AUB ScholarWorks

AUB ScholarWorks is a digital service that collects, preserves, and distributes digital material. Repositories are important tools for preserving an organization's legacy; they facilitate digital preservation and scholarly communication.

Communities in ScholarWorks

Select a community to browse its collections.

Now showing 1 - 5 of 25

Archaeological Museum 3
Asfari Institute for Civil Society and Citizenship 88
AUB Botanic Garden (AUBotanic) 8
AUBotanic
AUB Press 3
AUB Press
Center For Advanced Mathematical Sciences 21

Recent Submissions

Exploring the Links between Employment, Social Cohesion, and Conflict in Lebanon
(Issam Fares Institute for Public Policy & International Affairs, 2026-01) Mourad, Yara; Nameh, Nadia; Baroud, Maysa; Issam Fares Institute for Public Policy & International Affairs; American University of Beirut
This study examines the relationship between employment security and conflict in Lebanon amid prolonged economic and political crises. It explores how economic instability and limited employment opportunities contribute to social tensions, unrest, and conflict across communities. The study further investigates how governance challenges, structural inequalities, and labor-market disparities shape social cohesion and perceptions of instability.
Lebanon’s State-Owned Enterprises: What We Know About Them
(Issam Fares Institute for Public Policy & International Affairs, 2026-01) Geadah, Sami; Borgi, Sarah; Bou Karroum, Nizar; Issam Fares Institute for Public Policy & International Affairs; Rayess, Christine; American University of Beirut
This paper examines Lebanon’s state-owned enterprises across key sectors like utilities, telecoms, and real estate. Lacking a coherent strategy, their historical acquisition, high telecom tariffs, and underpriced electricity heavily exacerbated public debt. Evaluating their value and quasi-fiscal role provides crucial context for ongoing discussions on public asset management and performance reform.
Flexible, Bioresorbable, High-Fidelity Neural Interfaces for Epilepsy Monitoring via Rapid Prototyping
Saleh, Sahera; Khraiche, Massoud; Eid, Assaad; Elhajj, Imad; Refaat, Marwan; Obeid, Makram; Otto, Kevin; PhD; Biomedical Engineering Program; Maroun Semaan Faculty of Engineering and Architecture; American University of Beirut
Neural interfaces are essential tools for recording, stimulating, and modulating bioelectrical activity in the nervous system, with broad applications in neuroscience research and clinical medicine. Among these, electrocorticography (ECoG) offers a valuable balance between invasiveness, signal fidelity, and spatial resolution by enabling direct cortical recordings from the brain surface. However, conventional ECoG grids remain limited by relatively large electrode dimensions, low channel density, mechanical mismatch with neural tissue, and reliance on fabrication methods that are not readily adaptable to soft or biodegradable materials. In addition, while passive electrodes are widely used for cortical recordings, their inability to amplify weak bioelectrical signals at the recording site constrains signal quality and scalability. In this thesis, we aimed to advance next-generation cortical monitoring technologies by developing flexible, bioresorbable, and high-fidelity neural interfaces using rapid prototyping and inkjet-printing-based fabrication. The work combines passive ECoG arrays on biodegradable polycaprolactone (PCL)-based substrates with active organic electrochemical transistor (OECT)-based devices and arrays on flexible polyimide, establishing additive manufacturing as a unified strategy for high-performance neural interfacing. In the first part of this work, we developed a fully inkjet-printed bioresorbable high-density ECoG array on spin-coated PCL using a low-temperature plasma-assisted photonic sintering process. The resulting device featured 75 µm electrodes at a density of 7.44 electrodes/mm² and achieved a low average impedance of 10.6 kΩ at 1 kHz, while enabling 32-channel in vivo seizure recordings in rats with an average signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of 28 dB, demonstrating reliable cortical recording and spatiotemporal mapping of seizure propagation. The devices exhibit conformal contact with cortical tissue and maintain stable electrophysiological performance. Histological analyses indicated favorable short-term biocompatibility. These results establish biodegradable PCL-based platforms as promising candidates for transient cortical monitoring. In the second part of the thesis, we developed inkjet-printed PEDOT:PSS-based OECTs as active neural interfaces for local signal amplification. We fabricated a fully planar flexible OECT for ECoG recordings that combined high transconductance (11 mS), rapid response (0.5 ms), and compact geometry. In vivo recordings in a rat seizure model showed that the optimized OECTs achieved SNR values of up to 48 dB, compared with 38 dB for passive electrodes during spike recording, while providing peak signal amplification of approximately 76% relative to adjacent passive devices. Finally, we extended this active-device concept to fully inkjet-printed OECT arrays. Arrays of up to 32 OECTs were successfully fabricated on polyimide and upon optimization of device geometry, the OECTs achieved transconductance values up to 5.17 mS and response times as fast as 1.08 ms, demonstrating the feasibility of scalable, low-voltage, printed active arrays for cortical monitoring. In vivo electrophysiological recording using an 8-channel OECT array demonstrated an SNR of 35.69 dB at 0V gate bias. Overall, this thesis establishes inkjet-printing-based rapid prototyping as a viable strategy for the development of both passive biodegradable ECoG arrays and active OECT-based neural interfaces for high-fidelity cortical electrophysiological monitoring. The developed platforms provide a foundation for future high-resolution, customizable, and potentially transient neural interfaces for epilepsy monitoring and related neurotechnological applications.
GDF-15 as a Modulator of Macrophage Polarization and Renal Inflammation in Diabetic Kidney Disease
