Digital Commons Network^™

Impact Of Dynamic Sub-Populations Within Grafted Chains On The Protein Binding And Colloidal Stability Of Pegylated Nanoparticles, Delyan Hristov, Hender Lopez, Yannick Ortin, Kate O'Sullivan, Kenneth A. Dawson, Dermot F. Brougham

Articles

Polyethylene glycol grafting has played a central role in preparing the surfaces of nano-probes for biological interaction, to extend blood circulation times and to modulate protein recognition and cellular uptake. However, the role of PEG graft dynamics and conformation in determining surface recognition processes is poorly understood primarily due to the absence of a microscopic picture of the surface presentation of the polymer. Here a detailed NMR analysis reveals three types of dynamic ethylene glycol units on PEG-grafted SiO2 nanoparticles (NPs) of the type commonly evaluated as long-circulating theranostic nano-probes; a narrow fraction with fast dynamics associated with the chain …

The Potential Of Raman Spectroscopy In The Diagnosis Of Dysplastic And Malignant Oral Lesions, Ola Ibrahim, M. Toner, Steven Flint, Hugh Byrne, Fiona Lyng

Articles

Early diagnosis, treatment and/or surveillance of oral premalignant lesions are important in preventing progression to oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC). The current gold standard is through histopathological diagnosis, which is limited by inter and intra observer and sampling errors. The objective of this work was to use Raman spectroscopy to discriminate between benign, mild, moderate and severe dysplasia and OSCC in formalin fixed paraffin preserved (FFPP) tissues. The study included 72 different pathologies from which 17 were benign lesions, 20 mildly dysplastic, 20 moderately dysplastic, 10 severely dysplastic and 5 invasive OSCC. The glass substrate and paraffin wax background were …

Noncompete Agreements In The U.S. Labor Force, Evan P. Starr, J.J. Prescott, Norman D. Bishara

Articles

Using nationally representative survey data on 11,505 labor force participants, we examine the use and implementation of noncompete agreements and the employee outcomes associated with these provisions. Approximately 18 percent of labor force participants are bound by noncompetes, with 38 percent having agreed to at least one in the past. Noncompetes are more likely to be found in high-skill, high-paying jobs, but they are also common in low-skill, low-paying jobs and in states where noncompetes are unenforceable. Only 10 percent of employees negotiate over their noncompetes, and about one-third of employees are presented with noncompetes after having already accepted job …

Biomedical Applications Of Vibrational Spectroscopy: Oral Cancer Diagnostics, Hugh Byrne, Isha Behl, Genecy Calado, Ola Ibrahim, M. Toner, Sheila Galvin, Claire M. Healy, Steven Flint, Fiona Lyng

Articles

Vibrational spectroscopy, based on either infrared absorption or Raman scattering, has attracted increasing attention for biomedical applications. Proof of concept explorations for diagnosis of oral potentially malignant disorders and cancer are reviewed, and recent advances critically appraised. Specific examples of applications of Raman microspectroscopy for analysis of histological, cytological and saliva samples are presented for illustrative purposes, and the future prospects, ultimately for routine, chairside in vivo screening are discussed.

Synergies In Scholarship At The Research Teaching Nexus, Deirdre Mcquillan

Articles

Survey instrument for examining research synergies in scholarship at the research teaching nexus

The Effect Of Pressure Fluctuations On The Shapes Of Thinning Liquid Curtains, Bridget M. Torsey, Steven J. Weinstein, David S. Ross, Nathaniel S. Barlow

Articles

We consider the time-dependent response of a gravitationally thinning inviscid liquid sheet (a coating curtain) leaving a vertical slot to sinusoidal ambient pressure disturbances. The theoretical investigation employs the hyperbolic partial differential equation developed by Weinstein et al. (Phys. Fluids, vol. 9, issue 12, 1997, pp. 3625–3636). The response of the curtain is characterized by the slot Weber number, We0=ρqV/2σ" role="presentation" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: normal; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; display: inline-table; word-spacing: normal; overflow-wrap: normal; white-space: nowrap; float: none; direction: ltr; max-width: none; max-height: none; min-width: 0px; min-height: 0px; position: …

Examining The Modelling Capabilities Of Defeasible Argumentation And Non-Monotonic Fuzzy Reasoning, Luca Longo, Lucas Rizzo, Pierpaolo Dondio

Articles

Knowledge-representation and reasoning methods have been extensively researched within Artificial Intelligence. Among these, argumentation has emerged as an ideal paradigm for inference under uncertainty with conflicting knowledge. Its value has been predominantly demonstrated via analyses of the topological structure of graphs of arguments and its formal properties. However, limited research exists on the examination and comparison of its inferential capacity in real-world modelling tasks and against other knowledge-representation and non-monotonic reasoning methods. This study is focused on a novel comparison between defeasible argumentation and non-monotonic fuzzy reasoning when applied to the representation of the ill-defined construct of human mental workload …

Affective Sentience And Moral Protection, Russell Powell, Irina Mikhalevich

Articles

We have structured our response according to five questions arising from the commentaries: (i) What is sentience? (ii) Is sentience a necessary or sufficient condition for moral standing? (iii) What methods should guide comparative cognitive research in general, and specifically in studying invertebrates? (iv) How should we balance scientific uncertainty and moral risk? (v) What practical strategies can help reduce biases and morally dismissive attitudes toward invertebrates?

