both pretrained and fine-tuned configurations, with Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO), Genetic Algorithm (GA), and Ant Colony Optimization (ACO) applied for systematic hyperparameter tuning. Results show that GA substantially improves the performance of fine-tuned VGG16, achieving …

Green Hydrogen-Based Decarbonization Approach For Steel Industry With Hybrid Renewable Energy Sources, Raju Kumar Maurya, Dharmbir Prasad, Rudra Pratap Singh

Mansoura Engineering Journal

This work provides a micro-pilot techno-economic and environmental assessment of a green hydrogen-driven decarbonization scenario for low-carbon steel production at the capacity of 1 ton steel produced (i.e., requiring 50 kg of green hydrogen). In this work an integrated renewable energy (RE) scenario for the steel production site at Jamuria, West Bengal, India is planned to utilize solar photovoltaic (PV), wind turbines (WTs), battery storage and a diesel backup generator to meet the hydrogen production load from an electrolyzer using HOMER Pro software. The results show that the proposed micro-pilot system produces excess electricity with respect to the plant's operating …

Intelligent Audio‑To‑Indian Sign‑Language And Sign‑To‑Audio Translation System Using Mediapipe, Tensorflow, Whisper And Google Tts, N. Pothanna, T. Kusuma, S. Haindavi, T. Sreeja, Shaik Shaheem Taj

Mansoura Engineering Journal

Communication barriers between the Deaf community and the general public remain a persistent challenge, particularly in multilingual settings where Indian Sign Language (ISL) is the primary mode of interaction. We propose a real-time bidirectional translation framework integrating MediaPipe for hand landmark extraction, a Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) classifier built with TensorFlow/Keras for gesture recognition, OpenAI Whisper for robust multilingual speech-to-text transcription, and Google TTS for naturalistic speech synthesis. The system achieves 93% classification accuracy across 35 ISL classes (alphabets A–Z and numerals 1–9) on a dataset of 42,700 images, with macro and weighted F1-scores of 0.93. Deployed as a Flask …

An Intuitionistic Fuzzy Hypergraph Model Enhanced ‎By Forest-Of-Walks Dynamics For Medical Image ‎Segmentation, Brinthaguru Thangaraj, Karthick Palanisamy

Mansoura Engineering Journal

The process of accurately segmenting Urolithiasis and pulmonary nodules from medical images presents significant difficulties because of three main factors which include nonuniform intensity distribution and the presence of weak object borders and the uncertainty caused by anatomical structure overlaps. The study introduces F-Zinhger as a solution to these problems through its application of the Forest of Walks technology. The method uses superpixels as fundamental elements which form a multi-scale hypergraph that establishes hyperedges through three criteria: intensity similarity, spatial proximity, and Z-intuitionistic fuzzy hesitation to capture complex contextual connections. The system incorporates a random walk-based label propagation system. The …

Underwater Image Identification Using Fuzzy Soft Planar Graph, Bhuvaneswari Natarajan Jayakar, Karthick Palanisamy

Mansoura Engineering Journal

High-attribute underwater image segmentation is fundamental to autonomous marine exploration, biodiversity monitoring, and subsea infrastructure inspection. However, underwater environments are inherently stochastic, exhibiting severe light attenuation, chromatic distortion, scattering effects, and noise, all of which significantly degrade image quality and challenge conventional computer vision techniques. Hence, Fuzzy logic which handles uncertainty and imprecision in data and Soft sets which manage parameterized information, are widely applied to underwater image analysis. Fuzzy Soft Planar Graphs (FSPGs) constitute a mathematical framework that integrates fuzzy set theory, soft set theory and planar graph structures for preserving spatial topology. The proposed methodology adopts a hybrid …

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 …

Control Of Steel Corrosion Using Natural Corrosion Inhibitor, Rasha A. Nasef, O. Hamed, M. M. El-Halwany, M. H. Mahmoud

Mansoura Engineering Journal

This study investigates corrosion control of AISI 430 stainless steel in 1M HCl medium using an eco-friendly inhibitor extracted from pomegranate peel (PPE). The inhibition efficiency was evaluated at different PPE concentrations, with the highest applied concentration of 13g/L. Corrosion behavior was evaluated through weight-loss measurements and potentiodynamic polarization techniques conducted at room temperature.

