Digital Commons Network^™

Finding Lost & Found: Designer’S Notes From The Process Of Creating A Jewish Game For Learning, Owen Gottlieb

Articles

This article provides context for and examines aspects of the design process of a game for learning. Lost & Found (2017a, 2017b) is a tabletop-to-mobile game series designed to teach medieval religious legal systems, beginning with Moses Maimonides’ Mishneh Torah (1180), a cornerstone work of Jewish legal rabbinic literature. Through design narratives, the article demonstrates the complex design decisions faced by the team as they balance the needs of player engagement with learning goals. In the process the designers confront challenges in developing winstates and in working with complex resource management. The article provides insight into the pathways the team …

Introduction: Jewish Gamevironments – Exploring Understanding With Playful Systems, Owen Gottlieb

Articles

The study of Judaism, Jewish civilizationi, and games is currently comprised of projects of a rather small set of game scholars. A sample of our work is included in this issue.

A 5.7–6.0 Ghz Cmos Pll With Low Phase Noise And −68 Dbc Reference Spur, Xiaoqiang Li, Jingwei Zhang, Yuanzhi Zhang, Wenshen Wang, Huimin Liu, Chao Lu

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No abstract provided.

Effect Of Hydrofracking On Aquifers, Abdullah Faruque, Joshua Goldowitz

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Geologists have understood the presence of shale gas and shale oil since the early 20th century, but always considered it unattainable due to shale’s low permeability. The shale gas revolution in the United States, brought about by the combination of horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing has proven the feasibility of economically accessing this resource and significantly increasing the world’s proven reserve. As we enter the era of application of this technology worldwide, countries will have to weigh the promise of increased energy independence and hydrocarbon revenue against the potential damage to water supplies. Hydrofracking’s voracious thirst for water and potential …

Uk Governance: From Overloading To Freeloading, Richard Woodward

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The UK's ongoing political turbulence has prompted a reprise of debates from the 1970s when many concluded the country was ungovernable. Then, the most influential diagnosis conceptualised the UK's governance problem as one of ‘overloading’ caused by the electorate's excessive expectations. This article argues that these accounts overlooked another phenomenon besieging UK governance during this period. This phenomenon was freeloading: the withering of government capacity deriving from the ability of actors to enjoy the benefits of citizenship without altogether contributing to the cost. In the interim, these problems have become endemic, not least because of the unspoken but discernible policy …

Nanostructured Apatite-Mullite Glass-Ceramics For Enhanced Primary Human Osteoblast Cell Response, Gordon Cooke, Conor Dunne, Sarah Keane, Daithi De Faoite, Seamas Donnelly, Kenneth Stanton

Articles

This work investigates the difference in viability of primary human foetal osteoblast cells on a glass-ceramic surface with nanoscale topography relative to viability on a smooth glass-ceramic surface containing a bioactive phase. Apatite-mullite glass-ceramics containing bioactive fluorapatite (Ca₁₀(PO₄)₆F₂) and bioinert mullite (Si₂Al₆O₁₃) were synthesised and subsequent heat-treatment was optimised to form nano-sized fluorapatite crystals. Etching was used to selectively remove the bioactive phase, producing a surface with disordered nanoscale topography. Cells were seeded onto a smooth polished glass-ceramic substrate with the bioactive phase intact, an etched …

Moral Commitments In Cost-Benefit Analysis, Eric A. Posner, Cass R. Sunstein

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No abstract provided.

Should Regulation Be Countercyclical?, Jonathan Masur, Eric A. Posner

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No abstract provided.

Facing The Sun, Frank Prendergast, Muiris O'Sullivan, Ken Williams, Gabriel Cooney

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December 2017 marked 50 years since archaeologist Michael J. O’Kelly first observed the solar illumination of the burial chamber in the Neolithic passage tomb at Newgrange during the period of the winter solstice. O’Kelly subsequently recorded direct sunlight entering Newgrange through the ‘especially contrived slit which lies under the roof-box at the outer end of the passage roof’ on 21 December 1969. The discovery of this historic phenomenon, dating back over 5,000 years, captured the public interest and imagination at that time and ever since. In this major article published in the Winter 2017 edition of Archaeology Ireland (date of …

Into The Deep: The Role Of Paradigms In Understanding Engineering Education For Sustainable Development, Iacovos Nicolaou, Eddie Conlon, Brian Bowe

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This article presents summary findings of a mixed methods research project exploring the provision of education for sustainable development (SD) in seven Irish engineering degree programmes. Drawing on Sterling’s (2004) iceberg metaphor and Critical Realism it seeks to identify the underlying socio-cultural barriers preventing a holistic integration of SD in engineering education. It argues that the current focus is predominantly on the environmental dimension of SD and that there are a set of reinforcing mechanisms facilitating the provision of disciplinary education aimed at producing technically proficient, employable graduates in which the social dimension of SD is marginalised. This is underwritten …

Probability Models And Compounding, David L. Farnsworth, James E. Marengo

Articles

We present the case that the ideas contained in a particular sequence of formulas are important in probability and statistics. The synthesis offered by the concepts in the sequence can be very valuable. Facility with this sequence and its underpinnings should be in the skill set of anyone who uses or studies probability or statistics. For illustrative purposes, we give applications to mixture distributions and Bayesian analyses.