Collaborative Behavior, Performance And Engagement With Visual Analytics Tasks Using Mobile Devices, Lei Chen, Hai-Ning Liang, Feiyu Lu, Konstantinos Papangelis, Ka Lok Man, Yong Yue

Articles

Interactive visualizations are external tools that can support users’ exploratory activities. Collaboration can bring benefits to the exploration of visual representations or visu‐ alizations. This research investigates the use of co‐located collaborative visualizations in mobile devices, how users working with two different modes of interaction and view (Shared or Non‐Shared) and how being placed at various position arrangements (Corner‐to‐Corner, Face‐to‐Face, and Side‐by‐Side) affect their knowledge acquisition, engagement level, and learning efficiency. A user study is conducted with 60 partici‐ pants divided into 6 groups (2 modes×3 positions) using a tool that we developed to support the exploration of 3D visual …

Impact Of A National Professional Development Programme For Out-Of-Field Teachers Of Mathematics In Ireland., Merrilyn Goos, Máire Ní Riordáin, Fiona Faulkner, Ciara Lane

Articles

Out-of-field teaching refers to the practice of assigning teachers to teach subjects that do not match their training or education. This paper reports on a study evaluating the impact of a national professional development programme for out-of-field teachers of post-primary school mathematics in Ireland – the Professional Diploma in Mathematics for Teaching. Evidence of impact was collected from three surveys. Two surveys evaluated changes in the prevalence of out-of-field teaching before and six years after the introduction of the programme. The third survey investigated programme graduates’ beliefs about mathematics, mathematics teaching and mathematics learning, and reported changes in teaching practices. …

Professional Development For Out-Of-Field Post-Primary Teachers Of Mathematics: An Analysis Of The Impact Of Mathematics Specific Pedagogy Training, Niamh O'Meara, Fiona Faulkner

Articles

Research shows that teachers influence students’ attitudes towards; performance in; and perceptions of a subject. Hence, the need to improve the teaching and learning of many curricular subjects has been well documented for many years. This paper focusses on efforts made to develop competence among out-of-field teachers of mathematics and evaluates the impact of one component of a continuous professional development (CPD) programme on teachers’ selfefficacy and self-reported teaching styles. As part of this CPD programme, teachers engaged in a series of subject-specific pedagogy workshops and while classroom observations were not feasible they did complete pre- and postworkshop questionnaires to …

Decolonial Feminist Theory: Embracing The Gendered Colonial Difference In Management And Organisation Studies, Jennifer Manning

Articles

Feminist theories in management and organization studies, each with their own ontological and epistemological assumptions, offer critical perspectives of the status quo to challenge our idea of progress in the discipline, yet there is limited engagement with ideas, theories, or practices from the lived experiences of Global South women. Decolonial feminism engages with debates pertaining to coloniality/ modernity and indigenous identity and gender in Latin America, while providing a space for the voices and lived experiences of marginalized, non‐Western(ised) women. Positioned in the context of Guatemalan Maya women and deploying critical insights from decolonial feminists, I unpack how the discourse …

Hybrid Modelling For Stroke Care: Review And Suggestions Of New Approaches For Risk Assessment And Simulation Of Scenarios, Tilda Herrgårdh, Vince I. Madai, John Kelleher, Rasmus Magnusson, Mika Gustafsson, Lili Milani, Peter Gennemark, Gunnar Cedersund

Articles

Stroke is an example of a complex and multi-factorial disease involving multiple organs, timescales, and disease mechanisms. To deal with this complexity, and to realize Precision Medicine of stroke, mathematical models are needed. Such approaches include: 1) machine learning, 2) bioinformatic network models, and 3) mechanistic models. Since these three approaches have complementary strengths and weaknesses, a hybrid modelling approach combining them would be the most beneficial. However, no concrete approach ready to be implemented for a specific disease has been presented to date. In this paper, we both review the strengths and weaknesses of the three approaches, and propose …

Application Of Big-Data For Epidemiological Studies Of Refractive Error, Michael Moore, James Loughman, John Butler, Arne Ohlendorf, Siegfried Wahl, Daniel Ian Flitcroft

Articles

Purpose

To examine whether data sourced from electronic medical records (EMR) and a large industrial spectacle lens manufacturing database can estimate refractive error distribution within large populations as an alternative to typical population surveys of refractive error.