The experimental results showed that corrosion resistance improved as the inhibitor  concentration increased. Lower corrosion rates were observed in the presence of PPE, along with reduced anodic and cathodic activities, indicating that the extract functions as a mixed-type inhibitor. Surface analysis confirmed the formation of …

Finite Element Analysis Of Oxygen Transport In Tissue And Capillaries With A Second Order Metabolic Consumption, Vikash Ramcharitar, Sreedhara Rao Gunakala, Reddappa Bandi, Donna M. G. Dyer, Jagdesh Ramnanan

Mansoura Engineering Journal

This study presents a numerical investigation into the oxygen transport through a Krogh-type capillary-tissue model with second-order tissue metabolism. The governing non-linear equations are solved by implementing a Galerkin finite element method with a fixed-point iteration scheme. The resulting code and solution algorithm were successfully validated against available analytical solutions for zeroth- and first-order kinetics, showing very good agreement. Numerical simulations indicated, that under the parameters investigated, relative to zeroth- and first-order kinetics, a second-order metabolism leads to less overall oxygen consumption within the tissue phase. This yields higher oxygen partial pressures at the outer tissue boundary and higher oxygen …

A Multi-Valued Fixed Point Theorem For Quasi-Contractions On A Cone Metric Space, Regina Mahadewsing, Sreedhara Rao Gunakala, Vikash Ramcharitar, Reddappa Bandi, Akhenaton Daaga, Thameem Basha H

Mansoura Engineering Journal

A set-valued (multi-valued)  mapping  assigns to each  a nonempty closed and bounded subset . Using this notion, the present work broadens classical fixed point theory by proving a fixed point theorem for multi-valued quasi-contractive mappings in cone metric spaces. The developed argument extends several earlier results that were restricted to single-valued maps and more familiar set-valued settings, thereby providing a wider analytical framework within ordered Banach-space structures. These contributions enrich fixed point theory in generalized metric environments and can be relevant to problems in nonlinear analysis and optimization

Performance Enhancement Of A Fully Integrated Solar Still Using Flat Plate Collector, Reflector, And Evaporative Cooling System, Joe Patrick Gnanaraj Sundararaj, Vanthana Jeyasingh

Mansoura Engineering Journal

Water scarcity has become a major global concern due to increasing population growth, industrialization, and depletion of freshwater resources. Solar desalination is considered an eco-friendly and sustainable solution, especially for rural and off-grid regions where conventional water treatment facilities are limited. However, conventional solar stills suffer from low productivity, which restricts their practical application. In this study, a fully integrated solar still system was designed and fabricated by incorporating a flat plate collector, front-wall reflector, and passive evaporative cooling arrangement. The system was experimentally tested under natural climatic conditions over seven consecutive days to evaluate temperature variation, distillate yield, and …

A Quantitative Analysis Of Burrowing And Subterranean Locomotion In The Sand Lance Using A Transparent Sediment, Issei Fujita, Makoto Tomiyasu, Jun Yamamoto, Yasuzumi Fujimori

Journal of Marine Science and Technology–Taiwan

Sand lances (Ammodytes spp.) rely on rapid burrowing into sediment for predator avoidance. Although their sediment grain-size preferences are well documented, the biomechanics underlying burrowing success remain unclear because natural substrates are opaque. Using a transparent-sediment system, we directly visualized and quantified burrowing kinematics to: (1) test the effect of body size (total length, TL) on burrowing success; (2) examine entry mechanisms (e.g., swimming speed, entry angle); and (3) describe locomotion within sediment. Logistic regression on the full dataset (N = 28 fish) identified TL as the primary determinant of success, with larger individuals exhibiting significantly higher success …

Cruise Network Design Under Sequential Duopolistic Entry, Ta-Hui Yang, Ching-Hui Tang, Wan-Tien O

Journal of Marine Science and Technology–Taiwan

This study addresses the network design for international cruise services in a duopolistic market, where carriers enter and make decisions sequentially. The leader, who makes the first move, makes decisions as there is no competitor in the market. The follower, who makes decisions later, has to design their network considering the existing leader’s network. The leader’s model is a mixed integer linear problem while the follower’s model is a mixed integer nonlinear problem. Therefore, a heuristic is proposed to solve the problem. The commercially available general algebraic modeling system is used in conjunction with its different solvers to solve the …