Reliability-Based Designs Procedure Of Earth Retaining Walls In Geotechnical Engineering, Juan Camilo Viviescas, Juan Pablo Osorio, Julio E. Canon

Articles

The design and construction of foundations, retaining structures and slopes are usually based on deterministic formulations that do not allow the distinction between the natural variability and the inherent dispersion in the geotechnical parameters. Due to the inherent variability of the soil properties, there is a growing trend to implement reliability-based designs in geotechnical engineering to reduce design uncertainties by probabilistic methods. The reliability designs require the definition of the probability density functions of the geotechnical properties, as well as knowledge of the spatial variability of soils. This paper identifies the procedures, type of soil investigations, simulations and the most …

Risk And Resilience In Health Data Infrastructure, W. Nicholson Price Ii

Articles

Today’s health system runs on data. However, for a system that generates and requires so much data, the health care system is surprisingly bad at maintaining, connecting, and using those data. In the easy cases of coordinated care and stationary patients, the system works—sometimes. But when care is fragmented, fragmented data often result. Fragmented data create risks both to individual patients and to the system. For patients, fragmentation creates risks in care based on incomplete or incorrect information, and may also lead to privacy risks from a patched together system. For the system, data fragmentation hinders efforts to improve efficiency …

Characterization And Control Of A Multi-Primary Led Light Lab, Michael J. Murdoch

Articles

A new light lab facility has been commissioned at Rochester Institute of Technology with the research goal of studying human visual adaptation under temporally dynamic lighting. The lab uses five-channel LED luminaires with 16 bits of addressable depth per channel, addressed via DMX. Based on spectral measurements, a very accurate multiprimary additive color model has been built that can be used to provide “colorimetric plus” multi-primary channel intensity solutions optimized for spectral accuracy, color fidelity, color gamut, or other attributes. Several spectral tuning and multi-primary solutions are compared, for which accuracy results and IES TM-30-15 color rendition measures are shown.

Mode-Sum Prescription For Vacuum Polarization In Black Hole Spacetimes In Even Dimensions, Peter Taylor, Cormac Doran

Articles

We present a mode-sum regularization prescription for computing the vacuum polarization of a scalar field in static spherically symmetric black hole spacetimes in even dimensions. This is the first general and systematic approach to regularized vacuum polarization in higher even dimensions, building upon a previous scheme we developed for odd dimensions. Things are more complicated here since the even-dimensional propagator possesses logarithmic singularities which must be regularized. However, in spite of this complication, the regularization parameters can be computed in closed form in arbitrary even dimensions and for arbitrary metric function f(r). As an explicit example of our method, we …

Mode-Sum Prescription For Vacuum Polarization In Black Hole Spacetimes In Even Dimensions, Peter Taylor, Cormac Breen

Articles

We present a mode-sum regularization prescription for computing the vacuum polarization of a scalar field in static spherically symmetric black hole spacetimes in even dimensions. This is the first general and systematic approach to regularized vacuum polarization in higher even dimensions, building upon a previous scheme we developed for odd dimensions. Things are more complicated here since the even-dimensional propagator possesses logarithmic singularities which must be regularized. However, in spite of this complication, the regularization parameters can be computed in closed form in arbitrary even dimensions and for arbitrary metric function f(r). As an explicit example of our method, we …

Exhibit Still Open To The Public, Wendy Bradley Richter

Articles

Time is running out for Clark County area citizens to enjoy a Smithsonian Museum exhibit here in Arkadelphia.

The Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service of the Museum on Main Street program and the Arkansas Humanities Council have partnered to bring "Hometown Teams: How Sports Shape America" to Ouachita Baptist University.

