Digital Commons Network^™

Enhancing The Online Student Experience Through The Application Of Universal Design For Learning (Udl) To Research Methods Learning And Teaching, Mairéad Seymour

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This paper documents the process and outcomes of redesigning an online research methods module for taught postgraduate students using Universal Design for Learning (UDL). It also explores the effectiveness of UDL-informed design and practice to support the development of social, cognitive and teacher presence as defined under the Community of Inquiry (CoI) framework. The paper is based on findings from an online survey with students taking a research methods module as part of their Master of Arts (MA) programme. The findings point to a number of UDL-informed structures and practices that supported students' engagement on the module. These include (a) …

Local Electricity Market Operation In Presence Of Residential Energy Storage In Low Voltage Distribution Network: Role Of Retail Market Pricing, Aziz Saif, Shafi K. Khadem Shafi K. Khadem, Michael Conlon, Brian Norton

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Local Electricity Market (LEM) appears as a promising consumer-centric market-based approach that extends the self-consumption method, widely implemented in residential households, to collective self-consumption in the local energy communities, enabled through peer-to-peer (P2P) transactions. To facilitate the integration of LEM in the wholesale electricity market (WEM), it is paramount to comprehend the synergy of retail electricity pricing on the LEM operation hosted in the low-voltage distribution network (LVDN). The paper presents a co-simulation framework consisting of a local electricity market model coupled with a three-phase distribution network simulator to perform a holistic case study for a smart energy community in …

Analysis And Design Of Secure Sampled-Data Control Subject To Denial-Of-Service Attacks, Hira Sana, Ghulam Mustafa, Owais Khan, Nouman Ashraf, Abdul Qayyum Khan, Muhammad Abid, Haroom Ur Rashid Khan

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This study addresses the issue of secure control design for cyber-physical systems (CPS) against denial of service (DoS) attacks. We take into account a continuous-time linear system with a convex quadratic performance measure and a sampled linear state feedback control. DoS attacks impose constraints on the CPS, where packets may be jammed between the sensor and controller by a malicious entity, potentially resulting in system instability and performance degradation. We assume that the attacker can perform DoS attacks with a limited time and frequency due to energy restrictions. We devise an efficient procedure using the linear matrix inequality approach to …

Lightnet: A Novel Lightweight Convolutional Network For Brain Tumor Segmentation In Healthcare, Dongyuan Wu, Junyi Tao, Zhen Qin, Rao Asad Mumtaz, Jin Qin, Linfang Yu, Jane Courtney

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Diagnosis, treatment planning, surveillance, and the monitoring of clinical trials for brain diseases all benefit greatly from neuroimaging-based tumor segmentation. Recently, Convolutional Neural Networks (CNNs) have demonstrated promising results in enhancing the efficiency of image-based brain tumor segmentation. Most current work on CNNs, however, is devoted to creating increasingly complicated convolution modules to improve performance, which in turn raises the computing cost of the model. This work proposes a simple and effective feed-forward CNN, LightNet (Light Network). Based on multi-path and multi-level, it replaces traditional convolutional methods with light operations, which reduces network parameters and redundant feature maps. In the …

Laser Structure Based On An Erbium-Doped Fiber Ring And A Whispering Gallery Mode Microbottle Resonator, Anuradha Rout, Zhe Wang, Zhuochen Wang, Yuliya Semenova

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A novel fiber laser structure, to the best of our knowledge, based on an erbium-doped fiber ring (EDFR) and a silica microbottle resonator (MBR) is proposed and investigated experimentally. Two fiber laser samples based on MBRs with different geometries and diameters of 200 and 150 µm are fabricated, and their performance is studied experimentally. Periodic whispering gallery mode spectra of the MBRs are dependent on the position of the fiber taper used for coupling of light into the MBR, and this dependence is explored to achieve lasing at different wavelengths by moving the light coupling point along the axis of …

Understanding Professional Skills In Engineering Education: A Phenomenographic Study Of Faculty Conceptions, Una Beagon, Brian Bowe

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Abstract Background Globalization and socially complex problems will greatly affect the way engineers work in the future. Therefore, efforts to transform engineering education must focus on professional skills and engagement of faculty as key change agents.