Abboud, Elie Emmanuel; Eid, Assaad; Kassouf, Hala Kfoury; Daoud, Georges; Bazzi, Samer; MS; Department of Anatomy, Cell Biology and Physiological Sciences; Faculty of Medicine; American University of Beirut
Background: Diabetic kidney disease (DKD) is one of the most common microvascular complications of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) and remains a major cause of chronic kidney disease and kidney failure worldwide. Increasing evidence suggests that macrophage-mediated inflammation contributes significantly to the progression of DKD. Growth differentiation factor-15 (GDF-15), a stress-induced cytokine of the transforming growth factor-β (TGF-β) superfamily, has been linked to both metabolic and renal disorders. However, its role in diabetic kidney injury and macrophage polarization is not fully understood. This study aims to investigate the contribution of GDF-15 to renal injury in T2DM through inflammation and macrophage polarization and to evaluate the therapeutic effects of GDF-15 inhibition. Methods: In vivo, type 2 diabetes was induced in mice using a high-fat diet combined with low-dose streptozotocin (HFD/STZ). Mice were allocated to control, AV-380-treated control (7.5 or 20 mg/kg), T2DM, and T2DM groups treated with AV-380 (7.5 or 20 mg/kg) for 8 or 15 weeks. Renal function, histological injury, fibrosis, inflammation, and macrophage polarization were assessed using molecular, biochemical, and histological approaches. Moreover, effects of GDF-15 on macrophage function were examined in vitro using THP-1-derived macrophages model exposed to high glucose (HG) conditions. Results: Treatment with the GDF-15-neutralizing antibody AV-380 significantly improved renal outcomes in diabetic mice. AV-380 reduced proteinuria, glomerular injury, collagen deposition, and renal inflammation compared with the untreated T2DM groups. These improvements were accompanied by a marked reduction in M1 macrophage polarization, reflected by decreased expression of CXCL9, CXCL10, and iNOS. In contrast, markers associated with the anti-inflammatory M2 phenotype, including CCL17, CCL22, and STAT6, were significantly increased, with the 20 mg/kg dose when compared with untreated diabetic mice. The long-term model showed trends consistent with those observed in the short-term model; however, the increase in M1 macrophage markers in T2DM and their reduction following AV-380 treatment did not reach statistical significance. Similarly, M2 markers showed a non-significant increase with long-term GDF-15 inhibition, particularly at the 20 mg/kg dose. In addition, GFRAL expression was detected in renal tissue, raising the possibility that GDF-15 may act locally within the diabetic kidney. In vitro, high-glucose exposure produced limited changes in macrophage polarization based on surface marker expression, and AV-380 treatment did not significantly modify this profile. However, HG conditions were associated with an upward trend in the expression of IL-6, IL-8, IL-1β, and GDF-15. Although these changes did not reach statistical significance, AV-380 treatment under high-glucose conditions was accompanied by a reduction in their expression, suggesting a potential modulatory effect that warrants further investigation. Conclusion: Our findings indicate that GDF-15 contributes to the development and progression of DKD by promoting renal inflammation and pro-inflammatory macrophage polarization. Inhibition of GDF-15 with AV-380 shifted macrophages toward an anti-inflammatory phenotype and attenuated kidney injury in experimental T2DM. In contrast, HG and GDF-15 inhibition had limited effects on macrophage polarization in vitro, suggesting that the actions of GDF-15 on macrophages may be influenced by additional signals within the diabetic renal microenvironment. Together, these findings highlight GDF-15 as a potential contributor to inflammation-driven kidney injury and support further investigation of its therapeutic relevance in DKD.
Comparative Policy Analysis of Artificial Intelligence in Middle-School French Education in Lebanon and France with a Focus on French Vocabulary and Lexical Development
Khoury Hanna, Rosy; Baytiyeh, Hoda; Shihab, Mahmud; MA; Department of Education; Faculty of Arts and Sciences; American University of Beirut
This comparative qualitative policy study examines how official Lebanese and French educational frameworks govern the use of artificial intelligence in middle-school education, with particular attention to French vocabulary instruction and lexical development. Using systematic document analysis, the study compares national policies and implementation guidance from Lebanon and France and interprets them through an integrated analytical framework derived from UNESCO, OECD, and ISTE principles. The analysis focuses on human agency, developmental access, ethics and child protection, privacy and data governance, transparency and critical AI literacy, academic integrity and assessment, teacher competence, curriculum alignment, equity and multilingualism, implementation and accountability, and the specific implications of AI for French vocabulary learning. Findings indicate that both countries position AI as a support for human learning rather than a substitute for intellectual effort. France currently provides more operational guidance through explicit age-related conditions, privacy rules, account restrictions, academic-integrity expectations, and implementation structures. Lebanon, through the CRDP National AI Education Framework, provides a strong competency-based and multilingual foundation aligned with curriculum reform, but requires more detailed implementation mechanisms for age-appropriate access, approved tools, private-school responsibilities, monitoring, and subject-specific practice. Neither system yet provides a complete protocol for AI-supported French vocabulary and writing. The study therefore recommends controlled developmental integration rather than unrestricted adoption or blanket prohibition. It proposes a four-level governance model linking national authorities, school leadership, French departments, and classroom practice, together with a French vocabulary AI-use protocol designed to preserve learner authorship, lexical decision-making, privacy, equity, and evidence of independent competence.