Artificial Intelligence In Health Care: Applications And Legal Implications, W. Nicholson Price Ii

Articles

Artificial intelligence (AI) is rapidly moving to change the healthcare system. Driven by the juxtaposition of big data and powerful machine learning techniques—terms I will explain momentarily—innovators have begun to develop tools to improve the process of clinical care, to advance medical research, and to improve efficiency. These tools rely on algorithms, programs created from healthcare data that can make predictions or recommendations. However, the algorithms themselves are often too complex for their reasoning to be understood or even stated explicitly. Such algorithms may be best described as “black-box.” This article briefly describes the concept of AI in medicine, including …

Annotation Of Cultivar Variations At The Multigeneic Rhg1/Rfs2 Locus: Polymorphisms Underling Alteraannotation Of Cultivar Variations At The Multigeneic Rhg1/Rfs2 Locus: Polymorphisms Underling Alterations Of Root Development And Pest Resistancetions Of Root Development And Pest Resistance, Naghmeh Hemmati, Matt Geisler, Naresh Pola, Khalid Meksem, David A. Lightfoot

Articles

Soybean (Glycine max (L.) Merr.) suffers yield loss due to root infection from soil infestation by Heterodera glycine I. (soybean cyst nematode SCN) and Fusarium virguliforme (Aoki; sudden death syndrome (SDS)). The major locus for SCN and SDS resistance has previously been identified as Rhg1/Rfs2 (chr18; LG G) (site reference). The objective of this experiment was to compare the Sanger DNA sequence of a resistant cultivar (‘Forrest’) and two susceptible cultivars (‘Williams 82’ and ‘Asgrow A3244’). Sequences were downloaded from GenBank for Williams 82, Phytzome for A3244 and a newly sequenced BAC-B73P06 (82,157 bp) encompassing the Rfs2/Rhg1 locus. Using the …

Characterisation Of Cold Plasma Treated Beef And Dairy Lipids Using Spectroscopic And Chromatographic Methods, Chaitanya Sarangapani, David Dorran, Julie Dunne, Paula Bourke, Patrick Cullen

Articles

The efficacy of cold plasma for inactivation of food-borne pathogens in foods is established. However, insights on cold plasma-food interactions in terms of quality effects, particularly for oils and fats, are sparse. This study evaluated plasma-induced lipid oxidation of model matrices, namely dairy and meat fats. Product characterisation was performed using FTIR, ¹H NMR and chromatographic techniques. The oxidation of lipids by cold plasma followed the Criegee mechanism and typical oxidation products identified included ozonides, aldehydes (hexanal, pentenal, nonanal and nonenal) and carboxylic acids (9-oxononanoic acid, octanoic acid, nonanoic acid), along with hydroperoxides (9- and 13-hydroperoxy-octadecadienoylglycerol species). However, these …

Whole Genome Sequencing Of Rhodotorula Mucilaginosa Isolated From The Chewing Stick (Distemonanthus Benthamianus): Insights Into Rhodotorula Phylogeny, Mitogenome Dynamics And Carotenoid Biosynthesis, Han Ming Gan, Bolaji N. Thomas, Nicole T. Cavanaugh, Grace H. Morales, Ashley N. Mayers, Michael A. Savka, Andre O. Hudson

Articles

In industry, the yeast Rhodotorula mucilaginosa is commonly used for the production of carotenoids. The production of carotenoids is important because they are used as natural colorants in food and some carotenoids are precursors of retinol (vitamin A). However, the identification and molecular characterization of the carotenoid pathway/s in species belonging to the genus Rhodotorula is scarce due to the lack of genomic information thus potentially impeding effective metabolic engineering of these yeast strains for improved carotenoid production. In this study, we report the isolation, identification, characterization and the whole nuclear genome and mitogenome sequence of the endophyte R. mucilaginosa …

Modelling Tree Contribution In Susceptibility Analysis Of Shallow Llandslides, Roberto José Marín Sánchez, Juan Pablo Osorio

Articles

In this paper an assessment of shallow landslides susceptibility in a tropical and mountainous terrain is made. A method that allows to model slope stability over large areas is used. Tree contribution is quantified by means of three parameters: rainfall interception, root reinforcement and tree surcharge. A rainfall interception model is used to determine the rain available for infiltration and its temporal distribution during the simulation. The hydrological models included in TRIGRS are described, which allows to determine the pore water pressure depending on the initial conditions. This pore water pressure is used in the revised infinite slope stability model, …

Organizational Decline And Fiscal Distress In Municipal Police Agencies, Matthew Giblin, Jeffrey Nowacki

Articles

In late 2007, the United States entered one of the most significant recessions in recent memory. While the consequences to individuals have been well-documented, less attention has been paid to the effects on state-sponsored organizations such as police agencies. The current study examines fiscal distress (e.g., layoffs, hiring freezes) in a sample of large municipal law enforcement agencies. According to a framework proposed by Levine (1978), departments should be most vulnerable to fiscal distress when the jurisdiction experiences economic shocks (environmental entropy), the demand for police services declines (problem depletion), the political system becomes less supportive of police agencies (political …