Purpose/Hypotheses For engineering programs to address the needs of society, graduates must have the skills to tackle future challenges. Transformation will only be successful if faculty fully engage in all curriculum design aspects; however, little is known about how faculty view professional skills. This understanding is critical if we wish to support and encourage their participation in the transformation effort. This novel study reveals …

Quantifying Farm-To-Fork Greenhouse Gas Emissions For Five Dietary Patterns Across Europe And North America: A Pooled Analysis From 2009 To 2020, Daniel Burke, Paul Hynds, Anushree Priyadarshini

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Dietary patterns are inherently related to greenhouse (GHG) emissions via agricultural practices and food production systems. As the global population is predicted to increase from 8 billion (current) to 9.6 billion by 2050 added pressure will be placed on existing agricultural systems, resulting in increased GHG emissions thus exacerbating climate change. Therefore, there is an urgent need to understand present-day dietary patterns to shift to sustainable and healthy diets to mitigate GHG emissions and meet future climate targets. However, no review or pooled analyses of dietary pattern emissions from a farm-to-fork perspective has been undertaken to date. The current study …

Behavioral Pathways To Private Well Risk Mitigation: A Structural Equation Modeling Approach, Simon Mooney, Martin Boudou, Jean O'Dwyer, Paul Hynds

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Complex, multi hazard risks such as private groundwater contamination necessitate multiannual risk reduction actions including seasonal, weather-based hazard evaluations. In the Republic of Ireland (ROI), high rural reliance on unregulated private wells renders behavior promotion a vital instrument toward safeguarding household health from waterborne infection. However, to date, pathways between behavioral predictors remain unknown while latent constructs such as extreme weather event (EWE) risk perception and self-efficacy (perceived behavioral competency) have yet to be sufficiently explored. Accordingly, a nationwide survey of 560 Irish private well owners was conducted, with structural equation modeling (SEM) employed to identify underlying relationships determining key …

Fostering Spatial Ability Development In And For Authentic Stem Learning, Caiwei Zhu, Chloe Oi-Ying Leung, Eleni Lagoudaki, Mariana Velho, Natalia Segura-Caballero, Dietsje Jolles, Gavin Duffy, Gunter Maresch, Marianna Pagkratidou, Remke Klapwijk

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Empirical interdisciplinary research has explored the role of spatial ability in STEM learning and achievement. While most of this research indicates that fostering spatial thinking in educational contexts has the potential to positively impact students’ enrollment and performance in STEM subjects, there is less agreement on the best approach to do so. This article provides an overview of various types of effective spatial interventions and practices in formal or informal educational contexts, including targeted training of STEM-relevant spatial skills, spatialized curricula embedded in schools, integrated STEM practices addressing students’ use of spatial skills, and spatial activities in informal STEM education. …

Exploring Zero-Shot And Joint Training Cross-Lingual Strategies For Aspect-Based Sentiment Analysis Based On Contextualized Multilingual Language Models, Dang Van Thin, Hung Quoc Ngo, Duong Ngoc Hao, Ngan Luu-Thuy-Nguyen

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Aspect-based sentiment analysis (ABSA) has attracted many researchers’ attention in recent years. However, the lack of benchmark datasets for specific languages is a common challenge because of the prohibitive cost of manual annotation. The zero-shot cross-lingual strategy can be applied to solve this gap in research. Moreover, previous works mainly focus on improving the performance of supervised ABSA with pre-trained languages. Therefore, there are few to no systematic comparisons of the benefits of multilingual models in zero-shot and joint training cross-lingual for the ABSA task. In this paper, we focus on the zero-shot and joint training cross-lingual transfer task for …

The Knottiest Of Gordian Knots: Article 17 Of The Copyright Directive, Mark Hyland, Thomas Perry

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This article analyses the much debated Article 17 of the EU Copyright Directive (Directive 2019/790) in the light of last year’s comprehensive European Commission guidance. The aim of the guidance is to support a correct and coherent transposition of Article 17 across the EU27. Following the recent landmark judgment in Case C-401/19, Poland v European Parliament and Council of the EU, some commentators have now suggested that it might be timely for the European Commission to issue further guidance on Article 17.

Automation, Ai, And Future Skills Needs: An Irish Perspective, Raimunda Bukartaite, Daire Hooper

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This study explores insights from key stakeholders into the skills they believe will be necessary for the future of work as we become more reliant on artificial intelligence (AI) and technology. The study also seeks to understand what human resource policies and educational interventions are needed to support and take advantage of these changes.