Subjects

A total of 555,528 patient visits from 28 Irish primary care optometry practices between the years 1980 and 2019 and 141,547,436 spectacle lens sales records from an international European lens manufacturer between the years 1998 and 2016.

Methods

Anonymized EMR data included demographic, refractive and visual acuity values. Anonymized spectacle lens data included refractive data. Spectacle lens data was separated into lenses …

Multicomponent Fokas-Lenells Equations On Hermitian Symmetric Spaces, Vladimir Gerdjikov, Rossen Ivanov

Articles

Multi-component integrable generalizations of the Fokas-Lenells equation, associated with each irreducible Hermitian symmetric space are formulated. Description of the underlying structures associated to the integrability, such as the Lax representation and the bi-Hamiltonian formulation of the equations is provided. Two reductions are considered as well, one of which leads to a nonlocal integrable model. Examples with Hermitian symmetric spaces of all classical series of types A.III, BD.I, C.I and D.III are presented in details, as well as possibilities for further reductions in a general form.

Polyesters With Main And Side Chain Phosphoesters As Structural Motives For Biocompatible Electrospun Fibres, André E. Polloni, Viviane Chiaradia, Ronaldo José F.C. Do Amaral, Cathal Kearney, Brian Gorey, Débora De Oliveira, José V. De Oliveira, Pedro H.H. De Araújo, Claudia Sayer, Andreas Heise

Articles

Phosphoester containing polymers are promising materials in biomedical applications due to their biocompatibility and biodegradability. Utilising thiol-ene chemistry, the synthesis of two novel structural polymer motives combining polyesters and phophoester groups was explored. The first polymer was obtained by coupling ene-functional poly(thioether-phosphoester) with thiol functional poly(pentadecalactone). While the coupling reaction was successful, yields remained low presumably due to inadequate endgroup stoichiometry. The second polymer comprised phosphoester side groups conjugated to unsaturated poly(globalide). Double bond conversions up to 84% were achieved depending of the type of phosphoester thiol and relative reactant ratios. The resulting polymers transitioned from solid semicrystaline to liquid …

A Review Of The Fractal Market Hypothesis For Trading And Market Price Prediction, Jonathan Blackledge, Marc Lamphiere

Articles

This paper provides a review of the Fractal Market Hypothesis (FMH) focusing on financial times series analysis. In order to put the FMH into a broader perspective, the Random Walk and Efficient Market Hypotheses are considered together with the basic principles of fractal geometry. After exploring the historical developments associated with different financial hypotheses, an overview of the basic mathematical modelling is provided. The principal goal of this paper is to consider the intrinsic scaling properties that are characteristic for each hypothesis. In regard to the FMH, it is explained why a financial time series can be taken to be …

Fashion, Models, And Intellectual Property, Andres Sawicki

Articles

In this Article, I revisit the impact of Professor Kal Raustiala and Professor Christopher Sprigman 's landmark article, The Piracy Paradox. Their work identified an empirical anomaly that was difficult to explain in light of the standard justification for intellectual property rights: although IP law does not grant meaningful exclusivity in novel fashion designs, the fashion industry invests significant resources developing those novel designs. To account for this anomaly, The Piracy Paradox shifted the focus from the supply side of innovation to the demand side. The standard justification emphasized that innovators face threats of copying that they cannot easily …

Introductory Remarks: The Roberts Court And The First Amendment: An Introduction, Geoffrey Stone

Articles

No abstract provided.

An Ensemble Approach For Annotating Source Code Identifiers With Part-Of-Speech Tags, Christian D. Newman,, Michael J. Decker, Reem S. Alsuhaibani, Anthony Peruma, Mohamed Wiem Mkaouer, Satyajit Mohapatra, Tejal Vishnoi, Marcos Zampieri, Timothy Sheldon, Emily Hill

Articles

This paper presents an ensemble part-of-speech tagging approach for source code identifiers. Ensemble tagging is a technique that uses machine-learning and the output from multiple part-of-speech taggers to annotate natural language text at a higher quality than the part-of-speech taggers are able to obtain independently. Our ensemble uses three state-of-the-art part-of-speech taggers: SWUM, POSSE, and Stanford. We study the quality of the ensemble's annotations on five different types of identifier names: function, class, attribute, parameter, and declaration statement at the level of both individual words and full identifier names. We also study and discuss the weaknesses of our tagger to …

Star-Critical Ramsey Numbers For Cycles Versus K4, Chula J. Jayawardene, David E. Narvaez, Stanislaw Radziszowski

