Digital Commons Network^™

Strabismus And Amblyopia In Africa – A Systematic Review And Meta-Analysis, Prince Kwaku Akowuah, Samuel Adade, Andrews Nartey, Ebenezer Owusu, Richard Donkor, Stephen Ankamah-Lomotey

Articles

The objective of this review was to estimate the prevalence of strabismus and amblyopia in Africa. A systematic online literature search was conducted for articles on strabismus and amblyopia in Africa. Meta-analysis was performed, using the Freeman-Tukey double arcsine transformation, to estimate the prevalence of strabismus and amblyopia in Africa. Subgroup analyses were conducted according to age, gender, study year, and type of amblyopia. Meta-regression was used to evaluate the influence of predetermined factors on the prevalence of amblyopia. 8 (1 population-based & 7 school-based) and 21 (3 population-based & 18 school-based) studies on strabismus and amblyopia with sample sizes …

Subfoveal Choroidal Imaging In High Myopic Nepalese Cohort, Parash Gyawali, Ashutosh Jnawali, Anish Kharal, Manish Subedi, Sandeep Kandel, Prajjol Raj Puri, Nabin Paudel

Articles

Current image captioning models produce fluent captions, but they rely on a one-size-fits-all approach that does not take into account the preferences of individual end-users. We present a method to generate descriptions with an adjustable amount of content that can be set at inference-time, thus providing a step toward a more user centered approach to image captioning.

Effects Of Flexibility In Coarse-Grained Models For Bovine Serum Albumin And Immunoglobulin G, Frank Hirschmann, Hender Lopez, Felix Roosen-Runge, Tilo Seydel, Frank Schreiber, Martin Oettel

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We construct a coarse-grained, structure-based, low-resolution, 6-bead flexible model of bovine serum albumin (BSA, PDB: 4F5S), which is a popular example of a globular protein in biophysical research. The model is obtained via direct Boltzmann inversion using all-atom simulations of a single molecule, and its particular form is selected from a large pool of 6-bead coarse-grained models using two suitable metrics that quantify the agreement in the distribution of collective coordinates between all-atom and coarse-grained Brownian dynamics simulations of solutions in the dilute limit. For immunoglobulin G (IgG), a similar structure-based 12-bead model has been introduced in the literature [Chaudhri …

A Novel Unidirectional Smart Charging Management Algorithm For Electric Buses, Nicolae Darii, Roberto Turri, Keith Sunderland, Fabio Bignucolo

Articles

The difficulty of controlling the charging of electric buses (EBs) and their effects on network demand are discussed in this study. The solutions suggest a call for worldwide, complex infrastructures that manage EVs and EBs equally. Additionally, the Distribution Network (DN) must be prepared for an increased prevalence of reverse power flow caused by widespread distributed renewable generation. This paper focuses exclusively on EBs since they have higher capacity and predictable charging patterns, which makes them more significant for the DN in the context of a transition to complete vehicle electrification and technologies that are mature enough to be hosted. …

Embedded Ai For Wheat Yellow Rust Infection Type Classification, Uferah Shafi, Rafia Mumtaz, Muhammad Deedahwar Mazhar Qureshi, Zahid Mahmood, Sikander Khan Tanveer, Ihsan Ul Haq, Syed Mohammad Hassan Zaidi

Articles

Wheat is the most important and dominating crop in Pakistan in terms of production and acreage, which is grown on 37% of the cultivated area, accounting for 70% of the total production. However, wheat yield is highly affected by stripe rust, which is considered the most devastating fungal disease, causing 5.5 million tonnes of loss per year globally. In order to minimize this loss, the accurate and timely detection of rust disease is crucial instead of manual inspection. Towards this end, we propose a system to detect wheat rust disease and classify its infection types into four classes, including healthy, …

Control And Protection Of Mmc-Based Hvdc Systems: A Review, Rashid Hussain Chandio, Faheem Akhtar Chachar, Jahangeer Badar Soomro, Jamshed Ahmed Ansari, Mudassir Munir Mudassir Munir, Hossam Zawbaa, Salah Kamel Salah Kamel

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The voltage source converter (VSC) based HVDC (high voltage direct current system) offers the possibility to integrate other renewable energy sources (RES) into the electrical grid, and allows power flow reversal capability. These appealing features of VSC technology led to the further development of multi-terminal direct current (MTDC) systems. MTDC grids provide the possibility of interconnection between conventional power systems and other large-scale offshore sources like wind and solar systems. The modular multilevel converter (MMC) has become a popular technology in the development of the VSC-MTDC system due to its salient features such as modularity and scalability. Although, the employment …

Distributed Intermittent Fault Diagnosis In Wireless Sensor Network Using Likelihood Ratio Test, Bhabani Sankar Gouda, Meenakshi Panda, Trilochan Panigrahi, Sudhakar Das, Bhargav Appasani, Omprakash Acharya, Hossam Zawbaa, Salah Kamel