Developing Entrepreneurial Skillsets Amongst Rural Women In Uganda, Sylvia Gavigan, Thomas M. Cooney, Klavs Ciprikis

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Purpose: Rural women in Africa have less entrepreneurship opportunities than men. This is mainly due to societal expectations of women, but it may also be caused by a lack of entrepreneurial knowledge and skills due to their work in agriculture-related activities. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to examine the impact of entrepreneurship training on entrepreneurial skillsets of rural women working in Uganda and how such training influences their entrepreneurial activity.

Design/methodology/approach: The primary data set for this study comes from surveys of rural women working in agriculture who participated in a specific entrepreneurship training programme in Uganda. A …

Enhancing The Thermo-Optic Tuning Performance Of Whispering Gallery Modes In A Microcapillary Resonator Filled With Nematic Liquid Crystals, Zhe Wang, Arun Kumar Mallik, Fangfang Wei, Zhuochen Wang, Anuradha Rout, Qiang Wu, Yuliya Semenova

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We investigated both theoretically and experimentally, the thermo-optic tuning of whispering-gallery modes (WGMs) in a microcapillary resonator filled with nematic liquid-crystal (LC). The tuning of WGMs was realized due to the photo-thermal effect of magnetic nanoparticles (MNPs) on the surface of a fiber half-taper connected to a pump laser source, resulting in temperature-induced refractive index (RI) changes of the LC material. Based on perturbation theory, we analyzed the influence the RI and the wall thickness on the sensitivity of the proposed tuning scheme. Furthermore, we experimentally demonstrated that increasing the thickness of the MNPs coating on the fiber taper surface …

Identifying The Characteristics, Constraints, And Enablers To Creating Value In Applied Performance Analysis, Denise Martin, Peter G. O'Donoghue, Jonathan Bradley, Sam Robertson, Denise Mcgrath

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While applied performance analysts (PAs) are a well-established applied sports science practitioner group, there is no clear definition of the purpose of an analyst, their key relationships, or the expertise required to execute the role successfully. This research sought to understand how PA practitioners and educators perceive their role as applied PA practitioners. Twenty-seven applied PAs and educators with applied PA experience participated in six online focus groups, completing an online survey in advance. Reflexive thematic analysis of transcripts and survey data generated an overarching theme: embedded applied PA practitioners have a value co-creation role within performance ecosystems which is …

The Power Of Education In A Globalised World: Challenging Geoeconomic Inequalities, Ozéias Rocha, Daniel Kamphambale, Cormac Macmahon, Jon Hans Coetzer, Lucía Morales

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The globalization process has led to significant levels of controversy, as over the past few years, researchers have highlighted its negative connotations in terms of exacerbating economic inequalities, environmental degradation, exploitation of workers, loss of cultural diversity, and negative influence on democratic systems and financial stability. The negative connotation associated with the globalization process is not surprising. The implications for the global educational system significantly dominated by the influence of Western values, culture, and economic models based on consumerism to the detriment of traditional cultural and local identities have been eroded. The world economies are facing emerging areas of significant …

Editorial: Investigating The Effect Of The Physical Context On Customer Experience, Helen L. Bruce, Ewa Krolikowska, Tara Rooney

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This editorial introduces a special issue of the Journal of Services Marketing, dedicated to articles discussing the effect of the physical context on customer experience. The editorial identifies diverse areas of extant knowledge which researchers might draw upon when investigating the effect of the physical context on customer experience. to inform future research agendas.

Women Microbusiness Owners’ Entrepreneurial Marketing Decision-Making During A Crisis, Helen L. Bruce, Tara Rooney, Ewa Krolikowska

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Understanding effective marketing decision-making is key to driving business performance. However, knowledge of marketing decision-making by microbusiness owners is limited. Moreover, little is known about how microbusiness owners make marketing decisions under crisis conditions. This article explores entrepreneurial marketing decision-making by women microbusiness owners during the COVID-19 pandemic, through qualitative interviews with providers of children’s activities, who migrated their services online during lockdown. Findings shed light on their marketing decision-making by highlighting transitions between causation and effectuation approaches and identifying key resources leveraged in effectuation decision-making. We also observe how distinct principles of effectuation may be combined to make effective …