The New Diagnostic Team, Mark L. Graber, Diana Rusz, Melissa L. Jones

Articles

The National Academy of Medicine (NAM) in the recently issued report Improving Diagnosis in Health Care outlined eight major recommendations to improve the quality and safety of diagnosis. The #1 recommendation was to improve teamwork in the diagnostic process. This is a major departure from the classical approach, where the physician is solely responsible for diagnosis. In the new, patient-centric vision, the core team encompasses the patient, the physician and the associated nursing staff, with each playing an active role in the process. The expanded diagnostic team includes pathologists, radiologists, allied health professionals, medical librarians, and others. We review the …

State, Local, And Regional Issues In Cybersecurity: Symposium Introduction, Gus Hurwitz

Articles

Cybersecurity is one of the more difficult and urgent issues of the day. It is an issue that touches almost every aspect of modern life. Recent years have seen major cybersecurity incidents affect national security, our political process, major government institutions, companies of every size throughout our economy, critical infrastructure, banking, consumer electronics, and, of course, consumers themselves. Examples of each of these feature so prominently in the news that they barely need citation: OPM, Sony, Target, concerns about the 2016 election, disclosure of NSA hacking tools, attacks on the banking sector’s SWIFT network, ransomware attacks against hospitals, DDoS attacks …

Contracts Ex Machina, Kevin Werbach, Nicolas Cornell

Articles

Smart contracts are self-executing digital transactions using decentralized cryptographic mechanisms for enforcement. They were theorized more than twenty years ago, but the recent development of Bitcoin and blockchain technologies has rekindled excitement about their potential among technologists and industry. Startup companies and major enterprises alike are now developing smart contract solutions for an array of markets, purporting to offer a digital bypass around traditional contract law. For legal scholars, smart contracts pose a significant question: Do smart contracts offer a superior solution to the problems that contract law addresses? In this article, we aim to understand both the potential and …

Improving Access To Justice In State Courts With Platform Technology, J. J. Prescott

Articles

Access to justice often equates to access to state courts, and for millions of Americans, using state courts to resolve their disputes—often with the government—is a real challenge. Reforms are regularly proposed in the hopes of improving the situation (e.g., better legal aid), but until recently a significant part of the problem has been structural. Using state courts today for all but the simplest of legal transactions entails at the very least traveling to a courthouse and meeting with a decision maker in person and in a one-on-one setting. Even minimally effective access, therefore, requires time, transportation, and very often …

Efficacy And Mechanistic Insigh Endocrine Disruptor Degradation Using Atmospheric Air Plasma, Chaitanya Sarangapani, Martin Danaher, Brijesh Tiwari, Peng Lu, Paula Bourke, Patrick Cullen

Articles

Endocrine disruptors are a class of contaminants found in water and process effluents at low concentrations. They are of concern due to their high estrogenic potency. Their presence in the environment has led to the search for effective techniques for their removal in wastewater. For this purpose, an atmospheric air plasma reactor was employed for the study of the degradation of three endocrine disruptor chemicals (EDC) namely; bisphenol A (BPA), estrone (E1) and 17β- 27 estradiol (E2) within a model dairy effluent. Identification of the plasma induced active species both in the gas and liquid phases were performed. Also studied …

Further Reflections On Antitrust And Wealth Inequality, Daniel A. Crane

Articles

Since I have already published a lengthy academic article on antitrust and wealth inequality, I have the freedom of using this piece to present the key arguments unvarnished by dense citations or technical details (readers interested in those things should consult my earlier article) and to respond to some of the criticisms of my article that have since been levied. My thesis, before and now, is this: claims that antitrust enforcement advances income or wealth progressivity are overstated and rest on simplistic and unrealistic understandings of how antitrust actually operates. While some enforcement actions may generate progressive results, others will …

Development Of The Central Dogma Concept Inventory (Cdci) Assessment Tool, Dina L. Newman, Christopher W. Snyder, J. Nick Fisk, Leslie Kate Wright

Articles

Scientific teaching requires scientifically constructed, field-tested instruments to accurately evaluate student thinking and gauge teacher effectiveness. We have developed a 23-question, multiple select–format assessment of student understanding of the essential concepts of the central dogma of molecular biology that is appropriate for all levels of undergraduate biology. Questions for the Central Dogma Concept Inventory (CDCI) tool were developed and iteratively revised based on student language and review by experts. The ability of the CDCI to discriminate between levels of understanding of the central dogma is supported by field testing (N = 54), and large-scale beta testing (N = …