Articles

In current days, sensor nodes are deployed in hostile environments for various military and commercial applications. Sensor nodes are becoming faulty and having adverse effects in the network if they are not diagnosed and inform the fault status to other nodes. Fault diagnosis is difficult when the nodes behave faulty some times and provide good data at other times. The intermittent disturbances may be random or kind of spikes either in regular or irregular intervals. In literature, the fault diagnosis algorithms are based on statistical methods using repeated testing or machine learning. To avoid more complex and time consuming repeated …

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

Articles

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 …

Wind Turbine Predictive Fault Diagnostics Based On A Novel Long Short-Term Memory Model, Shuo Zhang, Emma Robinson, Malabika Basu

Articles

The operation and maintenance (O&M) issues of offshore wind turbines (WTs) are more challenging because of the harsh operational environment and hard accessibility. As sudden component failures within WTs bring about durable downtimes and significant revenue losses, condition monitoring and predictive fault diagnostic approaches must be developed to detect faults before they occur, thus preventing durable downtimes and costly unplanned maintenance. Based primarily on supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) data, thirty-three weighty features from operational data are extracted, and eight specific faults are categorised for fault predictions from status information. By providing a model-agnostic vector representation for time, Time2Vec …

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

Articles

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 …

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

Articles

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

Articles

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. …

An Experimental-Numerical Study Of Heat Transfer Enhancement In A Minichannel Using Asymmetric Pulsating Flows, Parth S. Kumavat, Sajad Alimohammad, Seamus M. O'Sullivan

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The development of current and next-generation high-performance electronic devices has led to miniaturization in more densely packed spaces. The increasing power levels have resulted in ever-increasing heat flux densities which necessitates the evolution of new liquid-based heat exchange technologies. Implementation of single-phase cooling systems using pulsating flow is viewed as a potential solution to the problems involving high energy density electronics. This work involves a combined experimental and numerical analysis of pulsating flows in a rectangular mini channel undergoing asymmetric sinusoidal flow pulsation formats. The mini channel design includes a heated bottom section approximated as a constant heat flux boundary …

The Effect Of Process Parameters On The Properties Of Elastic Melt Blown Nonwovens: Air Pressure And Dcd, Li Change, Yanfen Zhou, Stephen Jerrams, Jianwei Ma, Shaojuan Chen

Articles

An elastic masterbatch and elastic melt blown nonwovens are prepared based successively on styrene-ethylene/butylene-styrene (SEBS) and polypropylene (PP) blend. The phase separation morphology, rheological properties and crystal structure of the elastic masterbatch are investigated. The results show that a compatible and stable structure is obtained in molten SEBS and PP blend with excellent mobility in the temperature range of 210–230C. The crystallization of PP slows down resulting in a finer structure due to the restriction of the SEBS network structure with rarely change of crystalline structure. The relationship between process parameters and properties of the elastic nonwoven is also studied …

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

Articles

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

Articles

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.

The Onus On Coal Consumption And The ‘Beautiful China Initiative’: Economic And Policy Implications, Daniel Rajmil, Lucia Morales, Bernadette Andreosso-O'Callaghan

Articles

China’s need for rapid economic growth and its hunger for natural resources significantly challenge its economic and policy vision of sustainability, social stability and economic development. The ‘Beautiful China Initiative’ plans to put China on the path of sustainable development in line with the United Nations’ 2030 Agenda and its Sustainable Development Goals. The Chinese authorities are expected to reconsider traditional economic policy models to integrate environmental protection while ensuring that their economy proliferates. The shift from a traditional and heavy coal-dependent economy towards greener energy and a sustainable economic model brings additional challenges to China due to its historical …

Myopia Outcome Study Of Atropine In Children: Two-Year Result Of Daily 0.01% Atropine In A European Population, James Loughman, Emmanuel Kobia-Acquah, Gareth Lingham, John Butler, Ekaterina Loskutova, David A. Mackey, Samantha S.Y. Lee, Daniel I. Flintcroft

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The Myopia Outcome Study of Atropine in Children (MOSAIC) is an investigator-led, double-masked, randomized controlled trial investigating the efficacy and safety of 0.01% atropine eye drops for managing myopia progression in a predominantly White, European population.

