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  Multimodal Convolutional Neural Network for Pathogenicity Classification of Missense Variants

  (2026-09) Lana Sharabati; Dr. Alaa Halawani Dr. Yaqoub Ashhab

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  Interpreting genetic missense variants is critical for diagnosing inherited disease. In the ClinVar missense data used here, 80% of variants were classified as Variants of Uncertain Significance (VUS), which leaves patients without clear diagnostic guidance. This thesis combines ClinVar with DescribePROT, a database of per-residue structural and functional descriptors, to classify missense variants by their clinical significance. These descriptors have not been applied to variant classification before. Each variant is represented by a 31 × 15 matrix of the protein window around the mutation, holding 14 structural and functional amino acid features, together with an eight-feature vector of population allele frequencies and physicochemical substitution scores. Five models were compared on 117,843 variants: three main architectures (VGG, VGG CNN + MLP, and DeepInsight with DenseNet121) and two single-input ablations. Once VUS are removed, ClinVar labels the remaining variants in four categories, and the models were trained on those. The VGG CNN + MLP model performed best, with a Macro F1-score of 0.6179, an accuracy of 66.77%, and a Macro ROC-AUC of 0.8910, and it held a Macro ROC-AUC of 0.8811 on an independent external ClinVar validation set of 34,146 variants. Grouped into the binary benign against pathogenic split that clinical practice acts on, the same architecture reached a ROC-AUC of 0.972. The ablations located the predictive signal: the eight variant-level features alone recovered 92% of the best model's Macro F1, while the DeepInsight image alone performed near chance. Feature integration and variant-level annotation, rather than added network complexity, drive performance on this task.

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  Thermal Performance of Mechanically Fixed Stone and Porcelain Façade Systems: A Case Study of Hebron, Palestine

  (2026-08) Hala Sameh Salah Nasereddin; Dr. Bader Alatawneh

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  Mechanically fixed cladding systems offer a promising technological solution owing to their thermal performance and their potential to reduce building energy consumption. Recently, dry-stone and mechanically fixed porcelain cladding systems have become increasingly popular in Palestinian residential construction, primarily due to their aesthetic appeal. However, these systems remain insufficiently investigated in the Palestinian climatic context, and context-specific evidence on their effect on façade thermal performance is limited, particularly in Mediterranean climates such as Palestine. Most studies also address either the thermal bridging caused by the fixing system or building-level thermal performance, rather than the combined effect of the system components. This research aims to assess the thermal performance of mechanically fixed stone and porcelain cladding systems under local climatic conditions, examining how cladding material, insulation position, and air cavity depth affect heat transfer and thermal bridging at the component level, and further evaluating the influence on building-level performance. Field surveys, semi-structured interviews, and in situ measurements were employed to document local mechanically fixed façade construction practices in Hebron, followed by numerical simulations using COMSOL Multiphysics for thermal-bridge modeling and DesignBuilder for building-level energy analysis. A parametric framework comprising 18 wall configurations was developed to evaluate the thermal performance of these systems and determine the most thermally efficient configurations. The results show that insulation presence was the dominant variable affecting annual energy demand, reducing it by 9.5 to 16.3% at a fixed 5 cm cavity, whereas insulation position had little influence at the building scale and cavity depth acted as a secondary factor. Relative to the uninsulated reference, the best insulated configurations with a 15 cm cavity reduced annual demand by 13.8 to 23.0% across the four zones. The two cladding systems differed seasonally but balanced over the year. At the component scale, however, insulation position strongly influenced the thermal bridging penalty. The porcelain substructure increased thermal transmittance more than the stone brackets in every configuration, by approximately three times where the fixings did not penetrate the insulation, with the porcelain penalty ranging from 6.8 to 23.0% and peaking at external insulation with the 5 cm cavity.

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  An Integrated Passive System to Optimize Thermal Comfort and Indoor Air Quality: A Case Study in Palestine’s Hot-Arid Climate

