Digital Commons Network^™

Private Enforcement In The States, Austin Peters, Diego Zambrano, Neel Guha, Jeffrey Xia

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Scholarship on U.S. litigation and civil procedure has scarcely studied the role of private enforcement in the states. Over the past two decades, scholars have established that, almost uniquely in the world, the U.S. often relies on private parties rather than administrative agencies to enforce important statutory provisions. Take your pick of any area in American governance, and you will find private rights of action: environmental law, civil rights, employment discrimination, antitrust, consumer protection, business competition, securities fraud, and so on. In each of these areas, Congress has deliberately empowered private plaintiffs instead of, or in addition to, government agencies. …

What’S Law Got To Do With It? How The Degree Of Legalization Affects The Durability Of Post-Conflict Autonomy Agreements, Felix Schulte, Gene Carolan

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Research has identified several factors that impact the sustainability of post-conflict territorial autonomy arrangements (TAA), including previous levels of violence, economic development in a given territory, or the strategic importance thereof. We argue that a hitherto neglected variable lies in the legal form of the autonomy agreement – that is, the degree to which it has been ‘legalized’ by the language and processes prescribed in the agreement. Based on a qualitative evaluation, we assess the legalization degree of 236 TAA signed between 1990 and 2019. Survival analyses and Cox regression models show that a higher degree of legalization has a …

Against Political Theory In Constitutional Interpretation, Christopher S. Havasy, Joshua C. Macey, Brian Richardson

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Judges and academics have long relied on the work of a small number of Enlightenment political theorists—particularly Locke, Montesquieu, and Blackstone—to discern meaning from vague and ambiguous constitutional provisions. This Essay cautions that Enlightenment political theory should rarely, if ever, be cited as an authoritative source of constitutional meaning. There are three principal problems with constitutional interpretation based on eighteenth-century political theory. First, Enlightenment thinkers developed distinct and incompatible theories about how to structure a republican form of government. That makes it difficult to decide which among the conflicting theories should possess constitutional significance. Second, the Framers did not write …

Democracy's Other Boundary Problem: The Law Of Democratic Disqualification, Tom Ginsburg, Aziz Huq, David Landau

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Almost all national constitutions contain one or more ways to disqualify specific individuals from political office. Indeed, the U.S. Constitution incorporates at least four overlapping pathways toward disqualification. This power of disqualifying specific individuals or groups stands at the heart of the complex project of maintaining democratic rule. In practice, disqualification can work both as an instrument for preserving democratic rule and also as a knife against it. This Article is the first to systematically analyze the complex positive and normative questions raised by disqualification. We offer both a positive account of the function that disqualification plays in constitutional ordering …

Textualism And The Administrative Procedure Act, Kristin Hickman

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In recent years, the Supreme Court occasionally has applied a more limited approach to textualist reasoning that, if applied to the APA, could expand the perceived gulf between textualism and existing administrative law doctrine. Our purpose with this Essay is to explore the implications of this trend for APA interpretation, particularly as it might apply to agency rulemaking. We do not purport to address critics of textualism as an interpretive methodology; we speak primarily to those who are persuaded of textualism’s merits. We also will not try to resolve all the many disagreements about textualism’s variations or the APA’s meaning. …

Theorizing International Business In Africa: A Roadmap, Paul Vaaler

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International business in Africa is complicated by colonial history, late internationalization, and the growing interest of various foreign powers in Africa and its resources. We share key indicators about African countries and offer a conceptual map to help make sense of this complex scholarly terrain. We distinguish between three types of multinational enterprises (MNEs) operating in sub-Saharan Africa: Advanced MNEs (from high-income previous colonial and non-colonial countries), Emerging MNEs (from middle-income countries both inside and outside the region) and Nascent MNEs (from low-income African countries). We show how these distinct types of MNEs provide different development opportunities, how they engage …

A Meditation On The Thirteenth Amendment And Constitutional Redemption, Darrell Miller

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No abstract provided.

Discovering Child Sexual Abuse Material Creators’ Behaviors And Preferences On The Dark Web, Vuong Ngo, Rahul Gajula, Christina Thorpe, Susan Mckeever

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Background: Producing, distributing or discussing child sexual abuse materials (CSAM) is often committed through the dark web in order to remain hidden from search engines and regular users. Additionally, on the dark web, the CSAM creators employ various techniques to avoid detection and conceal their activities. The large volume of CSAM on the dark web presents a global social problem and poses a significant challenge for helplines, hotlines and law enforcement agencies.