Evaluation Of Irish Consumers’ Knowledge Of Salmonellosis And Foodhandling Practices, Ann Conway, Olugbenga Ehuwa, Meabh Manning, Aine Maye, Fintan Moran, Amit K. Jaiswal, Swarna Jaiswal

Articles

Salmonella is one of numerous food-borne pathogens that could possibly pose a major threat to global food safety. Salmonella is primarily associated with foods such as poultry, eggs, vegetables, and some dairy products. However, infected food handlers and faecal contaminated environments are also significant sources and reservoirs of this pathogen. This study comprehensively evaluated the Irish consumers’ food safety knowledge by exploring their knowledge level, practices and attitudes regarding raw meat handling, cross-contamination while handling different types of food products, and knowledge of Salmonella risk and associated food-handling practices. The online SurveyMonkey tool was used to distribute a quantitative survey …

Determining The Food Choice Motivations Of Irish Teens And Their Association With Dietary Intakes, Using The Food Choice Questionnaire, Aisling Daly, Elizabeth O'Sullivan, Janette Walton, Laura Kehoe, Breige A. Mcnulty, Albert Flynn, John M. Kearney

Articles

During adolescence, teens start making their own food choices. While health and nutrition are important, practical and social concerns are also influential. This study aims to determine factors that motivate the food choices of Irish teens (using Food Choice Questionnaire), using data from the National Teens' Food Survey II (N = 428, 50% male, 13-18 years), and to identify how these motivations relate to dietary intakes (4-day semi-weighed food diaries). Data analysis used PCA to determine the food choice motivation subscales, and correlation and comparative statistical tests (t-test, ANOVA). Eight motivating factors were identified for Irish teens: Sensory Appeal, Price …

A Covariance Formula For The Number Of Excursion Set Components Of Gaussian Fields And Applications, Dmitry Beliaev, Michael Mcauley, Stephen Muirhead

Articles

We derive a covariance formula for the number of excursion or level set components of a smooth stationary Gaussian field on R^d contained in compact domains. We also present two applications of this formula: (1) for fields whose correlations are integrable we prove that the variance of the component count in large domains is of volume order and give an expression for the leading constant, and (2) for fields with slower decay of correlation we give an upper bound on the variance which is of optimal order if correlations are regularly varying, and improves on best-known bounds if correlations …

Electrochemical Biosensors For The Detection Of Antibiotics In Milk: Recent Trends And Future Perspectives, Baljit Singh Dr., Abhijnan Bhat, Lesa Dutta, Kumari Riya Pati, Yaroslav Korpan, Isha Dahiya

Articles

Antibiotics have emerged as ground-breaking medications for the treatment of infectious diseases, but due to the excessive use of antibiotics, some drugs have developed resistance to microorganisms. Because of their structural complexity, most antibiotics are excreted unchanged, polluting the water, soil, and natural resources. Additionally, food items are being polluted through the widespread use of antibiotics in animal feed. The normal concentrations of antibiotics in environmental samples typically vary from ng to g/L. Antibiotic residues in excess of these values can pose major risks the development of illnesses and infections/diseases. According to estimates, 300 million people will die prematurely in …

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 …

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

Articles

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 …

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

Articles

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 …

The Creditor Duty Post Sequana: Lessons For Legislative Reform, John Quinn, Philip Gavin

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UK common law recognises that directors owe a fiduciary duty to consider creditors' interests when a company is insolvent or in financial difficulty. However, the scope of this duty remains unclear, particularly the degree of financial difficulty necessary for it to arise. In 2022, in BTI v Sequana, the Supreme Court did little to resolve these uncertainties, retaining a context first approach, where the duty's triggering point is based on the facts and the risk borne by creditors in the specific case. In contrast, Ireland codified its creditor duty in 2022, setting out a series of legislatively defined financial situations …

Walkable Neighborhoods: Linkages Between Place, Health, And Happiness In Younger And Older Adults, Kevin M. Leyden, Michael J. Hogan, Lorraine D'Arcy, Brendan Bunting, Sebastiaan Bierema

Articles

Problem, research strategy, and findings: We examined whether living in a walkable neighborhood influenced the happiness of younger and older city residents. The data for this study came from a comprehensive household population survey of 1,064 adults living in 16 neighborhoods in Dublin City (Ireland) and its suburbs. We used multigroup structural equation modeling to analyze the direct and indirect effects of walkability on happiness, mediated by health, trust, and satisfaction with neighborhood appearance. We found living in a walkable neighborhood was directly linked to the happiness of people aged 36 to 45 (p¼.001) and, to a lesser extent, those …

Assessment Of The Imerg Early-Run Precipitation Estimates Over South American Country Of Chile, Luciana Das Dores De Jesus Da Silva, Mohammed Mahoud, Lisdelys González-Rodríguez, Safa Mohammed, Lien Rodríguez-López, Mauricio Ivan Aguayo Arias

Articles

Accurate rainfall measurement is a challenge, especially in regions with diverse climates and complex topography. Thus, knowledge of precipitation patterns requires observational networks with a very high spatial and temporal resolution, which is very difficult to construct in remote areas with complex geological features such as desert areas and mountains, particularly in countries with high topographical variability such as Chile. This study evaluated the performance of the near-real-time Integrated Multi-satellite Retrievals for GPM (IMERG) Early product throughout Chile, a country located in South America between 16°S–66°S latitude. The accuracy of the IMERG Early was assessed at different special and temporal …

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.