  (2026-08) Katrina Yousef Hamadneh; Dr. Bader Mohammad Alatawneh

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  The reintroduction of earthen architecture in Jericho, in the hot-arid Jordan Valley of Palestine, offers a low-energy alternative to conventional construction, yet the thermal and air-quality performance of Compressed Earth Block (CEB) buildings in this climate remains largely unquantified. This thesis evaluates an integrated passive system in which thermal mass, envelope design, ventilative cooling, and operational control are optimized together to deliver thermal comfort and indoor air quality during a representative summer design week. Combining field monitoring with a calibrated DesignBuilder model, the study follows a seven-phase optimization across three representative spaces, a daycare, an office, and a residence, assessed against the ASHRAE 55 adaptive comfort limit and the EN 16798-1 Category II criteria. The results characterize the earthen mass as a heat modulator rather than a heat rejecter: it damps the outdoor swing, holding the indoor air temperature to a daily range of about 2 °C against 11 to 14 °C outdoors, but underperforms wherever a dominant load, an exposed roof or unshaded glazing, enters continuously. This yields a load-sequencing principle, in which the dominant load is mitigated first and the mass then modulates what remains. A 29.5 cm CEB wall with 5 cm of exterior insulation on all external walls carries most of the available damping, while a reflective roof and reduced glazing address the governing solar and roof loads. A climate-responsive control framework governs operation on three signals, outdoor temperature, occupancy, and indoor operative temperature, deploying cross-ventilation as the primary mode, night flushing where continuous occupancy allows, and direct evaporative cooling through the hot, dry afternoon. Under this framework, the integrated system kept all occupied hours below the 80% comfort limit, with mean operative temperatures of 28.2–29.1 °C and CO2 concentrations of 693–1207 ppm, within EN 16798-1 limits. Compared with conventional cavity-brick and stone-clad walls, the optimized earthen envelope achieves comfort with fewer interventions. The framework holds comfort and air quality by passive, low-energy means, reducing to a fixed schedule occupants can operate by hand.

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  Gut Microbiota structure and ESBL-Enterobacteriaceae colonization in hospitalized versus healthy children

  (2026-06) Marah Mohammad Halees; Dr. Murad Ishnaiwer

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  Background: The intestinal microbiota plays a critical role in host health, particularly during early life when microbial colonization and immune development are still evolving. Disruption of this ecosystem (dysbiosis) has been increasingly linked to gastrointestinal disease and the emergence of antimicrobial-resistant organisms. Among these, extended-spectrum β-lactamase-producing Enterobacteriaceae (ESBL-EB) are of particular concern due to their capacity for persistent gut colonization and transmission. Methods: This study investigated the intestinal microbiota composition of young children (≤3 years) with acute gastroenteritis compared with healthy controls. Fecal samples were analyzed using 16S rRNA gene–based approaches to characterize key bacterial taxa and assess differences in microbial diversity, structure, and abundance between groups. Results: Hospitalized children exhibited marked alterations in gut microbiota composition, including depletion of beneficial commensal taxa such as Faecalibacterium and members of the phylum Bacillota, alongside changes in Bacteroides-associated populations. Opportunistic and potentially pathogenic bacteria, particularly within the Enterobacteriaceae family, were consistently enriched. In contrast, probiotic-associated genera, including Bifidobacterium and Lactobacillus, showed variable patterns across samples without a consistent directional change, suggesting inter-individual variability in their abundance. ESBL colonization was associated with compositional differences in the microbial community, characterized by shifts toward facultative anaerobes and reduced representation of taxa associated with colonization resistance. Conclusion: These findings indicate that indicate that alterations in the gut microbiota in early childhood is closely associated with susceptibility to both gastrointestinal disease and colonization by antimicrobial-resistant organisms. Changes of key butyrate-producing and barrier-supporting taxa may facilitate the persistence of ESBL-producing Enterobacteriaceae. This study provides insights into the compositional and ecological differences of the pediatric gut microbiome during hospitalization and highlights the potential relevance of microbiota-targeted approaches, including dietary modulation and probiotic interventions, in the context of antimicrobial resistance.

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  The Role of Digital Innovation in Advancing the Circular Economy: Evidence from Plastic Manufacturing Enterprises in Hebron City, Palestine

  (2026-05-13) Diyar Ziyad Ahmad Rjoub; Prof. Husam Rjoub

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  In recent years, Digital Innovation and Circular Economy have received growing interest as important solutions towards sustainability and resource efficiency in industrial companies. The use of advanced digital technologies such as Artificial Intelligence (AI), Internet of Things (IoT), Big Data Analytics, and Cloud Computing has become a key enabler to improve operational performance and environmental sustainability. The Circular Economy aims to maximize resource use, minimize waste, and prolong product lifespans as a means of sustainable development. Despite significant global interest in the relationship between Digital Innovation and the Circular Economy, there is a lack of empirical evidence in the Palestinian context, particularly in the plastic manufacturing sector. This study set out to examine the effect of Digital Innovation on the Circular Economy of plastic manufacturing companies in Hebron City—the effects of Organizational Readiness as a mediator and Government Support as a moderator were also explored. A quantitative research method was used, and data were gathered through a structured questionnaire administered to a sample of 63 plastic manufacturing enterprises in Hebron City. Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) was used in this study to test the hypotheses and analyze the relationships among the variables. The results indicated that Digital Innovation plays an indirect role in the development of the Circular Economy via Organizational Readiness, underscoring the role of organizational readiness, technological infrastructure, and human resources in driving digital innovation initiatives to effective circular economy practices. The results also showed that the relationship between Digital Innovation and the Circular Economy was not statistically significant when moderated by Government Support. The study suggests that organizational readiness for digital transformation can be increased by establishing technological infrastructure, training employees in digital skills, and equipping them with the organizational resources needed to implement advanced digital technologies. These efforts can help to implement Circular Economy Practices effectively and contribute to sustainable industrial development.

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