Objective: Identifying CSAM discussions on the dark web and uncovering associated metadata insights into characteristics, behaviours and motivation of CSAM creators.

Participants and Setting: We have conducted an …

Toward Inclusive Online Environments: Counterfactual-Inspired Xai For Detecting And Interpreting Hateful And Offensive Tweets, Muhammad Deedahwar Mazhar Qureshi, Muhammad Atif Qureshi, Wael Rashwan

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The prevalence of hate speech and offensive language on social media platforms such as Twitter has significant consequences, ranging from psychological harm to the polarization of societies. Consequently, social media companies have implemented content moderation measures to curb harmful or discriminatory language. However, a lack of consistency and transparency hinders their ability to achieve desired outcomes. This article evaluates various ML models, including an ensemble, Explainable Boosting Machine (EBM), and Linear Support Vector Classifier (SVC), on a public dataset of 24,792 tweets by T. Davidson, categorizing tweets into three classes: hate, offensive, and neither. The top-performing model achieves a weighted …

Persuasive Communication Systems: A Machine Learning Approach To Predict The Effect Of Linguistic Styles And Persuasion Techniques, Annye Braca, Pierpaolo Dondio

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Prediction is a critical task in targeted online advertising, where predictions better than random guessing can translate to real economic return. This study aims to use machine learning (ML) methods to identify individuals who respond well to certain linguistic styles/persuasion techniques based on Aristotle’s means of persuasion, rhetorical devices, cognitive theories and Cialdini’s principles, given their psychometric profile.

The Role Of Teacher Agency In Using Gis To Teach Sustainability: An Evaluation Of A Lower Secondary School Story Mapping Gis Initiative In Ireland, Sasha Brown, Zerrin Doganca Kucuk, Angela Rickard, James Lonergan, Rachel Abernethy, Lorraine Mcnerney, Ronan Foley, Avril Behan, Aengus Byrne, Bernard Essel, Jack Ffrench, Jonathan Faull, Conor Cahalane

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This paper investigates the role of teacher agency for those who were trained in using an innovative Geographic Information Systems (GIS) approach and incorporated GIS into their teaching. While national curricula increasingly emphasise STEM and sustainability approaches, there has been limited analysis of how teachers can bring new software, including GIS, and new approaches into the classroom. Through an evaluation of a teaching initiative “5*S: Space, Surveyors and Students – STEM and the Sustainable Development Goals” designed to bring GIS technology, satellite data, and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) into classrooms as activities and resources for teachers and students in …

Performance Improvement Of Hybrid System Based Dfig-Wind/Pv/Batteries Connected To Dc And Ac Grid By Applying Intelligent Control, Younes Sahri, Salah Tamalouzt, Sofia Lalouni Belaid, Mohit Bajaj, Sherif S.M. Ghoneim, Hossam Zawbaa, Salah Kamel

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One of the main causes of CO2 emissions is the production of electrical energy. Therefore, many researchers goal’s is to develop renewable power systems. This paper proposes a new intelligent control development of hybrid PV–Wind-Batteries. Neuro-Fuzzy Direct Power Control (NF-DPC) is invested in order to enhance system performance and generated currents quality. An improved MPPT algorithm based on Fuzzy Controller (FC) is invested for PV power optimization. In addition, a new Modified Fuzzy Direct Power Control (MF-DPC) is developed and applied to the grid side converter to control the active and reactive power by monitoring the involved active power flow …

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 …

Equity, Inclusion And Feminist Pedagogies: Supplement No. 14, Barbara Knežević, Michelle Malone

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This paper describes and expands on the contributions the research team at Technological University Dublin have made to the DICO Digital Career Stories Erasmus+ project from March 2021 through February 2023. This paper examines the TU Dublin presentation of specific Fine Art research methods and technical and practical tools, as a unique way to open these discussions around ethical teaching with regards to access, technology, gender, class, ethnic and racial diversity. This paper looks at some of the specific tools and methods common to fine art education and practice in the points of sharing sessions to ask how lecturing staff …

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 …

A Contribution To The Critique Of Irish Sociology., Chris O'Ralaigh

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Irish society is situated within a period of epoch-defining social change. We are facing in to a short number of decades, which promise the significant re-shaping of the political and social contours of our nation. Irish sociology's disciplinary mandate is to analyse that change, yet a historical debate has found new expression – heightened by the 30th anniversary of the Irish Journal of Sociology (IJS) and the 50th anniversary of the formation of the Sociological Association of Ireland (SAI) – as to whether the discipline is utilising the appropriate means to achieve its ends. The current sociological division of labour …

Employer Collaboration In Developing Graduate Employability: A Pilot Study In Ireland, Miriam O'Regan, Aiden Carthy, Colm Mcguiness, Philip Owende

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Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the impact on student work readiness outcomes of collaboration with employers in developing and delivering tailored graduate employability workshops in socioemotional skills for work (SES4Work).