Effect Of Heat Treatment On The Corrosion And Wear Behavior Of 17-4 Ph Stainless Steel For Marine Applications, Syuan Tai, I-Kon Lee, Ming-Yuan Lin, Kang-Yu Liao, Chin-Chun Chang, Hung-Bin Lee

Journal of Marine Science and Technology–Taiwan

This study explores the tribocorrosion behavior of conventionally cast 17-4 PH stainless steel under real seawater conditions, focusing on the effects of three heat treatments (Solution, H900, H1100). Electrochemical tests, tribocorrosion experiments, SEM, XPS, and quantitative analysis were used to establish a three-stage tribocorrosion mechanism. Results show that H900 exhibits superior corrosion and wear resistance, while H1100 suffers increased material loss and surface cracking at high potentials. Elemental analysis revealed NbC migration forming third-body particles, which, although briefly reducing friction, induced local stress concentration and crack initiation. The findings highlight the critical influence of microstructure, passive film stability, and third-body …

Enhancing Underwater Imagery And Organism Detection Using Reinforcement Learning, K. Arul Deepa, P. Ramya, Karpaga Vinodha, Dharmaraja C

Journal of Marine Science and Technology–Taiwan

Underwater environments pose significant challenges in assessing image quality and organism detection due to light scattering and absorption, which limits visibility and color fidelity. Existing solutions often fail to effectively address these challenges, resulting in suboptimal image quality and hindering organism identification. This paper examines the problem through a dual-focused approach: enhancing underwater images and detecting organisms using the Underwater Image Enhancement Benchmark (UIEB) dataset. The first step introduces a state-of-the-art method for image enhancement by applying reinforcement learning (RL) principles. By formulating the enhancement process as a Markov Decision Process (MDP)—where states are represented by image features and actions …

The Ecological Consequences Of Horizontal Transmission Of Symbionts, Bibek Singh Parajuli

Biology Dissertations

Most multicellular organisms depend on their microbial symbionts for various functions, such as digestion, nutrient supplementation, pesticide degradation, and defense. While many insects acquire their symbionts vertically from their parents, thousands of species of true bugs (Hemiptera) across different families acquire their microbial symbiont, Caballeronia, from the environment each generation. Acquiring symbionts from the environment (horizontal transmission) has various ecological consequences for the host. In this study, I used the bug-Caballeronia model 1) to understand whether the free-living symbionts benefit from association with multicellular hosts, 2) to evaluate whether host specialization on symbiont strains varies across taxonomic levels, …

Effects Of Fermented Soybean Products On The Human Gut Microbiome, Microbial Metabolism, And Host Physiology, Shannon Moncier

Biology Dissertations

Fermented soybean products (FSPs) contain soybean-derived substrates, fermentation-associated microorganisms, and bioactive compounds that may interact with the human gut microbiome and host physiology. However, despite the growing interest in FSPs, longitudinal human studies specifically evaluating traditional Korean-FSPs (K-FSPs), particularly among United States-based populations, remain limited. The objective of this work was to evaluate the effects of three K-FSPs, including Cheonggukjang, Gochujang, and Doenjang, on host physiological responses, gut microbial community structure, predicted microbial functional potential, and fecal butyrate responses in healthy adults. Three independent dietary intervention cohorts were conducted using FSP formulations produced either by traditional artisan methods (Product A) …

Influence Of Footwear Geometry On Lower Limb Stiffness During Running, Hongjiao Duan

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

This study examined how footwear geometry, specifically stack height and heel width, influences lower-limb stiffness during treadmill running. Twelve recreationally active runners completed treadmill running trials at 4.44 m/s in nine prototype shoe conditions that differed in stack height (25, 45, and 65 mm) and heel width (81, 93, and 105 mm). Vertical stiffness, leg stiffness, and sagittal-plane hip, knee, and ankle joint stiffness were calculated from synchronized markerless motion capture and force data. A two-way repeated-measures ANOVA (stack height X heel width) was used to test footwear effects. Leg stiffness was not significantly affected by stack height or heel …