Sustainability In Supply Chain Management: Using Drawings To Understand Undergraduates’ Perceptions Of Sustainability, Sharon Feeney, John William Hogan

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Purpose – This paper presents an interpretation of freehand drawings produced by supply chain management undergraduates in response to the question: “What is sustainability?” Having to explain sustainability pictorially forced students to distill what the essence of sustainability meant to them and provided insights into how they perceived sustainability and their roles in achieving sustainability in the context of supply chain management. Design/methodology/approach – Students were asked to draw and answer the question “What is sustainability?” These drawings were discussed/interpreted in class. All drawings were initially examined quantitatively, before a sample of four were selected for presentation here. Findings – …

How Online Discourse Networks Fields Of Practice: The Discursive Negotiation Of Autonomy On Art Organisation About Pages, Tommie Soro

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This article examines how the online discourse of art organisations forges relationships between the artworld and the fields of politics and economy. Combining elements of Pierre Bourdieu’s field analysis and Norman Fairclough’s critical discourse analysis, the article analyses an elite art magazine, e-flux, and an elite art museum, IMMA, and the activities of discourses, genres, and utterances on their about pages. Its results suggest that the about pages of these organisations forge links between the artworld and the fields of politics and economy by mobilising discourse in these fields and by incorporating discourse practices from these fields. The ideological tension …

Internationalization As A Strategy To Enhance Higher Education Quality In Vietnam – Reflections From University Leaders, Nguyen Trong Hoai, Luong Vinh Quoc Duy, Damien Cassells

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Internationalization is viewed as an important strategy in the context of a country in transition from central planning to market orientation. Efforts to internationalize universities are being carried out at both national and institutional levels. However, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, there has been no study to investigate how individual institutions approach internationalization and what they gain from that process. This paper aims to investigate the enhancement of teachers’ and students’ knowledge and skills using internationalization in Vietnam universities as a strategy.

Judging Better Together: Understanding The Psychology Of Group Decision-Making On Panel Courts And Tribunals, Brian M. Barry Dr

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While the psychological phenomena that affect group decisionmaking have been thoroughly investigated for decades, how these phenomena apply to decision-making by judges on panel courts is under-examined. This article examines the main psychological phenomena of group decision-making, both positive and negative, and considers their implications for panel courts and other groups of professional legal decision-makers such as adjudicators serving on tribunals. This article argues that experimental studies on judges and adjudicators testing the effects of these phenomena would improve understanding of legal decision-making by these groups and could help to devise ways to improve their decision-making processes to reach higher …

Comparing The Meaning Of ‘Thesis’ And ‘Final Year Project’ In Architecture And Engineering Education, Rahman Tafahomi, Shannon Chance

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Architectural education shares much in common with engineering, including the use of a culminating capstone experience in the final year. The form of this experience varies, with the research-based thesis and final-year project being most common. This paper explores the literature on traditions of enquiry and the meaning of research in various fields and the evolution of the ‘thesis’ and ‘final year project’ approaches over time. It then briefly summarises empirical research conducted on a case study institution struggling to bridge gaps in understandings of these distinct forms of learning and teaching. Throughout, the paper presents a comprehensive set of …

Validating The Effects Of Organizational Internal Factors And Technology Orientation On Environmental Sustainability Performance Of Malaysian Construction Firms, Waliu Adeniyi Ajibike, Adekunle Qudus Adeleke, Mohd Nasrun Mohd Nawi, Jibril Adewale Bamgbade, Salman Riazi Mehdi Riazi, Mohd Fauzi Ahmad, Sitahsu Panda

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The essence of emphasizing the importance of environmental sustainability among construction firms is to lessen the effects of construction activities or projects on the environment and make the construction activities more sustainably economically and friendly to the environment. This significant deliberation has stimulated various research interests by construction firms, owing to the damaging effects of construction activities such as various forms of environmental pollution, resource depletion, and biodiversity loss on a global scale. Using the Partial Least Squares- Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) approach, this study validates the environmental sustainability performance (ESP) as a construct from the perspectives of 186 construction …

A Lak Of Direction Misalignment Between The Goals Of Learning Analytics And Its Research Scholarship, Benjamin A. Motz, Yoav Bergner, Christopher A. Brooks, Anna Gladden, Geraldine Gray, Charles Lang, Warren Li, Fernando Marmolejo-Ramos, Joshua D. Quick

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Learning analytics defines itself with a focus on data from learners and learning environments, with corresponding goals of understanding and optimizing student learning. In this regard, learning analytics research, ideally, should be characterized by studies that make use of data from learners engaged in education systems, should measure student learning, and should make efforts to intervene and improve these learning environments.