Design/methodology/approach – Framed by the CareerEDGE model of graduate employability, the authors piloted a five-session module for near graduates in five disciplines. The research included an online employer survey (n 5 128), employer interviews (n 5 21) and tailored workshops for near graduates, culminating in a mock competency-based interview. Using a pre/post-test design, participants (n 5 24) also completed the CareerEDGE Employability Development Profile (EDP) …

Masculinities And Affective Equality; The Case Of Professional Caring, Niall Hanlon

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Critical studies of men and masculinities [CSMM] aim to advance gender equality by critiquing and deconstructing male hegemony and hegemonic masculinities. Although the implicit value of gender equality is clear in CSMM generally, the conceptualization of equality is frequently vague, implied, and lacks conceptual definition. The problem is compounded in caring masculinities studies which additionally often lack engagement with critical feminist and other socio-political perspectives on caring. These shortcomings hide the complex interrelation of different dimensions to inequality as they intersect with multiple relational identities. Caring practices are also complex having distinct phases that engage different forms of labour within …

Is Neuro-Symbolic Ai Meeting Its Promises In Natural Language Processing? A Structured Review, Kyle Hamilton, Kyle Hamilton, Aparna Nayak, Bojan Bozic, Luca Longo

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Advocates for Neuro-Symbolic Artificial Intelligence (NeSy) assert that combining deep learning with symbolic reasoning will lead to stronger AI than either paradigm on its own. As successful as deep learning has been, it is generally accepted that even our best deep learning systems are not very good at abstract reasoning. And since reasoning is inextricably linked to language, it makes intuitive sense that Natural Language Processing (NLP), would be a particularly well-suited candidate for NeSy. We conduct a structured review of studies implementing NeSy for NLP, with the aim of answering the question of whether NeSy is indeed meeting its …

Cognitive Effort Avoidance In Veterans With Suicide Attempt Histories, James M. Bjork, Chelsea S. Rooney, Lisa K. Straub, David M. N. Garavito, Andrew Westbrook

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Suicide attempts (SA) are increasing in the United States, especially in veterans. Discovering individual cognitive features of the subset of suicide ideators who attempt suicide is critical. Cognitive theories attribute SA to facile schema-based negative interpretations of environmental events. Over-general autobiographical memory and facile solutions in problem solving tasks in SA survivors suggest that aversion to expending cognitive effort may be a neurobehavioral marker of SA risk. In veterans receiving care for mood disorder, we compared cognitive effort discounting and evidence-gathering in a beads task between veterans with (SAHx+; n = 26) versus without (SAHx-; n = 22) a history …

Article 9 Foreclosures: When Is A Sale Not A Sale?, David G. Carlson

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Article 9 of the Uniform Commercial Code empowers a secured creditor to sell collateral. This power is circumscribed. A secured party may not sell before default. A secured party cannot self-deal in a private sale. A pledgee of securities can sell to itself in a private sale if the securities are of a kind that is customarily sold on a recognized market, but the law is unclear what formalities the pledgee must meet to memorialize the sale. A secured party may not sell in a commercially reasonable manner to a buyer with notice of the commercial unreason. This article explores …

Evaluating Large Delay Estimation Techniques For Assisted Living Environments, Swarnadeep Bagchi, Ruairí De Fréin

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Abstract Phase wraparound due to large inter-sensor spacings in multi-channel demixing limits the range of relative delays that many time–frequency relative delay estimators can estimate. The performance of a large relative delay estimation method, called the elevatogram, is evaluated in the presence of significant phase wraparound. This paper compares the elevatogram with the popular relative delay estimator used in DUET and the brute-force approach in D-AdRess and analyses its computational efficiency. The elevatogram can accurately estimate relative delays of speech signals of up to 800 samples, whereas DUET and D-AdRess were limited to delays of 7 and 35 samples, given …