Articles

Given three graphs G, H and K we write K → (G, H), if in any red/blue coloring of the edges of K there exists a red copy of G or a blue copy of H. The Ramsey number r(G, H) is defined as the smallest natural number n such that Kn → (G, H) and the star-critical Ramsey number r∗(G, H) is defined as the smallest positive integer k such that Kn−1 ⊔ K1,k → (G, H), where n is the Ramsey number r(G, H). When n ≥ 3, we show that r∗(Cn, K4) = 2n except for r∗(C3, …

Governing Complexity: Integrating Science, Governance, And Law To Manage Accelerating Change In The Globalized Commons, Barbara Cosens

Articles

The speed and uncertainty of environmental change in the Anthropocene challenge the capacity of coevolving social–ecological–technological systems (SETs) to adapt or transform to these changes. Formal government and legal structures further constrain the adaptive capacity of our SETs. However, new, self-organized forms of adaptive governance are emerging at multiple scales in natural resource-based SETs. Adaptive governance involves the private and public sectors as well as formal and informal institutions, self-organized to fill governance gaps in the traditional roles of states. While new governance forms are emerging, they are not yet doing so rapidly enough to match the pace of environmental …

Taxing Buybacks, Daniel Daniel, Gregg Polsky

Articles

No abstract provided.

The Eventual Decline Of Empirical Law And Economics, Saul Levmore

Articles

No abstract provided.

Legal Analysis, Policy Analysis, And The Price Of Deference: An Empirical Study Of Mayo And Chevron, Jonathan H. Choi

Articles

No abstract provided.

A New Adaptive Frame Aggregation Method For Downlink Wlan Mu-Mimo Channels, Lem Lem Kassa, Mark Davis, Jingye Cai, Jianhua Deng

Articles

Accommodating the heterogeneous traffic demand among streams in the downlink MU-MIMO channel is among the challenges that affect the transmission efficiency since users in the channel do not always have the same traffic demand. Consequently, it is feasible to adjust the frame size to maximize the system throughput. The existing adaptive aggregation solutions do not consider the effects of different traffic scenarios and they use a Poison traffic model which is inadequate to represent the real network traffic scenarios, thus leading to suboptimal solutions. In this study, we propose some adaptive aggregation strategies which employ a novel dynamic adaptive aggregation …

Isolation Intervals Of The Real Roots Of The Parametric Cubic Equation, Emil Prodanov

Articles

The isolation intervals of the real roots of the real symbolic monic cubic polynomial $p(x) = x^3 + a x^2 + b x + c$ are found in terms of simple functions of the coefficients of the polynomial (such as: $-a$, $-a/3$, $-c/b$, $\pm \sqrt{-b}$, when $b$ is negative), and the roots of some auxiliary quadratic equations whose coefficients are also simple functions of the coefficients of the cubic. All possible cases are presented with clear and very detailed diagrams. It is very easy to identify which of these diagrams is the relevant one for any given cubic equation and …

The Siebeck-Marden-Northshield Theorem And The Real Roots Of The Symbolic Cubic Equation, Emil Prodanov

Articles

The isolation intervals of the real roots of the symbolic monic cubic polynomial x 3 ` ax2 ` bx ` c are determined, in terms of the coefficients of the polynomial, by solving the Siebeck–Marden–Northshield triangle — the equilateral triangle that projects onto the three real roots of the cubic polynomial and whose inscribed circle projects onto an interval with endpoints equal to stationary points of the polynomial.

On Newton's Rule Of Signs, Emil Prodanov

Articles

Analysing the cubic sectors of a real polynomial of degree n, a minor modification of Newton’s Rule of signs is proposed with which stricter upper limits on the number of real roots can be found. A new necessary condition for reality of the roots of a polynomial is also proposed. Relationship between the quadratic elements of the polynomial is established through its roots and those of its derivatives. Some aspects of polynomial discriminants are also discussed.

Electrohydrodynamic Printing Of A Dielectric Elastomer Actuator And Its Application In Tunable Lenses, Liang Jiang, Yuhao Wang, Xueqin Wang, Fanggang Ning, Shipeng Wen, Yanfen Zhou, Shaojuan Chen, Tony Betts, Stephen Jerrams, Fenglei Zhou

Articles

Optical lenses driven by dielectric elastomer (DE) actuators with tunable focal lengths are presented here. They are inspired by the architecture of the crystalline lens and the ciliary muscle of the human eye and have prompted a growing interest. The most commonly used DEs in tunable lenses have often required highly transparent films and also the need to encapsulate clear liquid silicone to act as the lens. There is a restriction on the properties of the tunable lens imposed by materials limitations. Here, the fabrication of a fully 3D printed tunable lens with an inhomogeneous structure is described. It exhibited …