Spherical Modes Driven Directional Modulation With A Compact Mimo Antenna, Abel Zamdemala, Nicola Marchetti, Max Ammann, Adam Narbudowicz

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In this letter, a compact beamsteering MIMO antenna is proposed for Directional Modulation (DM) applications. A generalization of the beamsteering principle is presented and by exploiting the antenna’s unidirectional beamsteering capability within the entire azimuth plane, the system realizes secure steerable transmissions in the direction of the legitimate receiver, with a low Bit Error Rate (BER) of 10^(-5), while a high error rate of 10^(-1) is seen outside the desired regions. Numerical and experimental verifications are carried out to validate the proposed concept and comparisons with circular arrays are conducted, revealing that the system achieves comparable performance but with up …

Pattern And Polarization Diversity Multisector Annular Antenna For Iot Applications, Abel Zandamela, Nicola Marchetti, Max Ammann, Adam Narbudowicz

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This work proposes a small pattern and polarization diversity multisector annular antenna with electrical size and profile of ka = 1.2 and 0.018λ, respectively. The antenna is planar and comprises annular sectors that are fed using different ports to enable digital beamforming techniques, with efficiency and gain of up to 78% and 4.62 dBi, respectively. The cavity model analysis is used to describe the design concept and the antenna diversity. The proposed method can produce different polarization states (e.g., linearly and circularly polarized patterns) and pattern diversity characteristics covering the elevation plane. Owing to its small electrical size, low-profile and …

Views Of The Irish Judiciary On Technology In Courts: Results Of A Survey, Brian M. Barry Dr, Rónán Kennedy Dr

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Technology continues to transform how judges perform their functions, both in Ireland and elsewhere. This article reports the results of a survey of Irish judges on their use of technology in their role, their attitudes towards technology, and their views on how it impacts on the judicial function. The survey, part of a global survey, found that Irish judges habitually used digital technologies, and were broadly satisfied with the technology available in chambers, but less so with what was provided in courtrooms. Although generally happy to embrace change, the majority of respondents were concerned with, and did not prefer, online …

Investigating K-12 Computing Education In Four African Countries (Botswana, Kenya, Nigeria, And Uganda), Ethel Tshukudu, Sue Sentance, Oluwatoyin Adelakun-Adeyemo, Keith Quille, Ziling Zhong

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As K-12 computing education becomes more established throughout the world, there is an increasing focus on accessibility for all, whether in a particular country or setting or in areas of the world that may not yet have computing established. This is primarily articulated as an equity issue. The recently developed capacity for, access to, participation in, and experience of computer science education (CAPE) Framework is one way of demonstrating stages and dependencies and understanding relative equity, taking into consideration the disparities between sub-populations. While there is existing research that covers the state of computing education and equity issues, it is …

Valorisation Of Crustacean And Bivalve Processing Side Streams For Industrial Fast Time-To-Market Products: A Review From The European Union Regulation Perspective, Yang Zou, Marc Heyndrickx, Jane Debode Jane Debode, Katleen Raes, Donatella De Pascale, Patrice Behan, Michelle Giltrap, Christine O'Connor, Runar Gjerp Solstad, Kjersi Lian, Themistoklis Altintzoglou, Ragnhild Dragoy, Nathalie Maria Scheers, Ingrid Undeland, Johan Robbens

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A massive amount of crustaceans and bivalves are consumed each year, leading to millions of tons of processing side streams from the seafood industry. Considering the current trend of (bio)circular and zero-waste food production, crustacean and bivalve processing side streams (CBPS) seem a promising and emerging resource for producing high-value-added products. This paper highlights the general composition of CBPS with high commercial values, namely, protein, lipids, carotenoids, minerals and chitins. The extraction strategies of these fractions, including conventional chemical and environmentally friendly methods, are also discussed. This review presents and summarises CBPS as raw materials for developing fast time-to-market products …