Visual Attention For Linguistic And Non-Linguistic Body Actions In Non-Signing And Native Signing Children, Rain G. Bosworth, So One Hwang, David P. Corina

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Evidence from adult studies of deaf signers supports the dissociation between neural systems involved in processing visual linguistic and non-linguistic body actions. The question of how and when this specialization arises is poorly understood. Visual attention to these forms is likely to change with age and be affected by prior language experience. The present study used eye-tracking methodology with infants and children as they freely viewed alternating video sequences of lexical American sign language (ASL) signs and non-linguistic body actions (self-directed grooming action and objectdirected pantomime). In Experiment 1, we quantified fixation patterns using an area of interest (AOI) approach …

A Framework For Sexism Detection On Social Media Via Byt5 And Tabnet, Arjumand Younus, Muhammad Atif Qureshi

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Hateful and offensive content on social media platforms particularly content directed towards a specific gender is a great impediment towards equality, diversity and inclusion. Social media platforms are facing increasing pressure to work towards regulation of such content; and this has directed researchers in text mining to work towards hate speech identification algorithms. One such attempt is sexism detection for which mostly transformer-based text methods have been proposed. We propose a combination of byte-level model ByT5 with tabular modeling via TabNet that has at its core an ability to take into account platform and language aspects of the challenging task …

Relational Justice And Relational Pedagogy In Professional Social Care Work, Niall Hanlon

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The principle of social justice is central to the newly regulated profession of Social Care Worker [SCW] in Ireland and the language of social justice features in the Standards of Proficiency [SoP] and Code of Professional Conduct and Ethics [CPCE]. This is very welcome given the history of institutional neglect and abuse in Irish social care. However, social care work in Ireland lacks a tradition of social justice in theory and practice, and policy is generally couched in minimalist terms of individual civil and political rights, equality of opportunity, and non-discrimination and is heavily focused on protection and risk management. …

Dialogue Policies For Confusion Mitigation In Situated Hri, Na Li, Robert J. Ross

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Confusion is a mental state triggered by cognitive disequilibrium that can occur in many types of task-oriented interaction, including Human-Robot Interaction (HRI). People may become confused while interacting with robots due to communicative or even task-centred challenges. To build a smooth and engaging HRI, it is insufficient for an agent to simply detect confusion; instead, the system should aim to mitigate the situation. In light of this, in this paper, we present our approach to a linguistic design of dialogue policies to build a dialogue framework to alleviate interlocutor confusion. We also outline our sketch and discuss challenges with respect …

What Is A Metaphorical Collocation?, Jakob Patekar

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In research on collocations published in English we encounter, albeit rarely, the use of the notion “metaphorical collocations”. It is interesting to note that seldom if ever are metaphorical collocations defined in any way in these studies, suggesting that researchers find the term self-explanatory. However, seeing that metaphorical collocations are an exciting area of research that is yet to draw attention from the wider community ofresearchers, the aim of this paper is to analyze the current understanding of what a metaphorical collocation is by examining the theoretical foundations as well as studies, specifically those published in English (as the language …

Devotee/Ethnographer: My Struggle At The Boundary Walls Of Participant Observation, Atreyee Majumder

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This article demonstrates the difficulty of incorporating within the methodological ambit of ‘participant observation’, a possibility of the ethnographer herself staking claim in the religious truth claims of the community that constitute the subject of research. In so doing, this article provides a critique of the concept of participant observation to point out that participant observation anticipates the work of the ethnographer in participating in the physical, performative lives of the community that she purports to study, but never the internal life, especially the life of accessing a register of truth. I found myself in a curious situation as a …

Ideas, Power And Agency: Policy Actors And The Formulation Of Language-In-Education Policy For Multilingualism, Iker Erdocia, Susanna Nocchi, Mary Ruane

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The processes of formulation of language policies have not been researched thoroughly. This paper aims to explore the relationship between ideas, power and agency in language policy-making and specifically with reference to the formulation of language-in-education policy for multilingualism in Ireland. Through an argumentative approach to language policy and using a discursive institutionalist framework, the paper examines data from policy documents and interviews with policy actors in the Department of Education and Skills. The paper reports on the ways in which agentive discourses are constrained and enabled by institutional structures. The analysis shows how power resulting from asymmetric internal forces …